1:10 p.m. ET
As he ends rally, Trump calls for supporters to ‘walk down Pennsylvania Avenue’
While Congress begins the process of affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, President Donald Trump encourages his supporters to protest at the US Capitol. Despite promising he would join them, Trump retreated to the White House in his SUV and watched on television as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we’re gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong,” he said at his rally on the Ellipse.
As he was concluding, Trump again claimed he would join his supporters as they marched to the Capitol. “We’ll walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said.
Shortly after 1 p.m. ET
Pro-Trump rioters break through barriers at Capitol
Shortly after 1 p.m. ET hundreds of pro-Trump supporters push through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers “traitors” for doing their jobs.
Shortly after 1:30 p.m. ET
US Capitol Police send an alert to staff about a suspicious package, begin evacuating people
The US Capitol Police order staff to evacuate the House Cannon building and the James Madison Memorial Building, which is part of the Library of Congress, due to police activity, multiple sources told CNN.
Capitol Police send an alert to staff about a suspicious package. Later, law enforcement confirmed to CNN that pipe bombs were found at the headquarters for the DNC and RNC and grounds of the Capitol. All of the devices were safely detonated by the police, the source said.
Shortly after 2 p.m. ET
Capitol is locked down
2:24 p.m. ET
Trump criticizes Mike Pence as rioters breach Capitol
Trump calls out his vice president on Twitter, as rioters breach the Capitol and before Pence could be safely evacuated. Some of the pro-Trump rioters are heard screaming “Where’s Mike Pence” and chanting “Hang Mike Pence” — upset that he is performing his constitutional duty to certify the election results.
In a tweet that is no longer available because Twitter suspended his account, Trump writes:
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
Around 2:30 p.m. ET
Pro-Trump rioters smash Capitol windows
Shortly before 2:30, Capitol Police ask for additional law enforcement assistance.
Rioters climbed the walls outside the Capitol, clashing with police and pushing past barriers outside the building. The mob gained entry to the building after storming past police, with some smashing windows to get inside.
Around 2:30 p.m. ET
Pro-Trump rioters storm Capitol
After entering the Capitol, rioters begin roaming the halls of Congress. Many wore red MAGA hats as they took pictures in Statuary Hall, just off the House floor.
“I’ve never been in this House, how about you?” a woman yelled out to the crowd. “That’s right, we own it. We own you!”
2:30 p.m. ET
Capitol Police order evacuation of lawmakers
Vice President Mike Pence is evacuated from the Senate, along with Republican Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa. As the president pro tempore, Grassley is third in the line of succession to the President, behind Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Police also begin evacuating other lawmakers and staff present for the Electoral College vote affirmation. On their way out, staffers grabbed the boxes of Electoral College ballots to take them to safety.
Shortly after 2:45 p.m. ET
Trump supporters enter House Speaker Pelosi’s office
After entering the Capitol, some Trump supporters are able to enter Pelosi’s office. One poses for a photo, and a message is left on her desk that read “WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN.”
Shortly after 2:45 p.m. ET
Rioters swarm Senate floor and dais
As chaos descends on the Capitol, rioters enter the Senate chamber, with several posing for photos behind the dais.
2:48 p.m. ET
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announces citywide curfew
In response to the escalating situation at the Capitol, Bowser announces a citywide curfew for Washington from 6 p.m. until the following day at 6 a.m.
3:13 p.m. ET
Trump asks rioters to ‘remain peaceful’
In his second tweet on the riot, Trump calls on supporters, who protested in his name and whom he had encouraged to march to the Capitol, to “remain peaceful” and “respect the Law.” He refrains from telling them to go home.
3:15 p.m. ET
Ivanka Trump calls rioters ‘American patriots’ in tweet
While retweeting her father, Ivanka Trump refers to the rioters as “American Patriots.” She has since deleted this tweet.
3:21 p.m. ET
Reports of a woman fatally shot at the Capitol
A woman, an Air Force veteran participating in the riot, is reported to be in critical condition after being shot in the chest on the Capitol grounds. She is transported to the hospital, but later dies from her wounds. Three other rioters die from medical emergencies, according to DC Police Chief Robert Contee. Later, Capitol Police confirm that Officer Brian Sicknick sustained injuries while engaging with rioters. He later dies from those injuries and is laid in honor for his service in the Capitol Rotunda.
Around 3:25 p.m. ET
Senate floor cleared of rioters
More than an hour after rioters storm the Capitol, police are able to clear the Senate floor. Rioters are squeezed away from the Senate wing of the building and moved toward the Rotunda.
3:36 p.m. ET
Trump finally dispatches National Guard
Several hours after rioters breached the Capitol, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweets that Trump has dispatched the National Guard to DC, along with “other federal protective services.”
Trump initially resisted doing so on January 6 as his supporters breached the building, a source told CNN. Trump had deployed more than 17,000 members of the National Guard to at least 23 states and DC last summer in response to protests demanding justice for George Floyd.
Earlier in the day, Pence had been on the phone with Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley, according to another source, and had encouraged a much quicker deployment of the National Guard to the Capitol to help quell the rioters who were breaking through security barriers and overwhelming Capitol Police.
Around 3:44 p.m. ET
Reports of multiple officers injured
Multiple officers are injured in the violent mob, with at least one transported to a hospital.
4:15 p.m. ET
Biden says US democracy under ‘unprecedented assault’ and calls on Trump to ‘step up’
Speaking in Delaware, Biden calls on Trump to appear on television to “demand an end to this siege.”
“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times, an assault in a citadel of liberty: the Capitol itself,” Biden said.
“This is not dissent, it’s disorder. It’s chaos. It borders on sedition, and it must end now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.”
4:17 p.m. ET
Trump tweets out video
In a brief video that repeats a series of false statements about the election, the President tells rioters: “You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order.” Twitter has since removed the tweet for “repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity Policy.”
Twitter said it had locked Trump’s account for 12 hours, and warned for the first time that it may suspend him permanently.
6:27 p.m. ET
Congressional leaders announce that they will proceed with counting
After police cleared the Capitol and the 6 p.m. curfew began, Pelosi issues a statement that Congress intends to reconvene that night to finish affirming Biden’s election.
Michael Ruark 