Donald Trump tells supporters to 'go home' after storming of US Capitol
Supporters of US President Donald Trump react to tear gas during a clash with police officers in front of the US Capitol Building in Washington on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis)
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump told his supporters on Wednesday (Jan 6) to "go home" after they stormed the US Capitol following a rally during which he repeated his spurious claims of election fraud.
At the same time as he told his supporters to go home, Trump repeated his incendiary allegations that the Nov 3 election won by Democrat Joe Biden was "stolen".
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"I know your pain," Trump said in a one-minute video on Twitter. "We had an election that was stolen from us.
"But you have to go home now," he said. "We have to have peace. We have to have law and order."
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Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol after his nearby rally, disrupting a joint session of Congress being held to confirm Biden's victory.
Trump supporters, waving his blue flags and wearing his red campaign hats, stormed through the building, making it right into the debating chamber.
Biden had called on Trump to go on national television to demand "an end to this siege", and urged the mob to "pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward".
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Officers ordered people in the chamber to drop to the floor for their safety. Several hundred House members, staff and press were evacuated to an undisclosed location and were told not to leave.
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Election officials of both parties and independent observers have said there was no significant fraud in the Nov 3 contest, which Biden won by more than 7 million votes in the national popular vote.
Weeks have passed since the states completed certifying that Biden, a Democrat, won the election by 306 Electoral College votes to Trump's 232. Trump's extraordinary challenges to Biden's victory have been rejected by courts across the country.
