(Newswire.net — January 9, 2021) —
Following Trump’s Wednesday speech, an angry and armed mob composed of his more extreme supporters marched on Capitol Hill in an attempt to stall the certification process of the election results. Tearing down the metal barricades at the bottom of the capitol steps they stormed the building and chaos ensued.
The protesters were met by officers in riot gear, however, Capitol’s security failed to stop the encroaching mob. Lawmakers and staff were led to safety, but conflicts on Capitol grounds turned deadly, one woman was shot and a total of four deaths occurred. A total of 52 arrests were made after Wednesday’s riot, 26 of which occurred on Capitol grounds.
Eventually Trump addressed the rioters in a video telling them to leave, but even then he was reluctant to accept his loss in the presidential race and added “We had an election that was stolen from us” and “This was a fraudulent election.”
Facebook and Twitter have banned Trump from their platforms, with Twitter initially giving him a 12 hour temporary ban, then later making it a permanent suspension. “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to risk of further incitement of violence” an official Twitter statement read. Facebook is extending their ban to Trump from posting until the end of his term.
President-elect Joe Biden released a statement saying “our democracy is under unprecedented assault.” Several lawmakers including Republican party members are directly blaming Trump for encouraging the crowd that gathered at his Ellipse park speech by telling them “we’re going to walk down there, and I’ll be there with you, we’re going to walk down…to the Capitol.”
Democrats are issuing calls for Trump to be impeached before inauguration day. Biden called Trump “[not] fit for the job”, however, he stated that he was not concerned with the impeachment but is rather focusing his efforts on battling the corona virus and getting vaccination running smoothly.
Amid the chaos Congress still managed to certify the Electoral College results, and facing the mounting pressure Trump admitted his defeat in the elections on Thursday. “Now Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th” Trump said in a video calling for “healing and reconciliation”.