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BREAKING: U.S. Capitol building breached, on lockdown

A breach of the U.S. Capitol building by supporters of President Trump has caused a building-wide lockdown. The call to lockdown the building interrupted House and Senate sessions and the Senate chamber has been evacuated.

The Capitol mall in Washington erupted in chaos today as supporters of President Trump stormed the building after gathering by the thousands as Congress voted to officially declare Joe Biden the winner of the 2020 presidential election.

Leaders of the Senate, including Vice President Mike Pence serving in his role as the chamber’s president, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell were escorted to secure locations as protesters made their way into the building. Members of the House were likewise moved ushered out of the chamber, to the sounds of breaking glass as some in the mob began shattering windows.

Videos posted to Twitter showed confrontations inside the building, where Capitol police wielding batons engaged angry demonstrators trying to move further into the building.

President Trump and his supporters called for calm, but critics were quick to lay the blame for the pandemonium at his feet; they accused him of stoking emotions with his claims that the November presidential election had been an exercise in massive voter fraud and cheating in six states that delivered an Electoral College majority to Democrat Joe Biden. “This is wrong and not who we are,’ Donald Trump Jr. tweeted, to little avail. Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a 6 p.m. curfew in the city for Wednesday night.