Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered remarks on the Senate floor after the U.S. Capitol went into lockdown on Wednesday when a violent mob of Trump supporters forced their way inside the building and stormed the halls.
After Congress resumed its special joint session hours later to debate and count the electoral votes cast for President-elect Joe Biden, Schumer criticized the violence.
“This temple to democracy was desecrated. Its windows smashed, our offices vandalized. The world saw American elected officials hurriedly ushered out because they were in harm’s way. The House and Senate floors were places of shelter until the evacuation was ordered, leaving riders to stalk these hallowed halls. Lawmakers and our staffs, average citizens who love their country, serve it every day, feared for their lives,” Schumer said Wednesday night after Congress resume its proceedings.
The electoral vote counting process, a necessary and usually routine step of the presidential election, is in the spotlight this year because dozens of Republicans in the House and Senate are objecting to results in some states. President-elect Joe Biden won the election with 306 Electoral College votes after states certified their results, but President Donald Trump and many of his supporters have refused to accept his loss, making false claims of widespread voter fraud.
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