On this day in 2021, supporters of Donald Trump invaded the US Capitol during the certification of electoral votes for the 2020 election, in what would become known as the January 6 Capitol riots.
Conspiracies surrounding the election, spread and promoted by Trump and many right-wing news outlets, led hundreds of people to surround the Capitol and riot in an attempt to enter and disrupt the count. Many of the rioters were willing to resort to violence against bipartisan members of Congress.
The conspiracies, and Trump himself, claimed that the election had been rigged to favor Trump's opponent, Joe Biden, and that it had been "stolen" from Trump.
"You don't concede when there's theft involved," Trump told his supporters near the White House before the riots began. Many of the cheering supporters at his speech went directly from there to the Capitol, where the violence began.
While swarms of protestors stormed into the Capitol building and destroyed federal property, police evacuated the House of Representatives and the Senate.
"We are witnessing absolute banana republic crap in the United States Capitol right now. @realDonaldTrump, you need to call this off," former Wisconsin representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican who supports Trump, posted on Twitter as demonstrators broke windows to gain entry to the US Capitol.
January 6 riots injured over 100 police officers
Five people died during the skirmish, and over 100 police officers were injured. Approximately 1,500 people were arrested for their actions in storming the capital, but Trump later pardoned all of them on his first day in office during his second term.
Trump continued to maintain on Twitter that the election had been "fraudulent," and had previously made and spread unsubstantiated or false claims of election fraud.
He was banned from Twitter for "the risk of further incitement of violence" two days after the insurrection, but the ban was lifted after Elon Musk purchased the social media site.
The attack led to Trump's second impeachment, one week after the insurrection, making him the first US president to be impeached twice. He has since been elected for a second presidential term.