U.S. Capitol On Lockdown As Trump Supporters Storm The Building

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the grounds of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday as a joint session of Congress met to certify the results of the election Trump lost.

Capitol office buildings were evacuated, members of Congress sheltered in place, and the Capitol went on lockdown as Trump-supporting extremists clashed with law enforcement officials protecting the seat of the United States government.

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Vice President Mike Pence was quickly brought off the floor. HuffPost saw Trump supporters inside the Capitol building. Trump supporters set off a fire extinguisher just off the floor of the Senate. 

The crowd, sporting a mix of Make America Great Again gear and Confederate flags, charged up the Capitol steps and rushed at police, as multiple videos from the scene show. They busted past barricades, ripped down fencing and cursed at members of law enforcement whom they mocked as “traitors.” Police fired pepper spray at the crowd, and later deployed flash-bang devices to get them to disperse.

“I’m sheltering in place in my office,” Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) tweeted. “The building next door has been evacuated. I can’t believe I have to write this.”

“This is a coup attempt,” tweeted Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.). 

The rioters roamed the halls searching for legislators, screaming, “Where the fuck are they?”

The rioters also made it into the Senate chamber itself. One person stood at the dais and screamed, “Trump won that election!” 

The president eventually tweeted for the protesters to remain peaceful, but did not tell them to stop demonstrating. 

“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” Trump tweeted. “They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!” 

The chaos started soon after Trump spoke to a crowd on the National Mall on Wednesday. At the end of a rambling speech, the president urged his supporters to march on the Capitol building.

For months, Trump and his strongest supporters have been fanning the flames with false claims of election fraud, convincing millions of believers that November’s presidential election was somehow stolen. Trump, in his speech, egged on his supporters and urged the crowd to march to the U.S. Capitol.

As one right-wing law enforcement informant told HuffPost, “really bad shit” happens when people who believe they’re acting as patriots defending the United States delude themselves into believing conspiracy theories about stolen elections. 

“You have the president of the United States taking these people to the edge, and the second that something happens he’s going to turn around and go, ‘Well, I didn’t tell them to do that,’” Bill Fulton, a former FBI informant, told HuffPost in November. “It gives him that plausible deniability, and that’s what’s scary.”

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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