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Breaking Down 16 Hours of Total Chaos in Washington, D.C.
The day started with a rally. It ended with death, destruction, and the agonizing certification of the 2020 election.
The longest, ugliest presidential election in modern American history reached its formal conclusion with a joint session to formally certify the presidential election on January 6. It didn’t end until 3:39 a.m. on January 7, after a mob invaded the Capitol building and delayed proceedings for hours. Here is how one of the strangest and most chaotic days in Washington, D.C. history played out.
10 a.m.: Pro-Trump rally begins on White House lawn
The day begins with a “Save America March” and rally held on the Ellipse in front of the White House, featuring President Donald Trump and die-hard supporters once again embracing false claims about the 2020 election was fraudulent. The event culminates in an hour-long airing of grievances by the outgoing incumbent — including threats of political retribution against fellow Republicans who didn’t support his efforts to steal the election, including Brian Kemp, the governor of Georgia; Liz Cheney, the number three Republican in the House of Representatives; and even his own vice president, Mike Pence.
Trump also returns to the debunked claims he won reelection. “Take a look at third world countries, their elections are more honest than what we have in this country,” says the president. He ends by telling the crowd of die-hard supporters that “we’re going to walk down” to the Capitol to protest the joint session. Many of them begin to do just that, while the president motorcades back to the White House.
1 p.m.: Joint session of Congress begins
As Trump’s speech ends, the joint session of Congress starts on Capitol Hill. It is presided over by Pence, who faced pressure from Trump to throw out electoral votes in violation of the Constitution. Pence makes clear in a statement released while Trump was speaking during the rally, that he would not do this and would instead fulfill his largely ceremonial constitutional duties to preside over the joint session as the votes from each state were counted.
