Rattled but defiant, members of Congress returned to the Capitol on Wednesday night to resume counting the electoral votes from the November election, a process that leaders on both sides of the aisle said would not be derailed by the earlier siege of the building by President Trump’s supporters.
“This temple to democracy was desecrated, its windows smashed, our offices vandalized,” Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, said as the Senate reconvened.
Mr. Schumer, who is poised to become the majority leader after Democrats won both of Tuesday’s runoffs in Georgia, said that January 6, 2021, was a date that would live in infamy, invoking President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s phrase after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
He called Mr. Trump’s supporters who stormed the building “goons and thugs.”
Moments earlier, Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, called the rioters “unhinged” and referred to the siege as a “failed insurrection.”
“We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation,” he said.
From the dais of the Senate, Vice President Mike Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol during the breach, thanked law enforcement officers for restoring order and protecting leaders.
“Violence never wins,” Mr. Pence said. “Let’s get back to work.”
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/06/us/washington-dc-protests
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