Capitol Riots 2021 PDF

January 6 U.S. Capitol attack Also known as: January 6th storming of the United States Capitol, United States Capitol attack of 2021 Written by Brian Duignan, Jun 21, 2024 Storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a m...

January 6 U.S. Capitol attack Also known as: January 6th storming of the United States Capitol, United States Capitol attack of 2021 Written by Brian Duignan, Jun 21, 2024 Storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Republican Pres Donald J Trump. The attack disrupted a session of Congress to certify the results of the presidential election of 2020, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. The attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d’état; the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law-enforcement agencies also considered it an act of domestic terrorism. For having given a speech before the attack in which he encouraged a large crowd of his supporters near the White House to march to the Capitol and violently resist Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory, Trump was impeached for “incitement of insurrection” (he was subsequently acquitted by the Senate). In a press encounter the day after the election, Trump maintained a false narrative of Democratic cheating by declaring himself the winner.” During the next several weeks he continually accused Biden of having stolen the presidential election and repeated conspiracy theories involving ballot stuffing, dead voters, and malicious voting-machine software that deleted or changed millions of votes for Trump. Trump and his allies then turned their attention to the last, formal step in the election of a U.S. president, the counting of the electoral votes of each state in a joint session of Congress, presided over by the vice president and commencing on January 6. Meanwhile, in several tweets, Trump encouraged his supporters to attend a rally and march on January 6 to protest the vote-counting ceremony. At the rally, held near the White House, a crowd of thousands, which included members of paramilitary organizations and other right-wing extremists, listened to speeches by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s sons Donald Jr and Eric, among others. In his own address, which began at about noon, Trump repeated well-worn falsehoods and conspiracy theories about the stolen election; called on Pence (VP) to block Congress’s confirmation of the electoral college vote— declaring that, if Pence failed to act, the rally crowd would not let the confirmation take place; encouraged the crowd to “walk down” to the Capitol building; and urged his audience to “fight like hell” or “you’re not going to have a country anymore.” Although Trump did not explicitly direct those in attendance to commit illegal acts, his generally incendiary language plainly suggested to many in the crowd that they would be justified in violently attacking the Capitol and members of Congress to prevent Biden from becoming president. Even before Trump finished his address, a mob of his supporters pushed through fences of the Capitol grounds. The mob grew larger and Capitol Police officers were overwhelmed. Many were brutally beaten with deadly weapons (bats, pipes, and flag poles), sprayed with chemical irritants, or crushed and trampled by the surging crowd. For the next few hours rioters vandalized and looted the interior and ransacked offices as they searched for their perceived enemies in Congress. Realizing that their lives were in danger, many lawmakers fled or were evacuated from the building or hid behind desks or in barricaded offices and even closets. Pence was evacuated to a secure location within the complex. The Capitol was finally cleared of rioters some four hours after they first entered the building. The vast majority of the attackers were not arrested on-site and simply walked away. Congress then resumed its tabulation of electoral votes, and Biden was certified as the winner of the 2020 presidential election in the early morning hours of January 7. The attack on the Capitol was broadcast live on major news networks. Trump himself watched some of the assault and reportedly was pleased and excited by what he saw. After initially resisting pressure to condemn the attack, Trump reluctantly tweeted a call to his followers to “stay peaceful.” He also tweeted a brief video in which he once again asserted that the election had been stolen. Expressing his “love” for the rioters, he urged them to “go home,” stating that “we have to have peace.” Approximately 140 Capitol and Metropolitan police officers were criminally assaulted by the rioters in the attack. Among those victims, one died of a series of strokes after being hospitalized and two others committed suicide. One of the rioters was shot and killed by police, another died of a heart attack and a third was apparently crushed to death by the stampeding mob. The rioters caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage to the Capitol building.