6th District Congresswoman Lucy McBath said Wednesday afternoon that “my staff and I are safe” after supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington and clashed with police.
The Marietta Democrat, who recently was sworn in for a second term, didn’t indicate in a Facebook message whether she was in the House chamber as members of Congress were going through the process of certifying Electoral College results in the presidential election.
Their deliberations were interrupted as pro-Trump protesters broke into the Capitol, including both the House and Senate chambers.
They had been attending a “Save America” rally to reject the Electoral College results, which gave the Nov. 3 presidential victory to Democratic former vice president Joe Biden.
A group of Republican senators, including Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, were lodging objections, but members of Congress, as well as Vice President Mike Pence, were evacuated.
“The actions of those seeking to overturn the will of the people are dangerous and destructive, but they will not succeed,” McBath said in her statement.
Loeffler, who lost her runoff election Tuesday to Democrat Raphael Warnock, posted a brief message Wednesday evening saying that “violence is abhorrent and I strongly condemn today’s attacks on our Capitol. We must stand united as one nation under God. I’m grateful for our brave men and women of law enforcement.”
Some members of the House were seen hiding as police attempted to barricade protesters from entering, with some law enforcement drawing guns.
Protesters were seen smashing windows attempting to get into the Capitol, and police responded by firing tear gas and pepper spray. The building was eventually placed on lockdown, and a 6 p.m. curfew was ordered by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser.
News reports said a woman who was shot inside the Capitol later died, but it wasn’t initially known who she was. Several other people were injured, according to news reports, but details are sketchy.
Protesters made themselves at home in the Congressional chambers, and one was seen sitting in a desk in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Trump eventually told protesters to go home, but he continued to insist the presidential election was stolen and that he won in a landslide.
On social media he also blasted Pence, who said he didn’t have the authority to reject the electoral votes of states.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” Trump wrote on his Twitter account. “USA demands the truth!”
In a subsequent message, McBath said she would be requesting Pence invoke the 25th Amendment “and begin the process of removing President Trump from office.
“The eyes of the world are upon us, and the President’s incitement of violence, his inducement of chaos, and his inability to faithfully ‘discharge the powers and duties of his office’ make it clear. The President has refused to protect our democracy and must be removed.”
In Atlanta, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and some of his elections officials were evacuated from the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday, and Gov. Brian Kemp and other state Republican leaders condemned the violence in Washington.
Both had come under fire from Trump, who demanded they resign for not intervening to overturn Georgia’s presidential election results in favor of Biden.
Kemp said of Wednesday’s violence that “this is absolutely disgraceful and un-American, and must stop immediately. The rule of law matters.”
Trump and his supporters had wanted a special legislative session in Georgia to address the election results. Kemp said Wednesday that “you can now see what that would have looked like.”
State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, an East Cobb Republican, said “it’s a sad day for our country. There’s no excuse for violence. We are all Americans. In the words of Ronald Reagan, ‘Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.’ ”
Congress returned to session to take up the Electoral College certification, and Loeffler withdrew her objections.
“I cannot now, in good conscience, object to this certification,” she said on the Senate floor.
In a joint session overnight Thursday, Congress certified Biden’s election by a 306-232 vote, with Pence presiding.
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