NEW YORK: The storming of the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump played out on television in searing fashion Wednesday, with stunning pictures of guns drawn in the House of Representatives and hand-to-hand combat with police.
The scenes of bedlam and fear at the center of national government erupted quickly, but journalists wondered whether they should have been a surprise.
“It’s hard to believe that this is going on,” said CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. “This is unprecedented, it is dangerous and this is so, so embarrassing for the United States of America.”
Journalists had gathered to follow Congress’ counting of electoral college ballots to seal the victory of President-elect Joe Biden, a normally routine event turned tense by the challenge to the vote by some of Trump’s political allies. As that debate was ongoing, the media’s focus shifted to outside Congress, where supporters who had gathered to hear an aggrieved president fume about his defeat began streaming to the Capitol.
They climbed the Capitol steps, where one person held a placard saying “fight for Trump.”
After breaching the building, pictures emerged of an armed standoff in the House as politicians cowered behind desks and people smashed the building’s windows and climbed in. Newsmax showed stunning footage of police and rioters squaring off in the Capitol Rotunda.