Just minutes before 1 p.m., Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund asks House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving to declare an emergency and call for the National Guard to send in troops. At 1:05 p.m., he makes the same request to Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger. A mob of people who either didn’t attend Trump’s speech or left early have already begun breaching security around the Capitol.
The mob of supporters, militia men, and neo-Nazis (from here on referred to as “terrorists” because this is domestic terror) tear down fences and push past law enforcement. Based on video footage, some of the grounds are breached by massive physical assaults on the police while, in other areas, the police let them through and wave them towards the building. Some of the terrorists grab bike-rack barriers that are blocking the Capitol and run them to the side of the building to climb the walls. They prepared for this.
At 1:10 p.m., Donald Trump ends his “Save America” speech by telling his audience of thousands of his most loyal supporters that he is going with them to the Capitol, where Congress is in the process of certifying Joe Biden’s election victory.
His supporters join the terrorists at the Capitol. Donald Trump returns to the White House despite saying he’d join them.
Trump had lied to the crowd of frenzied supporters when he told them the vice president had the power to overturn the results of the U.S. presidential election. He had lied, too, when he said he would join them on their march up Pennsylvania Avenue to Congress to “show strength.”
Axios
Shortly before 1:30 p.m., the terrorists overwhelm security and force law enforcement up the steps of the building. The Capitol Police order evacuation of at least two buildings in the Capitol complex, including the Cannon House Office Building and the Madison Building of the Library of Congress. Around this time, Congressional staff learn that Senate Sergeant at Arms Stenger hasn’t called in the National Guard. Sund orders him to do so four more times throughout the next half hour.
At 1:35 p.m., DC Mayor Muriel Bowser calls in a request for Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy to provide additional forces at the Capitol. She doesn’t know that Trump’s Defense Dept. has banned McCarthy from sending in armed guardsmen. Inside the Senate, Mitch McConnell warns colleagues that refusing to certify the election results without evidence of wrongdoing would push American democracy into a “death spiral.”
Around 1:45 p.m., a pipe bomb is reported outside the Capitol. Sometime later, a second pipe bomb is found inside the Capitol.
Having given up on the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Sund requests immediate assistance from DC National Guard Commander Major General William Walker. Walker prepares guardsmen, ordering them onto buses to wait for permission from Army Sec. Ryan McCarthy. He, too, doesn’t know that Trump’s Defense Dept. has banned McCarthy from sending in armed guardsmen.
At 1:50 p.m., DC Metro Police’s on-scene commander Robert Glover officially declares a riot. Meanwhile, Alex Jones is outside the Capitol yelling through a bullhorn and attempting to stop the terrorists from harming law enforcement. On Twitter, former FEMA director Michael Brown says the terrorists are anti-fascists and Black Lives Matter supporters disguised as Trump supporters. His accusation is repeated on The Rush Limbaugh Show minutes later.
One minute before 2 p.m., Sund receives reports that the terrorists are at the Capitol doors and attempting to break in.
External Sources
Sources cited on Wikipedia’s timeline
Sources cited in Trump File’s original post
Photo: Blink O’fanaye
