Protesters breach the US Capitol on historic day in Congress․Video
Supporters of President Donald Trump breached the US Capitol on Wednesday while Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College's votes for president and vice president.
The Capitol has been put on lockdown and the certification vote has been paused. Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated from the building.
Congress' counting of electoral votes is typically little more than an afterthought. But this joint session was expected to be a contentious affair that would last late into the evening and possibly on Thursday. Some Republicans are objecting to the count and delaying the inevitable certification of President-elect Joe Biden's win.
Their push is destined to fail. Democrats and a significant number of Republicans are planning to vote down all of the objections in both the House and the Senate, saying it is a hopeless attempt to reverse the election outcome. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has already delivered a forceful rebuke of Trump's baseless claims of widespread election fraud, warning his fellow Republicans that failing to certify the election results could "damage our republic forever."
Trump and his campaign have been pushing baseless and false conspiracy theories that the election was rigged against him. The President and his allies lost dozens of lawsuits across the country that claimed fraud and challenged the constitutionality of state election laws.
