Washington woke up this Thursday with a hangover, after a day of unprecedented political violence.
In front of the Capitol, besieged the day before by pro-Trump demonstrators, calm has returned.
Maintenance workers finish sweeping up the last debris.
A little further, journalists come to film the place where democracy has shaken while some supporters of the outgoing president take a tour of the crime scene.
Among them, Tim Foley, one of the leaders of an Arizona paramilitary militia, resents the American media.
“They did not show the millions (
Editor's note: they were tens of thousands
) of people who came to demonstrate peacefully, he accuses.
As soon as a little bit of violence occurs, it takes up all the space.
The evening ended with a death toll of four.
A policeman is in critical condition.
"We just wanted to show our anger against the government because we believe that this election is not legitimate", adds the militiaman with the khaki cap.
READ ALSO>
Attack on the Capitol: did the police really "let in" the rioters?
“They say what happened is wrong because it ruins the democratic process, but they haven't said anything about the hundred-day anti-fascist riots in Portland, Oregon.
We were a significant number and only three windows were smashed, two dozen people got in: and there, oh my God, it's the end of the world!
"
That the temple of American democracy is assaulted by an angry mob doesn't impress the sixty-year-old any more than that: “Congress is ours.
They work for us, and not the other way around!
"And to conclude:" It remains for us to see what the new illegitimate president will do.
If he tries to ban weapons at the national level, that will change everything and there it will become really violent.
"Wednesday will undoubtedly have the effect of taking more seriously these kinds of threats.
VIDEO. Capitol invasion: the hours that shook the United States
The American capital is now placed under high security.
Some 6,200 members of the National Guard will join the city by this weekend.
Police are setting up barricades in front of Congress in anticipation of potential tensions until the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
It is also impossible to approach the White House, where Donald Trump is more and more isolated.
The door open to a candidacy for a new mandate?
During the night, his loyal lieutenant, Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the certification session in Congress, did confirm the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Several members of the Republican administration tendered their resignations, disgusted by the violence.
Resigned, the outgoing president, banned from Twitter and Facebook, published a statement in which he commits to a peaceful transition of power.
"Although this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it is only the beginning of our fight to make America great again," he added.
The door open to a candidacy for a new mandate?
Morning essentials newsletter
A tour of the news to start the day
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
This tone more peaceful than usual arrives in any case perhaps too late.
Some believe that the billionaire has lost his mind so much that he can no longer ensure the last days he has left.
Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger became the first Republican elected official to call for the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to be triggered.
This authorizes the vice-president and a majority of the cabinet to declare the president "unfit" to exercise his functions.
Discussions on this subject are currently taking place within the government, according to several American media.