House, Senate debate second challenge to Biden’s victory

In a long day dominated by pro-Trump rioters’ deadly storming of the Capitol, it was the second state for which a group of Republicans tried and failed to reverse the will of voters. Some GOP lawmakers have backed President Donald Trump’s bogus claims that the election was fraudulent.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believed no other states’ votes would be challenged. That means Congress’ formal certification of Biden’s victory could finish quickly once the House votes on the Pennsylvania challenge.

The Senate rejected the effort to cancel Pennsylvania’s votes without any debate.

Those objecting to Pennsylvania’s votes included 80 House Republicans and Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who is considered a potential 2024 presidential contender.

Jan. 6, 9:38 p.m. Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri have objected to the counting of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, triggering up to two hours of debate in the House and Senate.

The objections come 11 hours after the congressional count to confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential victory began, and after lawmakers had to evacuate both chambers for several hours to escape a mob that had violently breached the Capitol.

Hawley said last week that he would object to Pennsylvania’s electoral votes, saying Congress should investigate voter fraud. President Donald Trump has falsely said since his defeat that there was widespread fraud in the election.

Biden won Pennsylvania by just over 80,000 votes. Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump and his allies filed at least a half-dozen lawsuits challenging Biden’s win on various grounds, including that many or all of the state’s mail-in ballots were illegal.

The lawsuits failed as judge after judge found no violation of state law or constitutional rights, or no grounds to grant an immediate halt to certifying the election.

Jan. 6, 8:22 p.m. The House has voted overwhelmingly to reject an objection to President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Arizona, joining the Senate in upholding the results of the election there.

The objection failed 303-121 on Wednesday night, with only Republicans voting in support.

Earlier Wednesday, supporters of President Donald Trump breached the U.S. Capitol, forcing a lockdown of the lawmakers and staff inside. Trump has claimed widespread voter fraud to explain away his defeat to Biden, though election officials have said there wasn’t any.

Now that Arizona is out of the way, Congress will reconvene as the joint session and make its way through the rest of the states that have objections.

Jan. 6, 7:19 p.m. The Senate has overwhelmingly turned aside a challenge to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona, guaranteeing the result will stand.

The objection to the results in Arizona — spearheaded by Rep. Paul Gosar and Sen. Ted Cruz — was rejected 93-6 on Wednesday night. All votes in favor came from Republicans, but after violent protesters mobbed the Capitol earlier Wednesday a number of GOP senators who had planned to support the objection reversed course.

The Republicans raised the objection based on false claims pushed by President Donald Trump and others of issues with the vote in Arizona, which were repeatedly dismissed in Arizona’s courts and by the state’s election officials.

Jan. 6, 7:15 p.m. Sen. Lindsey Graham says a commission to examine the 2020 election is not a proper next step and affirmed that Joe Biden is the “legitimate president of the United States.”

Graham, a South Carolina Republican and longtime ally of President Donald Trump, called it a “uniquely bad idea to delay this election,” referencing the commission idea proposed by his fellow South Carolina Republican, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott.

Graham says, “Count me out. Enough is enough.”

Jan. 6, 7:06 p.m. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley says he is going forward with his objection to the Electoral College results in Pennsylvania despite the violent breach at the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.

The Missouri senator said he did not support violence but said the Senate should go forward with a legal process that includes his objections.

Hawley says his objections should be debated “peacefully, without violence, without attacks, without bullets.” He says he hoped lawmakers would not brush his concerns aside because of the violence earlier Wednesday, including the death of a protester inside the Capitol.

Trump has claimed widespread voter fraud to explain away his defeat to President-elect Joe Biden, though election officials have said there wasn’t any.

Jan. 6, 7:04 p.m.  House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is comparing violence at the U.S. Capitol to protests against racial injustice over the summer after the killing of George Floyd by police.

The U.S. Capitol was overrun by a mob supportive of President Donald Trump on Wednesday as Congress counted electoral votes to confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s win. Trump has falsely said there was widespread fraud in the election to explain his defeat and encouraged his supporters to come to Washington.

McCarthy said, “Mobs don’t rule America. Laws rule America. It was true when our cities were burning this summer and it is true now.”

The comment got loud applause from Republicans. Democrats in the chamber sat silently.

Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, was killed in May after a white police officer pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for several minutes even after he said he couldn’t breathe.

McCarthy, an ally of Trump’s, said Wednesday was the “saddest day” he’s ever had in Congress.

He said: “It is clear this Congress will not be the same after today.”

Jan. 6, 6:15 p.m. Multiple Republican senators reversed course and now say they won’t object to congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Sens. Steve Daines of Montana, Mike Braun of Indiana and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia all said in light of the violence at the U.S. Capitol earlier Wednesday, they would stand down from planned objections to Biden’s win.

Loeffler said that the “violence, the lawlessness, and siege of the halls of Congress” were a “direct attack” on the “sanctity of the American democratic process.”

All three had previously signed on to Trump’s false claims of widespread voter fraud to explain his defeat. Loeffler has just days left in her term. She lost her Senate race to Democrat Raphael Warnock earlier Wednesday.

Jan. 6, 6 p.m. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Congress “will not be deterred” in confirming the results of the presidential election hours after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol.

The Republican leader reopened the Senate late Wednesday, vowing to finish confirming the Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden. It was interrupted earlier in the day when rioters breached the security perimeter and clashed with law enforcement before disrupting Congress’ tallying of the Electoral College votes. One person was fatally shot.

McConnell said demonstrators “tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed.”

McConnell planned to keep the Senate in session Wednesday to finish confirming the results.

Trump has repeatedly told his supporters that the November election was stolen from him, even though that is not true. He reiterated the claim in a video filmed as his demonstrators were storming the Capitol.

Jan. 6, 5:43 p.m. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer says President Donald Trump “bears a great deal of the blame” after a mob loyal to him stormed the U.S. Capitol.

As the Senate reconvened to count electoral votes that will confirm Democrat Joe Biden’s win, Schumer said that Jan. 6, 2021, will “live forever in infamy” and will be a stain on the democracy.

Schumer said the events “did not happen spontaneously.”

He said Wednesday: “The president, who promoted conspiracy theories that motivated these thugs, the president, who exhorted them to come to our nation’s capital, egged them on.”

Trump has falsely claimed that there was widespread fraud in the election to explain away his defeat.

Schumer says the protesters should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Jan. 6, 5:17 p.m. The Senate has resumed debating the Republican challenge against Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, more than six hours after pro-Trump mobs attacked the Capitol and forced lawmakers to flee.

Scores of Republican representatives and 13 GOP senators had planned to object Wednesday to the electoral votes of perhaps six states that backed Biden. It was unclear whether those objections would continue in light of the day’s violent events.

President Donald Trump has falsely insisted that the election was marred by fraud and that he actually won. He reiterated those claims in remarks to thousands of protesters outside the White House early Wednesday and goaded them to march to the Capitol, which many of them did.

The mayhem had forced the House and Senate to abruptly end the day’s debates and flee to safety under the protection of police. And it prompted bipartisan outrage as many lawmakers blamed Trump for fostering the violence.

Jan. 6, 5:05 p.m. Former President Barack Obama issued a statement addressing today’s violence on Capitol Hill.

Obama said history will rightly remember the violence at the Capitol as a moment of great dishonor and shame for the nation.

Jan. 6, 5 p.m.  Vice President Mike Pence reconvened the joint session to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s win Wednesday following a siege on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

“We defended our Capitol today,” Pence said. “We will always be grateful. The men and women who stayed at their post to defend this historic place,” Pence said. “Those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. This is still the people’s house. As we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy.”

Jan. 6, 3:47 p.m. Nancy Pelosi announced the House will continue to count Electoral College votes tonight, amid a day of chaos and bloodshed at the Capitol.

“In consultation with Leader Hoyer and Whip Clyburn and after calls to the Pentagon, the Justice Department and the Vice President, we have decided we should proceed tonight at the Capitol once it is cleared for use,” the House Speaker wrote in a letter to fellow members of Congress. Adding, “I look forward to seeing you later this evening, during this time of great sadness.”

Jan. 6, 3:25 p.m. Washington, D.C., is now under citywide curfew until 6 a.m. Thursday local time, as ordered by Mayor Muriel Bowser. The sergeant-at-arms announced that the U.S. Capitol building is now secure, after being invaded by a pro-Trump mob earlier in the day. Riot police are pushing remaining Trump supporters away from the Capitol, though the crowd has dwindled, per CNN.

Jan. 6, 2:48 p.m. The woman shot at the U.S. Capitol today has died, per a law enforcement source, according to NBC News. The woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Dustin Sternbeck, a spokesman for the police department, told the New York Times that he did not yet know who shot her or have any other details.

Jan. 6, 11:27 a.m. Supporters of President Donald Trump have broken into the U.S. Capitol building as they riot in defiance of the election of Joe Biden. They are currently wandering the building, letting themselves into offices and posing for photos on the Senate floor.

They broke through barricades and forced their way inside. Reporters on the ground report people broke through windows, scaled fences and tried to force open doors. Reporters say police were overwhelmed by the mob demanding the legitimate election be overturned.

As the mob broke in, Vice President Mike Pence was rushed out of the Senate chambers by a security team. The Senate went into recess and Capitol Police are hours later still attempting to clear the building. Uncontested, Trump supporters entered the Senate floor and images emerged of police with guns drawn in the House chamber members of the mob attempted to break in.

It is unclear how many people have been injured. MSNBC showed footage of someone being wheeled out of the Capitol building on a stretcher, and D.C. Metro Police Chief Robert Contee III confirmed one person was shot inside the Capitol.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam said at 3:30 p.m. EST that the Virginia National Guard and 200 state troopers are being sent to D.C. White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted shortly after that the “National Guard is on the way.”

Trump supporters tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps and were met by officers in riot gear. Some tried to push past the officers who held shields and officers could be seen firing pepper spray into the crowd to keep them back. Some in the crowd were shouting “traitors” as officers tried to keep them back.

The skirmishes occurred outside in the very spot where president-elect Biden will be inaugurated in just two weeks.

Senators Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer issued a joint statement urging Trump to tell his supporters to “leave the U.S. Capitol and Capitol grounds immediately.” Shortly after, Trump issued a video statement on Twitter, but it focused more on pushing continued lies about how the election was “stolen” from him. There is no proof of widespread voter fraud, despite Trump’s insistence.

“I know your pain, I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side,” he said without evidence. “But we have to go home now. We have to have peace.”

The tweet is accompanied by a label from Twitter that cautions users they cannot reply to, retweet or like the video “due to a risk of violence.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.