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Our shame seen round the world
Photo: Protester in Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi’s office
Updates in Italics
Rioters broke into the US Congress building after a speech by members of the Trump family and President Trump.
VP Pence was called upon to make a definitive statement about not accepting the electoral college votes, and just before Congress went into session, he sent a message that he would not be taking that step, but would just read and accept the electoral votes of the state.
The country – if not the world – was stunned as the scene played out live on television all afternoon and into the evening – culminated by a 4am acceptance of the electoral college votes.
Members of congress hid on the floor, in their offices, put on their “gas hoods” – plastic bags with breathing devices at the bottom as tear gas was deployed in and out of the building. The glass doors of the House chamber were broken.
A young woman was part of a group storming the House doors. Law enforcement tried to get the crowd to step back, a shot was fired by law enforcement, not yet known who or why, and the young woman went down. A few hours later she died of the gunshot wound to her chest.
After what seemed to be interminable amount of time, some law enforcement backup came. There seem to be a clear decision to use only Capitol Police in a de-escalation attempt. But the sheer numbers of those storming the building and outside – 10s of thousands – went well beyond what they could handle. Still unanswered is the question of how a crowd was able to infiltrate the building with members of congress – and the vice president – in active session. One of the most secure locations in the world.
A moment of humanity between protester and law enforcement.
Tonight, Vice President Mike Pence changed his Twitter banner to show an imagine of Pres-elect Joe Biden and Vice Pres-elect Kamala Harris.
President-elect Joe Biden issued a statement intended to calm down the situation. He spoke from a podium, and took no questions. Here is part of that, released on Twitter.
President’s video message to the American people to calm down and go home was first tagged by Twitter, then his account was suspended for 12 hours. Here is the video:
Citizen protesters were thought to have been joined by other organized groups intent on causing chaos in the country. Several leaders had been identified in other major protests in other states.
The people’s work continued
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to lawmakers that after consulting with the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the vice president, Congress should proceed with the counting and confirming of electoral votes once the Capitol is cleared.
Late last night Congress reconvened, and went through the roll call of states. After a few encounters with members, the electoral college votes were accepted, with several Republicans backing down against their opposition, and Joe Biden/Kamala Harris victories were upheld at 4am.
Twitter at first took down the President’s Tweet and then locked President Trump’s account for 12 hours, saying they would make it permanent if his negative actions continued. Facebook followed by taking down his page.
Facebook and Instagram has removed President Trump’s accounts through Jan. 20th.
President Trump issued a statement through his Chief of Staff, saying that while he disagrees, he will accept the actions of congress and is committed now to a peaceful transition of power on January 20th. His statement in total:
“Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our… fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
This morning there are reports of 4 dead (1 shot by police, 3 others with medical emergencies), 52 arrested, 14 police officers injured.
Several transitions are occuring in rapid order. The first lady’s chief of staff resigned. The Deputy National Security Advisor resigned. the National Security Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff are rumored to be resigning. Other congressional staff members have been said to be considering leaving Washington. United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland has resigned. The Deputy Assistant to the President/Sr. official to Europe and Russian Affairs has resigned.
President Trump has banned Vice President Pence and his Chief of Staff from the West Wing of the White House.
This is a developing story – and will be updated throughout the day.
This would not be going on if: 1) The election wasn’t “Stolen” 2) If the Swamp did its job and reviewed the votes in all 5 Swing States.