The count is in and it is official – Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States. But the announcement came after the Capitol came under a dangerous and violent siege from Trump supporters.
The Congressional process of the count, led by Vice President Mike Pence, was disrupted by a violent mob of Trump supporters who breeched the security and sanctity of Congress. Lives were lost, law enforcement attacked and killed, aides and members of the media attacked, and property stolen and destroyed.
It was an assault on the Constitution, government, and United States by what can now be termed as domestic terrorists who tore through the building and threatened the lives of Congressmen and staff, destroyed property, and spattered urine and feces on floors and walls.
An officer was hit with a bat. Another was struck with a flagpole. A third was pinned against a statue. A fourth was clobbered with a wrench. One became stuck between two doors amid a frenzied mob. Many were hit with bear spray, pipes, and other objects.
The number of injuries suffered by police as they attempted to fend off Trump supporters who seized the U.S. Capitol last week runs long. They include swollen ankles and wrists, bruised arms and legs, concussions and irritated lungs. How those injuries occurred is varied: pushed downstairs, trampled by rioters and punched with fists.
More than 58 D.C. police officers and an unknown number of U.S. Capitol Police officers were injured in the hours-long riot and assault on Wednesday as lawmakers were formalizing the election victory for Joe Biden as president.
It was a battle in which police were outnumbered. One Capitol Police officer died in circumstances that remain unclear. Officers who were veterans stated the experience was scarier than their time in combat.
Videos circulating on the internet show horrific scenes, including one of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, being dragged down the stairs outside the Capitol and beaten by people with clubs, a crutch and a pole with an American flag attached. The officer was rescued by other officers swinging batons. Sicknick was hospitalized and died from his injuries. Another video shows a D.C.
Another video shows a D.C. officer pinned between two doors in a Capitol vestibule, screaming in pain as rioters try to push his gas mask over his head as he was being crushed between colleagues and demonstrators in the narrow entryway. Some rioters ripped away the officers’ shields and used them to push back against the police. It was not a brief moment. Hundreds of rioters pushing for more than 30 minutes against D.C. police officers, who had rushed to help their colleagues on the Capitol force.
In a statement the day after the riot, then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned Friday, said officers were attacked with metal pipes, chemical irritants and other types of weapons. Several Capitol Police officers were hospitalized with serious injuries.
Greggory Pemberton, head of the D.C. police union, said one officer suffered an apparent heart attack after he was hit six times with a stun gun, and another lost the tip of his right index finger, possibly when it was crushed.
In all, five people died that day as a result of the insurgency on the Capitol, including one rioter who was shot as she was climbing through window, and three others from medical emergencies.
Another Capitol Police officer who had been at the Capitol during the riot took his own life. Saturday.
Thus far, more than 160 case files have been opened and 70 people charged so far, according to Michael Sherwin, US Attorney for the District of Columbia on Tuesday.
Twenty federal criminal defendants related to the deadly pro-Trump riot at the US Capitol have been rounded up across the country since the insurrection, with the allegations showing the danger of the mob.
While some of the misdemeanor charges filed so far are "just the beginning", he said, with officials looking at "significant felony cases" tied to sedition and conspiracy.
In a press conference Tuesday, Steven D'Antuono, the head of the FBI's Washington field office, said that they have been inundated with information and tips from the public: so far, they have received about 100,000 videos and photos.
Justice Department officials said they are considering filing serious charges of seditious activity against some individuals who were involved in the siege on the Capitol. According to federal criminal code, seditious conspiracy means an effort to conspire to overthrow the US government. The punishment is severe: up to 20 years in prison.
Some key arrests include Jacob Anthony Chansley, known as Jake Angeli, who refers to himself as Q Shaman is from Glendale, Arizona. He was the familiar figure with a painted face donning a fur hat and horns. Another QAnon figure arrested was Doug Jensen from Des Moines, Iowa. Proud boy Nick Ochs was arrested at an airport in Hawaii by the FBI on his return home; and Richard Barnett, the man whose photo in Nancy Pelosi’s office went viral.
The most unsettling of the allegations so far appear to be those against Lonnie Coffman, an Alabama man charged after authorities found 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle and a handgun in his truck parked two blocks from the Capitol.
In another complaint, Cleveland Grover Meredith Jr. is accused of writing in text messages that he wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and that he had brought hundreds of rounds of ammunition and three guns to Washington, DC, having driven from Colorado, according to court records.
On Sunday night, authorities arrested two more men, Eric Munchel of Tennessee and Larry Rendell Brock of Texas. Both had drawn attention online because of photos showing them wearing body armor inside the Capitol building and carrying plastic ties that could restrain a person.
Several others who were not charged with crimes have lost their jobs for attending the rally at which Trump spoke. One man, Derrick Evans, resigned from his recently won seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates after federal prosecutors charged him. Policemen from Washington are also being scrutinized by their department.
The extent of arrests to be made could be in the hundreds as the FBI and law enforcement continue to identify members of the mob. Investigations into officials who may have assisted and conspired to help or organize the Trump mob are also being pursued.