Capitol Hill Riot

The **Capitol Hill Riot** was a major event in the United States that involved what was called an insurrection against democracy.

## Background

The 2020 United States Presidential election between Republican candidate and reigning President Donald Trump and Democrat candidate Joe Biden was held on November 3, 2020. On November 6 media outlets were projecting a Biden victory when it was projected that he would win the electoral college votes in Pennsylvania. Trump insisted that this was incorrect and accused a number of states of electoral fraud, only to fail to provide tangible proof. Throughout the remainder of 2020 Trump persisted with these claims taking a number of actions in the courts, only for each claim to be dismissed.

## The day begins

January 6, 2021, was the designated day for the Senate to officially count the electoral college votes from each of the 50 states of the United States in order to ratify the result of the November 3 election. The count by each state was confirmed in December as 306 votes for Joe Biden and 232 votes for Donald Trump. This was despite the large number of lawsuits launched by Trump. Trump had also tried to influence Republican controlled states to find irregularities and change the results, and finally tried to convince his Vice President Mike Pence to change the voting numbers on the day during his formal counting of votes on the floor of the Senate as part of his duties as the President of the Senate. If Pence was to do that he would be defying his powers under the Constitution of the United States.

## The Trump Rally

The rally on the day of the electoral college vote count was announced four days after the states confirmed the election result, with Trump tweeting on Twitter "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" A group called Women for Trump got a permit for 5,000 people at the rally and they set the rally up until January 2 when the Trump administration took over. All the intricate planning did not take place on mainstream social media but rather lesser lights like Parler, Telegram and Gab. The talk from Trump supporters throughout was talk of an uprising. The anger was obvious.

The rally began at 9am. The first speaker was Republican Mo Brooks, a member of the House of Representatives from Alabama who was part of the Trump's legal efforts. He started the fighting words with "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass" followed later by "Are you willing to do what it takes to fight for America? Louder! Will you fight for America?" The leader of Women for Trump, Amy Kremer, also spoke stating "it is up to you and I to save this Republic". Trump's two sons, Eric and Donald Junior, along with Eric's wife Lara, verbally attacked Republicans who weren't supporting the opposition to the election result - and called on voters to ensure they did not continue in their respective seats when they were next contested. In the case of the House of Representatives this meant November 2022. Former New York Mayor and Trump's main legal eagle Rudy Guiliani claimed the machine that counted the votes were "crooked" and called for "Trial by combat". It would be eight minutes into that speech that the first move was made from the rally to the Capitol building by the so called Proud Boys.

Trump himself took the podium just before midday. The speech - while it did not call directly for violence against the Capitol, did contain a large amount of violent imagery. He stated that he would never concede the election, had a crack at the media and called again for Mike Pence to overturn the result. He stated that counting of Biden's votes could not be allowed to happen, claiming at "Something's very wrong here". The crowd was clearly angry as chants rose of "Take the Capitol", "Taking the Capitol right now", "Invade the Capitol", "Storm the Capitol" and "Fight for Trump".

## The riot

Supporters were already walking from the rally to the Capitol building before Trump had finished with the first barriers breached nine minutes prior to Trump standing down. An estimated 8,000 people marched on the Capitol building.

The Senate meanwhile had commenced proceedings to ratify the electoral college votes. The votes from Alaska and Alabama had been ratified and there was a debate over a challenge to Arizona - one of the states Trump had claimed was won by him and not Biden - when the rioters infiltrated the Capitol building.

The rioters were well organised - body armour and two-way radio headsets were used were prominent and a number were also wearing riot gear, including helmets and military-style vests. The Senate was adjourned and Mike Pence was escorted out first, and when police entered the chamber, Republican Senator and Trump critic Mitt Romney yelled out "This is what you've gotten, guys." The boxes holding the electoral college votes were also removed. Pence's departure was timely, as Trump - upon learning that his deputy wasn't going to overturn the result as requested - tweeted that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done". This reached the rioters who started chants of "Where is Pence?" and "Find Mike Pence!" while outside the majority of protestors started chanting "Hang Mike Pence!"

Over in the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi was also escorted out and soon after Democrat Representative Dean Phillips from Minnesota yelled out to the Republican Representatives "This is because of you!"

Both chambers had been completely evacuated before the rioters took control - the Senate chamber itself occupied for a short time.

## The reaction

Horror echoed across the United States. The first and only responders to the riot were the Washington DC police department. Early on, assistance was called on from the National Guard. They refused to respond immediately, but help soon arrived from neighboring Virginia - firstly their police department, followed by Virginia's National Guard activated by the Virginian Governor. Later in the day, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a 12 man tactical team to the site. Finally soldiers from Washington DC's National Guard arrived. The Capitol building was cleared and secured.

Trump supporters tried to deflect the blame to Antifa, a group that Trump had attacked in the past. More than seventy countries condemned the riot calling it an attack on democracy, but others from the far right celebrated it. One group - the Nordic Resistance Movement - criticised Trump for not doing more than he did. NATO agencies outside the United States referred to it as an attempted coup.

## The aftermath

The ratification of the electoral college votes resumed, with debate resuming on the Arizona vote. This was after Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell committed to getting the job done "tonight". The objection to Arizona was lost 93-6 with most Republicans getting the message that what had happened was not acceptable. The House took a similar attitude with the vote of 303-121. The plan to object to Georgia was withdrawn because of the day's events, as were a couple of others. The only objection pursued was Pennsylvania - taking the sittings past midnight. In the Senate the objection was lost 92-7 and in the House it was also lost 282-138. It would be at 3:41am on January 7, 2021, that the electoral college vote would be ratified.

Many members of Trump's administration resigned as a result of the riot even though they would have been out of a job anyway when the new President was inaugurated.

Nancy Pelosi led a plea to Mike Pence to have Trump removed from office under the 25th Ammendment of the United States Constitution, claiming that Trump was psychologically unfit for office. When Pence refused to do that without giving a reason, Pelosi commenced proceedings to impeach Trump. The House of Representatives voted 232-197 to do so, making Trump the first President to be impeached twice.

Time was taken to allow new President Joe Biden to act to repeal a lot of Trump's executive orders before the impeachment trial commenced on February 9, 2021. When put to a vote, the result was 57-43. This was not enough for a guilty verdict as the Constitution required a two thirds majority and not a simple majority. The vote was ten votes short of that mark and Trump was acquitted.

Social media reacted quickly with Twitter and Facebook suspending Trump from the platform. Parler was also shut down as a result of Amazon refusing to host it. Many arrests of rioters were carried out thanks to social media photographs and videos.

Democrat Bennie Thompson sued Trump along with Guiliani, the Proud Boys and others involved in the riot with a violation of the Klu Klux Klan Act by obstructing the work of Congress in ratifying the electoral college vote.

## *Opinions*

* I don't care what anyone says. Trump should have been found guilty by the Senate. Too many Republicans were scared of him and that was their chance to stand up for democracy and they failed. Trump is a liar, a manipulator, a con artist and worst of all a tax evader. While it was Guiliani that uttered the words that really fired up the Trump supporters, it was Trump that led the incitement. I know it's been said as fact (and it is) but I'll repeat it here. **Trump lost the election**. Fair and square. Trump was always a bad loser (see his commentary on the Emmys for proof). He's a spoilt brat and should be in prison - not looking to run again in 2024. **TLPG** 12:52, 10 August 2021 (UTC)
* I have been residing in Australia since 1982 but maintained my US citizenship, until Trump was elected in 2016. I knew he was a sidewinder and time proved me right. TLPG is right. Trump lost the election and no amount of crying is going to change history. His supporters who carried out this damn coup attempt are traitors to the United States of America and should be tried for treason. I am now an Australian citizen and will remain so at least until Trump gets his. Plainview (talk) 03:38, 11 August 2021 (UTC)