Capitol Building under lockdown as protesters break through police barricades
Congress is under lockdown, with the Senate recessing its Electoral College debate, as Trump supporters breached the Capitol on Wednesday and overwhelmed federal police.
I’m currently sheltering in place. The Capitol building has been breached and both chambers are locked down.
This is the chaos and lawlessness @realDonaldTrump has created.pic.twitter.com/RBAi4IW0Fm
— Rep. Veronica Escobar (@RepEscobar) January 6, 2021
Protesters have breached the Capitol. They’re outside the Senate chamber pic.twitter.com/I021tKliUD
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) January 6, 2021
Trump supporting protestors have taken the steps of the U.S. Capitol pic.twitter.com/QcujAPfagN
— Geoff Bennett (@GeoffRBennett) January 6, 2021
Earlier in the afternoon, President Trump had encouraged his assembled supporters to march to the Capitol building to continue their protest. He had also expressed open disappointment in his vice president, Mike Pence, who was overseeing the debate and had publicly broken with Trump in refusing to block President-elect Joe Biden's electoral vote certification.
Pence quickly left the Capitol "presumably for security reasons," CBS News' Grace Segers reported, adding that a "Capitol police officer just called on the press gallery to lock the doors."
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