Skip to content

Republish This Story

* Please read before republishing *

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives Creative Commons license as long as you follow our republishing guidelines, which require that you credit The 19th and retain our pixel. See our full guidelines for more information.

To republish, simply copy the HTML at right, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to The 19th. Have questions? Please email [email protected].

— The Editors

Loading...

Modal Gallery

/

Menu

  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships
    • From the Collection

      Changing Child Care

      Illustration of a woman feeding a baby a bottle
      • As climate change worsens hurricane season in Louisiana, doulas are ensuring parents can safely feed their babies

        Jessica Kutz · May 5
      • Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito argued abortion isn’t an economic issue. But is that true?

        Chabeli Carrazana · May 4
      • Pregnant people are at 'greater risk' in states hit hard by wildfire smoke, air pollution, new report shows

        Jessica Kutz · April 20
    • From the Collection

      Next-Gen GOP

      Illustration of a woman riding an elephant
      • A banner year for Republican women

        Amanda Becker · November 11
      • Republican women could double representation in the U.S. House

        Amanda Becker · November 4
      • U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik wants to elect more Republican women into office

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 13
    • From the Collection

      On The Rise

      Illustration of three women marching
      • Jessica Cisneros takes on the last anti-abortion U.S. House Democrat

        Amanda Becker · February 25
      • Meet J. Michelle Childs, South Carolina judge and possible Supreme Court contender

        Candice Norwood · February 18
      • ‘The bench is loaded’: A record number of Latinas are running for governor

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 11
    • From the Collection

      Pandemic Within a Pandemic

      Illustration of four people marching for Black Lives Matter with coronavirus as the backdrop
      • Some LGBTQ+ people worry that the COVID-19 vaccine will affect HIV medication. It won’t.

        Orion Rummler · November 23
      • Why are more men dying from COVID? It’s a complicated story of nature vs. nurture, researchers say

        Mariel Padilla · September 22
      • Few incarcerated women were released during COVID. The ones who remain have struggled.

        Candice Norwood · August 17
    • From the Collection

      Portraits of a Pandemic

      Illustration of a woman wearing a mask and holding up the coronavirus
      • For family caregivers, COVID is a mental health crisis in the making

        Shefali Luthra · October 8
      • A new database tracks COVID-19’s effects on sex and gender

        Shefali Luthra · September 15
      • Pregnant in a pandemic: The 'perfect storm for a crisis'

        Shefali Luthra · August 25
    • From the Collection

      The 19th Explains

      People walking from many articles to one article where they can get the context they need on an issue.
      • The 19th Explains: The governor’s races we’re watching in 2022

        Barbara Rodriguez · May 3
      • The 19th Explains: What to know about Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing

        Candice Norwood, Terri Rupar · March 21
      • The 19th Explains: Colleges are dropping the SAT in admissions. That’s a good thing for most girls.

        Nadra Nittle · March 3
    • From the Collection

      The Electability Myth

      Illustration of three women speaking at podiums
      • Do term limits help women candidates? New York could be a new testing ground

        Barbara Rodriguez · January 11
      • Girls are being socialized to lose political ambition — and it starts younger than we realized

        Barbara Rodriguez · September 23
      • Kathy Hochul’s rise in New York spotlights the barriers to women becoming governors

        Barbara Rodriguez · August 23
    • From the Collection

      The Impact of Aging

      A number of older people walking down a path of information.
      • Woman alleges that an assisted living facility denied her admission because she is transgender

        Sara Luterman · November 8
      • LGBTQ+ seniors fear having to go back in closet for the care they need

        Sara Luterman · October 12
      • The pandemic continues to strain nursing homes. What happens if a lot of them close?

        Mariel Padilla · September 9
    • From the Collection

      Voting Rights

      A series of hands reaching for ballots.
      • Florida’s redistricting fight continues. The head of the state League of Women Voters talks about what’s at stake.

        Barbara Rodriguez · April 19
      • Women have been sounding the alarm ahead of Texas’ first-in-the-nation primary

        Barbara Rodriguez · February 28
      • LGBTQ+ people of color are at risk from rising voter restrictions as federal protections falter in the Senate, advocates say

        Orion Rummler · January 19

    View all collections

  • Explore by Topic

    • Abortion
    • Business & Economy
    • Caregiving
    • Coronavirus
    • Education
    • Election 2020
    • Elections 2022
    • Environment & Climate
    • Health
    • Immigration
    • Inside The 19th
    • Justice
    • LGBTQ+
    • Politics
    • Race
    • Sports
    • Technology

    View All Topics

Home
  • Our Mission
  • Our Team
  • Latest Stories
  • Upcoming Events
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter
  • Donate
  • Work With Us
  • Fellowships

We’re an independent, nonprofit newsroom reporting on gender, politics and policy. Read our story.

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Donate to get our member newsletter

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Trump supporters breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election certification process.
Trump supporters breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election certification process. (Photo by ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP via Getty Images)

Politics

Women lawmakers condemn the president and urge intervention after riots at the Capitol

After a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, members of Congress were forced to recess as the building went into lockdown.

Mariel Padilla

General Assignment Reporter

Mariel Padilla portrait

Published

2021-01-06 17:39
5:39
January 6, 2021
pm

Updated

2021-01-06 19:36:00.000000

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

As Congress convened to count the electoral votes that would confirm Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, a mob of President Donald Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol while thousands swarmed the steps outside. Many chanted: “Stop the steal.”

Lawmakers put on gas masks and fled to a secure location while the rioters — many wearing Make America Great Again merchandise and camouflage clothing, and waving Trump flags — roamed the halls, smashed windows and broke into offices. The D.C. National Guard was activated, and Virginia’s governor dispatched members of the state’s National Guard and state troopers. At least one woman was fatally shot inside the building, according to D.C. police. 

Muriel Bowser, the mayor of D.C., issued a 12-hour citywide curfew from 6 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Nobody except essential workers should “walk, bike, run, loiter, stand or motor by car or other mode of transport,” Bowser said.

The 19th thanks our sponsors. Become one.

Earlier in the day, Trump held a rally near the White House and told thousands of his supporters that “we will never concede” and then encouraged them to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol to “take back our country.” 

As chaos unfolded at the Capitol, many members of Congress turned to social media to assure their constituents that they were safe and weigh in on the melee. Though there were many messages condemning the violence and asking the mob to stop, a handful of congresswomen — including some of the members of “the squad” — took a step further. 

On Thursday morning, after Congress stayed in session through the night to ratify Biden’s election victory, the House of Representatives adjourned until after the inauguration and the Senate until January 19.

Hours later, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York demanded action: “If the 25th Amendment is not invoked today, Congress must reconvene immediately for impeachment and removal proceedings.”

The articles of impeachment were drafted and finalized by Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet.

Omar had tweeted that she was “heartbroken” that members of Congress were “running for our lives” in the United States.

“We can’t allow him to remain in office,” Omar said on Twitter. “It’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.”

Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan also called for the president’s immediate impeachment and removal.

“This is on Donald Trump, period,” Tlaib said in a statement. “He called folks to D.C. and gave them marching orders.”

Within hours of the breach, Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri, who was sworn in just days before, assured the public on social media that she and her team were safe but in disbelief that “domestic terrorists” were roaming the Capitol’s halls. 

Bush called for every Republican member of Congress to publicly condemn or denounce the violent incident and introduced a resolution calling for the expulsion of those who “incited this domestic terror attack through their attempts to overturn the election.” 

Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts also announced that President Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives and removed from Office by the Senate “as soon as Congress reconvenes.” 

“This is dangerous and unacceptable,” Pressley said in a statement. 

Rep. Karen Bass of California posted photos of some of the rioters on social media and called for their arrest. 

“Every single person that scaled the Capitol with rope should be arrested,” Bass said in a statement. “Every single person that broke into Speaker Pelosi’s office should be arrested. Every single person that broke into the Senate Chamber should be arrested.” 

Rep. Liz Cheney, a member of the president’s own party, later attributed the violence to President Trump but stopped short of calling for action against him.”We just had a violent mob assault the Capitol in an attempt to prevent those from carrying out our Constitutional duty,” Cheney said in a tweet. “There is no question that the President formed the mob, the President incited the mob, the President addressed the mob. He lit the flame.”

Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina, a Republican who was recently sworn in, also took to social media during the chaos and asked the president to “please do something… I thought we were the party of law and order.” Mace later said Congress does not have the power to change election results and restated her commitment to certify the electoral votes in favor of Biden.

“This is not who we are,” said Mace, who also stopped short of calling for stronger action against the president. “This is not how our American democracy functions.” 

Share

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Email

The 19th News(letter)

News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday.

You have been subscribed!

Submitting...

Uh-oh! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Donate to get our member newsletter

Up Next

Senator Kelly Loeffler speaks to supporters during a rally.

Election 2020

Loeffler one of two Republicans projected to lose Senate runoffs in Georgia

Trump’s claims of election fraud likely contributed to Republicans losing Senate control.

Read the Story

The 19th
The 19th is a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. Our stories are free to republish in accordance with these guidelines.

  • Donate
  • Subscribe to the Newsletter
  • Attend an Event
  • Jobs
  • Fellowships
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Community Guidelines
  • Membership
  • Membership FAQ
  • Major Gifts
  • Sponsorship
  • Privacy
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram