On Wednesday, January 6th, 2021, a mob of pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S Capitol after a speech given by President Trump. Since the election, Trump has been making claims of election fraud, saying that the vote was “stolen”. On January 6th, Congress met to finalize the election results, which is usually a quick and symbolic process. It consists of reading and tallying each state’s electoral votes, but objections can be made. Once an objection is made, the House of Representatives and the Senate hold a debate, then vote on the objection. This can take a long time and almost never results in the objection being passed. While Congress met, Trump gave a long speech at a rally near the White House, telling his supporters to “stop the steal” and saying “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” His supporters promptly stormed the Capitol.

At around 2:00 pm on that day, rioters breached the building while the Senate and House were separated into debate regarding the objection to Arizona’s votes. They were about halfway through the process when the rioters broke the windows and entered the Statuary Hall. Many were carrying Confederate flags, Nazi imagery, plastic handcuffs, Christian imagery, and weapons such as assault rifles. Officials have speculated that they planned to take members of Congress hostage. Between 2:15 and 2:30, the House and the Senate were put into recess and the doors were locked. Soon thereafter, both chambers were evacuated.. There were multiple armed standoffs within the building and several shots were fired. 

Five people were killed in the violence of the day.

The Capitol building was declared secure at 8:00 pm, and the Senate reconvened at 8:06 pm, the House at 9:00 pm. The electoral vote count lasted into the early hours of the morning and at 3:24 am on January 7th, Joe Biden was declared winner of the 2020 U.S presidential election. 

During the attempted coup, there was notable silence from Trump. He posted a video at 4:17 pm on Twitter telling the rioters that they were “very special people” but they had to go home. At 6:01, he tweeted, "[t]hese are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!". Other than his tweets, he did not send any other messages and was reportedly hard to reach. His Facebook and Instagram accounts were permanently suspended on Jan. 6th, and his Twitter account was permanently suspended two days later for violating terms and conditions and encouraging violence. 

On the evening of January 6th, CBS News reported that the Cabinet had begun to consider invoking the 25th amendment. The 25th amendment allows the Vice President  (through a majority within the Cabinet secretaries) to remove the President.. It is mostly used under situations in which the President has medical issues that make them unfit to serve, but can be used in other scenarios. Congresspeople began to pressure Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th. He said he would not, so the House Rules Committee met on January 9th to vote on a non-binding resolution to tell Pence to invoke the 25th. He restated his stance. On January 11th, Representatives David Cicillian, Jamie Raskin, and Ted Lieu introduced an article of impeachment against Trump, charging him with Incitement of Insurrection. It was passed and on January 13th, Donald Trump was impeached for the second time. However, he has not been convicted in a Senate trial and therefore, cannot be not removed from office. 

These are certainly troubling times, and the violence of January 6th hase shaken us all. Despite this, change can and will be made, starting with you. Every person in this community has the power to make the change they wish to see in the world, however small or insignificant it may seem. That is the beauty and power of democracy and we must fight to uphold it.