Before the riot, Trump supporters participated in a rally near the White House. Congress was going to be meeting later that day to certify the Electoral College's votes for president and vice president, and multiple Senate Republicans were planning to raise objections to the count as Trump continued to push false conspiracy theories that the election was rigged against him. At the rally, Trump encouraged his supporters to march on the Capitol to challenge the final certification of Joe Biden's electoral victory. "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore," he said during his speech.
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Chamber assistants carry Electoral College ballot boxes at the Capitol. Congress' counting of electoral votes is typically little more than an afterthought. But this joint session was expected to be a contentious affair with some Republicans objecting to the count.
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Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier outside the Capitol. Shortly after 1 p.m., some pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear.
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The certification of Arizona's Electoral College votes is unsealed during the joint session of Congress.
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Trump supporters climb a wall outside the Capitol.
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Republicans applaud after US Rep. Paul Gosar, lower right, objected to certifying the Electoral College votes from Arizona. The Senate voted 93-6, however, to dismiss the objection, and it voted 92-7 to reject an objection to Pennsylvania's votes. In the House, a majority of Republicans voted to object to the results, but they were still soundly rejected: 303-121 for Arizona and 282-138 for Pennsylvania.
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Police clash with pro-Trump rioters who had entered the Capitol. This was the first time the Capitol had been breached since the British attacked and burned the building in August 1814, during the War of 1812. It took several hours for the Capitol to be secured.
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Members of Congress run for cover as rioters try to enter the House chamber.
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A noose is seen near Trump supporters gathered outside the Capitol.
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US Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman confronts protesters as they storm the building. Five people died as a result of the riot, including a woman who was fatally shot by police and three people who died of apparent medical emergencies. Among those who died was Officer Brian Sicknick, who suffered strokes and died of natural causes a day after responding to the insurrection.
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US Rep. Jason Crow, a Democrat from Colorado, comforts US Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, while taking cover in the House chamber.
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One of the most recognizable figures in the crowd was a man in his 30s with a painted face, fur hat and a helmet with horns. The protester, Jacob Chansley — known by followers as the QAnon Shaman — quickly became a symbol of the bizarre and frightening spectacle. In the months leading up to the riot, Chansley had been a regular presence at pro-Trump protests in Arizona, including demonstrations outside the Maricopa County vote-counting center. In November 2021, he was sentenced to 41 months in prison for his role in the Capitol riot.
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Trump supporters gather outside the US Capitol.
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People evacuate the House chamber as rioters attempt to break in.
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A Trump supporter carries a Confederate battle flag in the Capitol Rotunda after rioters breached the building. During the Civil War, the closest any insurgent carrying a Confederate flag ever came to the Capitol was about 6 miles, during the Battle of Fort Stevens in 1864.
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Police draw their guns as rioters try to break into the House chamber. "I kept my lens focused on that door and waited for the breach," said Associated Press photographer J. Scott Applewhite, the only journalist in the House chamber at the time. "When the mob began to break the glass in the door, I could barely see the face of one of the rioters. The cops and a new congressman with a law enforcement background tried to de-escalate the situation. Their guns were drawn and pointed at the hole in the glass. The growl of the mob could be heard on the other side."
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Congressional staffers put up a barricade inside the Capitol after the building was breached.
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A man hangs from a balcony in the Senate chamber.
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Protesters and police exit the Capitol after the clashes.
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Richard "Bigo" Barnett, the leader of a pro-gun rights group in Gravette, Arkansas, sits inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Barnett later showed reporters an envelope that he said he took from Pelosi's desk. He was later arrested, and he has pleaded not guilty to seven criminal counts.
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Electoral College votes are brought in before Pence and Pelosi.
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Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence preside over the joint session of Congress that officially certified Biden's electoral win. "To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win," Pence said. "As we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism in this Capitol."
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Broken glass is seen on the doors of the Capitol Rotunda entrance.
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