Vice President Mike Pence began to oversee the long-awaited joint session of Congress on Wednesday to congressionally certify the results of the 2020 election, which saw outgoing President Donald Trump defeated by President-elect Joe Biden.
Capitulating to Trump's lies that widespread election fraud orchestrated by Democrats tipped the election to Biden, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) was the first to back a House GOP objection to the electoral votes, disputing the results from Arizona, which went blue this year for the first time since 1996.
As the House and Senate separately debated the validity of Arizona's votes, a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, bringing the proceedings to a grinding halt.
The Vice President was evacuated. Tear gas was deployed. Congressional offices were infiltrated. Lawmakers were forced to hide as Trump supporters roamed freely on the Senate floor.
While Trump issued his own haphazard calls for peace, his eldest daughter and senior advisor, Ivanka Trump, urged the mob to remain peaceful, calling them "American Patriots" in the now-deleted tweet.
Ivanka has political aspirations of her own.
She calls armed mob at the Capitol who have injured Capitol police American Patriots. Then deleted it.
She's complicit in her father's attempted coup. pic.twitter.com/mhY0Y5CVoZ
— MARIA TERESA KUMAR #WearAMask (@MariaTeresa1) January 6, 2021
She later attempted to clarify the tweet, claiming that violence was unacceptable.
No. Peaceful protest is patriotic. Violence is unacceptable and must be condemned in the strongest terms. https://t.co/GwngZTqzTH
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 6, 2021
Ivanka Trump has fully supported her father and amplified his lies about election fraud, which led many to blame the violence and chaos on the disinformation she gleefully promoted.
Ivanka, these protesters are not patriotic and they are not protesters. They are participants in an illegal coup attempt -- supported and unleashed by your father. https://t.co/PY2uav2l1G
— Susan Glasser (@sbg1) January 6, 2021
Tell your dad to concede the election or shut up. https://t.co/AVYkRCCkd2
— Tim Miller (@Timodc) January 6, 2021
Will your father go on TV/radio now and tell his supporters in the strongest terms and acknowledge that he lost?
He's been feeding Americans conspiracy theories that drove people to this https://t.co/lH1RdvwTBU
— Domenico Montanaro (@DomenicoNPR) January 6, 2021
Hey @IvankaTrump
Why aren't you telling them to leave the Capitol?
Is it because you hope this coup attempt succeeds? https://t.co/Nkn45ZOdJV
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) January 6, 2021
Aye sis.... These people are rocking your family's merch though. https://t.co/BoisuBhyJQ
— x-Mike Mugavero (@mi_mug11) January 6, 2021
You created this! https://t.co/MP6QCQysFG
— George McGovern (@gmcgovern101) January 6, 2021
People hadn't forgotten about her deleted tweet.
After initially calling these rioters "patriots," the president's daughter tries again: https://t.co/cGCBLFVITp
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 6, 2021
'Patriots.' Arrest this idiot, too. https://t.co/MlwPibVkEn pic.twitter.com/u54apqoyOd
— Jeffrey Georgia On My Mind Wright (@jfreewright) January 6, 2021
Ivanka called them AMERICAN PATRIOTS??? Never forget this.
— Meena Harris (@meenaharris) January 6, 2021
The Capitol remains on lockdown.
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