Welcome to bbc news. Im mike embley. Our top stories democracy unbowed. After a day of chaos on capitol hill, americas lawmakers get back to work. To those who wreaked havoc in oui to those who wreaked havoc in our capital today, you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the peoples house. We will not be put out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. This president bears a great deal of the blame. This mob was, in good part, President Trumps doing. Business was suspended and the building evacuated
after supporters of donald trump stormed congress. They were trying to stop the confirmation ofjoe bidens election victory. One person was shot Police Confirm shes now died. The president elect condemned the scenes in washington, saying they were unacceptable and un american. This is not dissent. Its disorder. Its chaos. It borders on sedition. This is the scene live in washington where lawmakers continue the business of democracy. Hello to you. After an astounding day in washington, dc, with capitol hill stormed by a pro trump mob, what one of the most senior politicians
in the country described as a failed insurrection, the us congress has recovened to certify the victory ofjoe biden in novembers election. At least one senator, Kelly Loeffler of georgia, has rescinded her objection to the certification of president ial electors. She was one of two republicans at the centre of a dramatic night before, when her party lost two senate seats in georgia, and with it control of the senate. On wednesday, hundreds of Trump Supporters stormed congress, breaking into the Senate Chamber and the office of the house speaker. A woman who was shot inside the building has died the circumstances so far unclear. All this after President Trump addressed his supporters near the white house repeating his claims that hed won the presidency by a landslide, that the election had been stolen by fraud, and telling them to march on capitol hill. Twitter has now locked mr trump out of his account for 12 hours and threatened a permanent suspension. Speaking as he reconvened the congressional session
to certify americas november election result, the us Vice President , mike pence, condemned those who stormed the capitol building. Today was a dark day in the history of the us capitol. But thanks to the swift efforts of us Capitol Police, the violence was quelled. The capitol is secured and the peoples work continues. We condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms. We grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls. As well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our capitol today. And we will always be grateful to the men and women who stayed at their post to defend this historic place. To those who wreaked havoc in our capitol today,
you did not win. Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the peoples house. And as we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy. Vice president mike pence there. It is worth noting that he and sanity Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell did distance themselves quite a bit from President TrumpSenate Majority leader. Afterwards they made no mention of the president and his encouragement of what happened. Mitch mcconnell said the chamber would never bow to thugs, mobs, and threats. The United States senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs, or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. We are back at our post. We will discharge our duty under the constitution and for our nation. And we are going to do it tonight. This afternoon, congress began the process of honouring the will of the American People and counting the Electoral College votes. We fulfil this solemn duty every four years for more than two centuries. Whether our nation has been at war or at peace, under all manner of threats, even during an ongoing armed rebellion in the civil war. The clockwork of our democracy has carried on. The United States and the United States congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today. The democratic leader in the senate, chuck schumer, said these events in washington today certainly would not have happened without trump, and that the president was squarely to blame. Make no mistake, my friends, todays events did not happen spontaneously. The president who promoted conspiracy theories that motivated these thugs, the president who exhorted them to come to our nations capital, egged them on, he hardly ever discourages violence, and more often encourages it. This president bears
a great deal of the blame. This mob was in good part President Trumps doing, incited by his words, his lies. This violence, in good part his responsibility, his everlasting shame. Todays events, certainly, certainly would not have happened without him. January 6th will go down as one of the darkest days in recent american history, a final warning to our nation about the consequences of a demagogic president , the people who enable him, the captive media that parrots his lies, and the people who follow him as he attempts to push america to the brink of ruin. Chuck schumer there speaking for the democrats. Lets cross live to ithaca, new york and speak to lens ohlin, a professor of law, from cornell university. Thank you very much your time. Good to talk to you. You the United States, like us in britain, likes to lecture the world about democracy. So much for that. So much for the shining city on a hill. Things a bad day for democracy and a bad day for the United States and it certainly doesnt set a good example as the cauldron of democracy. And yet democracy does look at the moment as if its been reestablished. It is. It is. I think the senate and the house are conducting themselves with appropriate gravitas at the moment and the machinery of government is moving on and it appears that president elect biden will be sworn in and there will be a peaceful tra nsfer of
sworn in and there will be a peaceful transfer of power. But it is, nonetheless, still distressing that some of the members of the senate are still object in to the electoral couege object in to the Electoral College vote. And we cant forget, can we, just how astounding it is what happened today. Joe biden said its not protest, is insurrection. That phrase was also used by the most senior republican, but from the president , of course, it wasnt just a protest againstan it wasnt just a protest against an election result people didnt like, it was an attempt to overthrow a democratic process. Some people call that a coup. Yeah, its a little bit hard to pick the right phrase, but i think whether you use the phrase insurrection or sedition or coup, they also call around the same idea, which is that this wasnt a protest on any day of the week, it was a protest designed to stop the congress from counting the electoral couege from counting the Electoral College vote and thats really subversion of democracy using,
you know, violence in place of democratic decision making. So you can call it a coup, you can call it insurrection, you can call it insurrection, you can call it insurrection, you can call it sedition, think all of words are appropriate. At its most basic it was an attempt to replace the rule of law by rule of force and thats unacceptable. Where does mr trump stand in all this, legally. Former president obama says mr trump incited this. Theres no doubt he told a mob of people that he had won by a landslide, but the votes were being stolen by broad, and they needed to go to capitol hill and confront the people who we re and confront the people who were failing to save his presidency. Thats correct, he did. Andi presidency. Thats correct, he did. And i think he incited this in two ways, one a general way and the other a specific way. The general way is hes been laying a foundation by spreading lies and misinformation about the election four months or weeks since the election, saying it was an illegitimate response
stop and then specifically today at the rally he was com pletely today at the rally he was completely unhinged and it wasnt just completely unhinged and it wasntjust him, it was him and also rudy giuliani, who basically suggested, not suggested, they told the crowd to march to the capital and to stop what was going on. So it was clearly an incitement. It was clearly an incitement. It was an instigation. As a violation of the criminal law to incite a law to commit violence like. It could also be described as sedition. And, you know, it wouldnt be surprising to me if this is finally a redline that is crossed for trump and a lot of people Start Talking about criminal prosecution of him. Of course, how many times has that been said . The idea that red lines have been crossed over the last two years. Have been crossed over the last two yea rs. Clearly have been crossed over the last two years. Clearly youre not a fan of mrtrump, two years. Clearly youre not a fan of mr trump, but strictly, legally, when assessed and in terms of responsibility for this. There are reports, we cant confirm them, from our partner channel, cbs, that
cabinet members are considering removing the president from office under the 25th amendment. That would suggest that in effect he has lost his mind, he is unable to discharge his duties. What about that . Is a possibility. Ithink his duties. What about that . Is a possibility. I think there are discussions of that going on in the corridors of washington, dc tonight. He could be removed from office by a vote of the majority of the cabinet. He could also be mp, that would be a little bit shocking. But you could have a kind of rushed impeachment before his time runs out in the next few days. The other possibility is he could be impeached if biden is inaugurated. Its kind of rare but there is historical precedent for impeaching a federal officer who was no longer in office to make clear that they are ineligible to hold office ever again in the future. And yet, in terms of
politics and practicality, all those things youve outlined legally would open up even further the wounds with seen today. Its true. And i think he by the administration is going to have a tough decision about a Transitional Justice after the inauguration. To what degree do they want to seek justice for all of the wrongs that trump has committed or how much do they want to turn the page and usher in a new era and leave the past behind . And i think that is a very difficult decision that biden is going to have and also his new attorney general, who apparently was going to be mary garland. Professor lens ohlin, really interesting to talk to you. Thank you very much. My pleasure. We speak to a senior north america reporter. They know you have been watching all of this today. Just an astonishing day. It has been an astonishing day. We started this day talking about the Georgia Senate races and how the power was shifting in washington, dc as democrats we re in washington, dc as democrats were poised to take over the senate and joe biden would have unified government when he was elected, when he was inaugurated as president in just two weeks. Then we were going to talk about proceeding to what happened in congress and how republicans were going to lob some challenges to the vote counting, but the democrats would eventually prevail and then everything went off the rails. Everything went off the rails. Everything went ina went off the rails. Everything went in a direction that i think a lot of people feared might happen, but few thought would actually be realised. Might happen, but few thought would actually be realisedlj think would actually be realised. think you said this today, there has been nothing like this in modern american history, you probably have to go back to 1814 to see the capital bridge like this, when the british burned the place to the british burned the place to the ground. Yes, the war of 1812, as they call it here in the United States. The capital, think american is that to be
one of most secure locations in this country. The seat of the American Legislature should be protected from this sort of violence, but clearly Law Enforcement was not prepared for what descended on capitol hill. Im reminded of what happened just a few months ago in michigan, in the state capital there where pro trump protesters who were protesting coronavirus lockdowns were able to storm the state Legislature Building and shut things down, but i remember watching that leo and feeling shocked, thinking to myself, well, that could never happen here in washington, dc in the seat of the federal government, obviously i was proven wrong today. Anthony, guess people should know they can get trust what you say. Your contacts trust what you say. Your co nta cts a re trust what you say. Your contacts are unrivalled. What are you hearing about the fallout from all of this . The New York Times suggesting there will be resignations, the having some already around the present, but further high level resignations. Cbs news, we
cannot confirm it, have been saying some cabinet members are meeting to discuss, essentially, forcing the president to step down under the 25th amendment. Resignations are inevitable. It will be easy, the people are leaving anyway and is the chance for to make some kind of a statement in an attempt to preserve their own reputation. Obviously the 25th amendment, that would be an Unprecedented Development and would be a heavy lift for many cabinet members who are in active positions. I think conversations are one thing but actual voting to remove the president , that would be a heavy lift even at this point. And yet, so many people must be thinking nervously that in the white house for another two
weeks or so we have a man who Mitch Mcconnell himself has said incited a failed insurrection, sitting there in the white house with the nuclear code. What does he do next . He has been silenced at least temporarily. Normally we have a regular window into his thoughts, not always reassuring but thanks to social media we getan but thanks to social media we get an idea of what is going on inside his head as he sits in the white house and he has been sitting in the white house for most of the month, most of the weeks since he lost the president ial election. We do not have that right now since his twitter access has been taken away. I think there is some very real concern that at the moment donald trump is stewing in anger and resentment of what has happened. He is a consumer of media so he must be watching the Media Coverage of the violence on the hill and the violence on the hill and the reaction, the condemnation over his conduct. It will could lead to an unpredictable atmosphere. He has no schedule
announced for tomorrow, it is unpredictable and in a concerning sort of way. How do you read what Vice President penson Mitch Mcconnell are doing . Today they broke with the president for the first time today. Neither did what he wanted. But then they gave two addresses after the invasion in this crucial session and they do not mention the president at all or his responsibility for what just happened. All or his responsibility for whatjust happened. That what just happened. That was very interesting. It is almost like they were willing to criticise before the happened but they were less confident that they could get away with attacking the president when he was vulnerable and had already been roundly criticised by other members of the party and certainly by democrats and the media. I think what we saw going into today was Mitch Mcconnell trying to chart a course for the Republican Party separate from donald trump, he was looking beyond the presidency and realising that donald trump and trumpism may
not be a winning solution for his party, particularly after those georgia results. Mike pence was put in a real bind. On one hand he had to try and position himself as the inheritor of donald trump s legacy, possibly for a run in four years, but do not cross the president , to finally acknowledge that he did not have the power to reject votes in the Electoral College but all of that was quickly overshadowed the violence on the hill and the suspension of congress. You touched on the other pieces of drama. We hardly mentioned the fact that the democrats have taken control of the Senate Thanks to two extraordinary wins in georgia and tragically, a woman lost her life on capitol hill today. Can you help us with the process going on at the moment in congress . This joint session, normally a rubber stamp that has taken on so much significance today. Many republicans were using it as a
springboard for their president ial ambitions. They we re president ial ambitions. They were grandstanding to some extent, knowing that their challenges would not be successful, but people like josh hawley and ted cruz were using at the curry favour with the donald trump base. They both have president ial ambitions and may run for the nomination in four years. There we re nomination in four years. There were other members of congress who probably felt like they had to lodge their own objections because if they did not donald trump may support primary challenges against them in two yea rs challenges against them in two years oi challenges against them in two years orfour challenges against them in two years or four years challenges against them in two years orfour years or challenges against them in two years or four years or however many years down the road. I think now what you see is some of these republicans backing away from this because the dynamic has changed. They do not want to be seen continuing to press this after the violence in the capital today but in reality there is still republicans up there talking right now in the senate and house of representatives, talking about how the election was stolen and they want a full investigation. It is jarring to
see business as usual somewhat re emerge on the capital. See business as usual somewhat reemerge on the capital. Thank you so much. In case you have been away from the screen for a while and justjoined us it is worth reminding people what happened and take washington today. Attention has been centred on the resumption of congress in the last hour the events that led up to them being abandoned has been incredible. Our north america editor reports on an extraordinary start to the session to confirm president electjoe bidens victory. Shouting. The peaceful transfer of power, the cornerstone of american democracy seemed a highly abstract concept today. As Trump Supporters clashed with police as they tried and succeeded to storm the congress, where americas elected leaders had gathered to certify the election victory ofjoe biden. Earlier, in a rally outside the white house, donald trump encouraged his loyal base to fight to overturn the result of this bitterly contested election. Were going to walk
down to the capital cheering. And we are going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and were probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because youll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong. Many of his supporters needing little encouragement to join the fight. Were here to support, you know, if violence happens, like it happens, but we are not going to start it, you know . Were just here defend ourselves. Say that again . Im a mexican immigrant, i support trump. Freedom is paid for with blood and tyranny always masquerades itself as safety and security, and thats what we are fighting against right now. Outside the capitol, the outer ring of security had been breached, the crowds had taken donald trump at his word and they were taking
the fight to the heart of american democracy. They were literally banging on the doors of congress. This way and then, some Trump Supporters managed to get inside. They were armed and wandering the capitol building. Chanting usa there were tense and violent scenes with police who have never dealt with anything like this. These pictures appear to show a woman protester being shot a protester breached the inner sanctum of the chamber. The Vice President had to be removed to safety by his secret Service Detail and then the joint session was adjourned. Earlier, the Republican Senate leader for so long a loyal lieutenant of the president turned on him with this withering assessment. If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral. We would never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power, at any cost. And the Vice President , whos officiating over this joint session, and has shown donald trump near slavish loyalty, also said it was not his role to overturn the verdict of the people. He went on. The president elect has gone on television to warn that american democracy is under unprecedented assault and he made this appeal. I call on President Trump to go on National Television now to fulfil his oath and defend the constitution. And demand an end to this siege. To storm the capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, the floor of the United States senate, rummaging through desks of the house of representatives, threatening the safety of duly elected officials. Its not a protest, its insurrection donald trump has spoken. He called on his supporters to stand down, but condemnation, there was none. This was a fraudulent election. But we cant play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home, we love you, you are very special. The chamber has emptied, democracy puts on hold, outside, they were scaling the ramparts, the mob for the moment, in charge, believing they have the right to overthrow the will of the people. Tonight, this shining city on the hill, as america likes to describe itself, feels as though the light
of democracy is flickering dangerously. Jon sopel, bbc news, washington. Republican congressman Michael Mccaul has been on capitol hill today. Laura trevelyan spoke to him before the session resumed and he gave his reaction to the scenes in washington. It was very shocking. I drove into the complex this morning and we saw the protesters outside. I was a little worried that Something Like this could happen but i really did did not envision a complete takeover of the capitol. There was an invasion, an assault on one of our greatest institutions. The symbol of democracy. We like to think we are a beacon of hope for the world and i think today was very damaging for the United States of america to have our capitol ta ken over United States of america to
have our capitol taken over by these mobsters and so i barricaded in my office, the protesters were outside and we we re protesters were outside and we were worried they would break down the door. There were two bombs that Capitol Police were able to detonate without causing injury but we had gunshots at the capitol when they tried to invade the House Chamber and they tried to invade the House Chamberand a they tried to invade the House Chamber and a woman was killed. They overtook the senate floor, sat in the chairs, invaded the office of speaker per lucy. An extraordinarily shocking day today on capitol hill. The president did tweet that today would be wild and he urged his supporters to march on congress. Could this have been avoided had he taken a different tone with his most ardent supporters . What i see
is the real problem is that, yes, they were invited to come to washington but they had the expectation that congress was going to overturn the election. That is not our role in our constitution. Congress accepts the electors from the states but we cannot second guess or overturn the states certifications. So there is an expectation, you know, that the election was going to be overturned and i think that was a false premise and when the mob got wind from the Vice President s statement that that was not going to happen, that is when the violence did and thatis is when the violence did and that is when they started to break the doors, the windows and invade the capitol. I do blame public leaders for putting this false expectation up putting this false expectation up there. Were not here to
overturn state certifications. Simply count the votes and then certify them and i think the way this has been handled has been a bit of a political charade. In about 20 minutes time you and your colleagues will resume the process of certifying the election results. You expect your republican colleagues who were to raise objections will now drop them . I do. Ithink mcconnell, after what happened, he the events that transpired today. Mcconnell has a tight grip on the senators so as long as we do not have a centre to stand up like what we had this morning, then there are no more objections. I anticipate one vote on arizona and certification of the electoral couege certification of the Electoral College and it is my sincere hope. We have always prided ourselves in this country as a democracy with a peaceful transition of power, not a coup or mob violence. There is
a lwa ys or mob violence. There is always a peaceful transition of power on january 20. So always a peaceful transition of power onjanuary 20. So it is my power onjanuary 20. So it is e power onjanuary 20. So it is my hope that we can move forward and move on without this violence and go into this inauguration and, you know, not have the violence. We are seeing resignation from the white house tonight, the first ladys chief of staff says it has been an honour to serve the country but she is resigning reportedly because of what happened. How do you see the president s last two weeks in office panning out after this . I think he is going through stages of denial and maybe will finally come to acceptance. I do know that it isa acceptance. I do know that it is a very, pretty difficult place to work right now. I think the president is looking for any way to delegitimise the selection, but you will probably see tonight, were probably see tonight, were probably going to certify the
Electoral College then we