WASHINGTON — The violent siege of the Capitol by President Donald Trump’s supporters forced painful new questions throughout government Thursday — about his fitness to remain in office for two more weeks, the ability of the police to secure the complex and the future of the Republican Party in a post-Trump era.
In the immediate aftermath, the attack on the world’s iconic dome of democracy reinforced lawmakers’ resolve to stay up all night to finish counting the Electoral College vote confirming that Democrat Joe Biden won the presidential election.
But the rampage that shocked the world and left the country on edge prompted lawmakers to launch a congressional review of the U.S. Capitol Police’s failure to stop the breach and is forcing a broader reckoning over Trump’s tenure in office and what comes next for a torn nation.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that any remaining day with the president in power could be “a horror show for America.” Likewise, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the attack on the Capitol was “an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president,” and Trump must not stay in office “one day” longer.
Meanwhile, other Republicans who echoed Trump’s false claims of a fraudulent election, including rising stars and some party leaders, faced angry, unsettled peers —- but also those cheering them on.
With tensions high, the Capitol shuttered and lawmakers not scheduled to return until the inauguration, an uneasy feeling of stalemate settled over a main seat of national power as Trump remained holed up at the White House.
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund faced pressure from Schumer, Pelosi and others in Congress to resign. The sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate that oversee the police and security at the complex were under scrutiny.
Sund, who resigned Thursday amid criticism stemming from the riot, defended his department’s response to the storming of the Capitol, saying officers “acted valiantly when faced with thousands of individuals involved in violent riotous actions.”
In his first public comment about the mayhem, Sund said in a statement that rioters attacked Capitol police and other law enforcement officers with metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants and “took up other weapons against our officers.”
But Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser called the police response “a failure.”
Sund’s resignation is effective Jan. 16.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also accepted the resignation of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger on Thursday.
Lawmakers from both parties pledged to investigate law enforcement’s actions.