One of Trump's supporters shouts with a shield outside of Congress.LEAH MILLIS / Reuters
The United States has lived this Wednesday an unusual day that will go down in history and that reflects the legacy of a president, Donald Trump, who has governed promoting division, an inflammatory speech and conspiracy theories.
The last of them, an electoral fraud that has not offered evidence or obtained the support of any court, has left unsuspected images in Washington: supporters of the president entering the Capitol by force, armed agents protecting the building, legislators with masks. gas station and Vice President Mike Pence repudiated by the president for not joining the boycott and evacuated from Congress by the secret service amid the chaos.
Just 14 days after the end of his term, the president insisted on Wednesday morning before thousands of his followers gathered around the White House who had stolen the elections, a speech that he has been promoting even before the elections of the November 3, which Joe Biden won.
The day that Congress was to hold a formal session in which legislators count and confirm the votes of the Electoral College, which had already ratified the victory of the Democrat, ended with violence and chaos, a seriously injured woman, the deployment of the Guard National and with the president-elect condemning the "attack on democracy."
These are the six moments that have defined the day:
An unusual session
The United States Congress met at 1:00 p.m. (local time) in a session that traditionally consists of the counting and confirmation of the Electoral College votes that culminates in the ratification of the candidate chosen in the elections, in this case Joe Biden.
On this occasion, the crusade undertaken by Trump to dispute the election result at all costs heralded a longer and more complicated day, after a dozen Republican senators led by Texan Ted Cruz joined in an unprecedented act , to some congressmen from his party to object to the results of several states won by the Democrat, such as Arizona.
The play was set to force lawmakers to vote and delay Biden's inevitable confirmation.
Republican split: McConnell's call and Pence's awkward position
The session on Capitol Hill has also put Mike Pence in a delicate role, as, as vice president, he was to preside over the session and officially announce the next president of the United States.
The
number two
of Trump forward, however, that case would ignore your request to disregard the electoral vote and ratify a Democrat, sparking fury Trump.
Additionally, Trump's decision to tighten the rope in his refusal to concede defeat is widening the gap in the Republican Party.
Many legislators from his party have strongly criticized the president's attitude, which they consider an attack on democracy.
Even Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican Majority Leader in the Senate, and until recently a staunch ally of the president, tried to dissuade him from trying to boycott Biden's appointment.
"The states have spoken," he said Wednesday.
"We are in the most important Senate vote in history," he says.
The taking of the Capitol
While this unprecedented day was being celebrated in Congress, the Capitol was forced to close its doors after a group of supporters of Trump's conspiracy theories violently broke into the building and took over its facilities.
On the outskirts of Congress, clashes broke out between the president's followers and the security forces.
In the early afternoon, it was learned that a supporter of the president was in critical condition after being shot in the riots.
The shooting victim was taken to a hospital with chest injuries, CNN reported.
Trump: from prodding his followers to ask them to go home
President Trump went from prodding his followers in the morning around the White House to reluctantly calling them to calm down and asking them to go home, although he has not stopped insisting that he has been the victim of election fraud. .
"It's time to go home," he said in a video recorded and posted on his social networks when he had a good part of his party and all the opposition asking him to make a statement to calm their bases.
"We had an election that was stolen from us and the other side knows it," he added.
"But they must go home, we must have peace, law and order, we do not want anyone injured."
Trump also had time to charge his
number two
for not supporting his boycott.
“Mike Pence has not had the courage to do what he had to do to protect the country and our Constitution, giving the States the opportunity to certify a series of corrected, not fraudulent or incorrect facts that they were asked to certify previously.
America demands the truth! ”He tweeted shortly before the riots broke out.
Deploy the National Guard
After more than an hour of unrest in Congress, Trump ordered the deployment of armed military force on Capitol Hill, as reported by his press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany on Twitter.
At President @ realDonaldTrump's direction, the National Guard is on the way along with other federal protective services.
We reiterate President Trump's call against violence and to remain peaceful.
- Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) January 6, 2021
Biden condemns the "attack on democracy"
President-elect Joe Biden spoke in a message to the nation from Wilmington, Delaware, criticizing Trump for what he called an "attack on democracy."
“This is not a protest, it is an insurrection.
The world is seeing, like many Americans, how this nation has reached such a dark moment, "he said.
"The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is," he said, urging that he address the nation to calm his followers.
"I call on President Trump to go on television right now to fulfill the oath he took and to comply with the Constitution."
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