Hundreds of people barreled past fence barricades and clashed with police officers in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College results.
Hundreds of people barreled past fence barricades and clashed with police officers in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College results.
Jan. 6Capitol Attack
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How a Pro-Trump Mob Stormed the U.S. Capitol
ByLarry BuchananLazaro GamioChristina KelsoDmitriy KhavinLauren LeatherbyAlicia ParlapianoScott ReinhardAnjali SinghviDerek WatkinsandKaren YourishUpdatedJan. 7, 2021
White House
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Site of
Trump rally
U.S. Capitol
Building
Mob entered
Capitol building
National Mall
Buildings
evacuated
Explosive
device found

Tidal Basin
White House
Site of
Trump rally
U.S. Capitol
Mob entered
Capitol building
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Buildings
evacuated
Explosive
device found

White
House
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Site of
Trump rally
U.S. Capitol
Buildings
evacuated
Update:We analyzed the alternating perspectives of President Trump at the podium, the lawmakers inside the Capitol and a growing mob’s destruction and violence.
President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election came to a dangerous head on Wednesday when a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol following a rally in which Mr. Trump once again falsely claimed widespread voter fraud.
U.S. CAPITOL
Mob swarmed
through doors.
Senate Chamber
Vice President Pence
escorted out.
House Chamber
Armed standoff between
police and mob.
Statuary Hall
Mob waved
Trump banners.
Rotunda
Tear gas deployed.
Mob members
entered building
near here.
Mob flooded area after
breaching barricades.
N
Police barricades
Protesters seen on Capitol grounds.
CAPITOL GROUNDS
Protesters arrived from Trump rally.
U.S. CAPITOL
Mob swarmed
through doors.
House Chamber
Armed standoff between
police and mob.
Senate Chamber
Vice President Pence
escorted out.
Statuary Hall
Mob waved
Trump banners.
Rotunda
Tear gas deployed.
Mob members
entered building
near here.
Mob flooded area after
breaching barricades.
N
Police barricades
Protesters seen on Capitol grounds.
CAPITOL GROUNDS
Protesters arrived from Trump rally.
U.S. CAPITOL
Mob swarmed
through doors.
Senate Chamber
Vice President Pence
escorted out.
House Chamber
Armed standoff between
police and mob.
Statuary Hall
Mob waved
Trump banners.
Rotunda
Tear gas deployed.
Mob members
entered building
near here.
Mob flooded area after
breaching barricades.
N
Police barricades
Protestersseen on Capitol grounds.
CAPITOL GROUNDS
Protestersarrived from Trump rally.
U.S. CAPITOL
Mob swarmed through doors.
Senate Chamber
Vice President Pence escorted out.
House Chamber
Armed standoff between police and mob.
Statuary Hall
Mob waved
Trump banners.
Rotunda
Tear gas deployed.
Mob members
entered building
near here.
Mob flooded area after
breaching barricades.
N
Police barricades
Protesters seen on Capitol grounds.
CAPITOL GROUNDS
Protesters arrived from Trump rally.
U.S. CAPITOL
Mob swarmed through doors.
House Chamber
Armed standoff between police and mob.
Senate Chamber
Vice President Pence escorted out.
Statuary Hall
Mob waved
Trump banners.
Rotunda
Tear gas deployed.
Mob flooded area after
breaching barricades.
N
Police barricades
Protesters seen on Capitol grounds.
CAPITOL GROUNDS
Protesters arrived from Trump rally.
U.S. CAPITOL
Mob swarmed through doors.
Senate Chamber
House Chamber

1
4
Rotunda
Statuary
Hall
2
5
3
Mob flooded area after
breaching barricades.
N
Police barricades
Protesters arrived from Trump rally.
Senate Chamber: Vice President Pence escorted out.
1
Rotunda: Tear gas deployed.
2
Statuary Hall: Mob waved Trump banners.
3
House Chamber: Armed standoff between police and
mob.
4
Mob members entered building near here.
5
The Capitol was placed on lockdown Wednesday afternoon in a scene of unrest seldom witnessed in the history of the United States. Hundreds of people barreled past fence barricades and clashed with police officers in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College results.
Shouting demonstrators mobbed the second-floor lobby just outside the Senate chamber, as law enforcement officers placed themselves in front of the chamber doors. A woman who was shot by a police officer inside the Capitol was later pronounced dead at a local hospital, and D.C. police said an additional three people died from medical emergencies on the Capitol grounds.
U.S. CAPITOL
Second Floor
East side
Old Senate
Chamber
Senate
Chamber
National
Statuary Hall
House
Chamber
Rotunda
West side
Hallways
Capitol grounds and
National Mall
U.S. CAPITOL
Second Floor
Senate
Chamber
House
Chamber
Rotunda
Outside the Capitol
In the early afternoon, Trump supporters congregated along a police barricade outside the western steps of the Capitol, and many soon forced their way onto the steps of the building.
Capitol Police responded with tear gas, but were overwhelmed by the mob. The police said that more than 50 officers were injured during the riot, including some who were hospitalized.
The president’s supporters swarmed the western and eastern sides of the Capitol’s exterior, and could be seen climbing on walls and waving pro-Trump flags.
The mob breaches the Capitol
After members of the mob broke a window, the crowd began to flood into the building.
The mob also broke through the main doors on the east side of the Capitol’s central building, which lead into the Capitol Rotunda.
Capitol Rotunda
Dozens of Trump supporters moved freely within the Rotunda, and some of them vandalized the statues ringing the area.
House chamber
Police barricaded the main doors to the House chamber. Officers drew their weapons to protect the chamber as the mob gathered outside the door.
Lawmakers were given gas masks and evacuated from the chamber through the lower levels of the Capitol.
Some members of the mob were detained outside the House chamber. Police seized five guns and arrested at least 13 people, while dozens of others were allowed to go free. Later in the evening D.C. police said that 52 people had been arrested on the day after a citywide curfew went into effect at 6 p.m. Eastern.
Senate chamber
A man carrying a large Confederate flag stood outside the Senate chamber.
Members of the mob roamed freely in the Senate chamber and gained access to the gallery on the upper level.
Speaker Pelosi’s office suite
Later in the afternoon, a suite of offices used by Speaker Nancy Pelosi near the House chamber was also breached. A man was pictured sitting with his feet raised on a desk in one of the rooms.
The mob was on Capitol grounds for hours until they were cleared out by police. Congress reconvened around 8 p.m. Eastern to certify the Electoral College results, and members of the National Guard from D.C. and Virginia were mobilized to prevent Trump supporters from entering the Capitol again.
An earlier version of this article misidentified the entrance that the mob broke into on the east side of the Capitol. The doors the mob swarmed through were in the central building, not the House wing.