Trump supporters stand on top of the U.S. Capitol Police armored vehicle while others take the Capitol’s steps on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 as Congress works to validate the electoral college’s votes.
Bill Clark | CQ Appeal, Inc. | Getty Images
The National Guard will respond at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday after pro-Trump rioters overran the building during the electoral college vote count.
Both Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi have urged the National Guard to stem the Capitol insurgency, two sources told NBC. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said the National Guard was “out with other federal security services” on Wednesday afternoon.
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam also said he would send his state’s National Guard to the Capitol along with 200 state troops. Protesters, spurred on by President Donald Trump’s calls to overturn the 2020 presidential election, entered the Capitol with relative ease on Wednesday afternoon, forcing lawmakers to evacuate to safe locations.
The Capitol breach halted the formal Congressional count of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump. Dozens of Republicans in Congress, supported by the president, had begun questioning the state’s results on baseless allegations of widespread fraud.
Trump spoke to his supporters and lied again that he won the election before they descended on the Capitol.
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