this is bbc news. i'm laura trevelyan, with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. chaos on capitol hill — supporters of donald trump storm congress as lawmakers try to confirm joe biden‘s election victory. the building was evacuated and officers clashed with protesters. one person was shot. police have confirmed she's now died. the president—elect condemned the scenes in washington, saying they were unacceptable and un—american. this and un—american. is not the sent. it is it is this is not the sent. it is it is chaos. it borders on sedition. democracy unbowed — the business of the day was suspended for several hours but will now resume.

this is the scene live in washington where a curfew is in place. officials say the capitol building is now secured. hello and welcome. it's been a day of extraordinary scenes on capitol hill here in washington, where hundreds of trump supporters have stormed congress as a joint session was taking place to endorse the results of the presidential election in november. a woman who was shot inside the building has died; the circumstances are unclear. some protesters broke into the senate chamber and the office of the house speaker, the democrat nancy pelosi. twitter has locked mr trump out of his account for twelve hours and threatened a permanent suspension. the us congress is due — about now — to reconvene to certify the victory of president—electjoe biden in november's election. we begin our coverage with this

report from our north america editor, jon sopel. no, we will go to the live pictures shortly. meanwhile you can see our correspondent inside the capital building. our correspondent lebo diseko was inside the capitol building when security officials ordered her to stop broadcasting and move to a safer area. she's been there ever since — and shejoins me now. lawmakers are about to resume this process of certifying the election but have the last few hours been like for you? it has been quite a day. seems i never thought i would see in the us capitol foreshore. we are standing at the point we were when we were asked move by the police and there has been widespread criticism of the scenes both from democrats but also from members of donald trump ‘s own party. some of whom you might expect, people like mitt romney, but others

you may not expect. the republican pa rty‘s communications director likening the scenes we saw today to a domestic terrorism. liz cheney has been critical of the president in the past, accusing him of fanning the fla mes accusing him of fanning the fla m es of accusing him of fanning the flames of what we saw today but also tom cotton, someone who was fairly close to the president saying, again, that he has fanned the flames. we have heard from the only living former republican president, george w bush, likening the scenes to what you may see in a ba na na scenes to what you may see in a banana republic. president obama as well, statement after statement from key people in the us politics, denouncing the scenes that we saw today. the one person we have yet to hear from ms mitch mcconnell. he is the leader of the republicans in the senate. he had warned his senators not to try and bring the objections that they

had been planning to the certification process. earlier he said it would be bad for the republican party. of course he would not have known that the scenes would unfold like they would today but i think that we had for some time tried to bring his party along a more moderate tone and that is certainly not what we saw from donald trump earlier when he told protesters to come up here. as you said he has now been locked out of twitter after messages, posting m essa 9 es after messages, posting messages that would have said was inciting violence. and lawmakers are about to resume the process of certifying the votes in the electoral college. it does seem that republicans could drop their objections to the process. that would be significant, wouldn't it? yes. that would be quite a rolling back of what they had planned to do. perhaps the only choice they have, given the

circumstances. we heard ted cruz earlier blaming the other side for being divisive but i think that it would certainly be seen as not exactly bringing the two houses together if they continued with those objections tonight. we do not know how things will play out but that is certainly the sense that we are getting, that they mayjust proceed as normal, as we have been used to things happening. maybe 30 minutes and then the results are confirmed. and what is the atmosphere like in there now, in the rotunda after this dramatic day with protesters storming the building and a woman dead? it is eerily quiet here. you can hear an echo but it is nothing like the sort of excitement and hubbub that you usually hear when there are many journalists. what i found interesting was speaking to people who work here when we

we re people who work here when we were locked down in the cafeteria. a few said that they we re cafeteria. a few said that they were on the house floor and they were shocked and appalled to see protesters climbing all over the desks that the lawmakers use. they are not even allowed to touch them. they also said that they were worried about their colleagues. they were friends with policemen and security people and they watched with us as though scenes were taking place outside. they were really concerned about the safety of people that they know and work with and care about. one of them calling this, basically, a disrespect of the democratic institutions of america. both of them saying it was painful to see. i also spoke to a gentleman who works for a member of the house of representatives and he said that when he saw the police coming through here earlier he knew it was serious because they do not usually do that. he was much more critical of donald trump specifically, saying that some of his language is what led to this

and he called it an assault on american democracy. and he called it an assault on american democracylj and he called it an assault on american democracy. i must cut in now because the vice president has resumed the process of certifying the electoral college votes. the violence was quelled, the capitol is secured and the people's work continues. we condemn the violence that took place here in the strongest possible terms. we grieve the loss of life in these hallowed halls. as well as the injuries suffered by those who defended our capitol today. and we will a lwa ys our capitol today. and we will always be grateful to the men and women who stated their post to defend this historic place. to those who wreaked havoc in our capital today, you did not win. violence never wins.

freedom wins. and this is still the people's house. and as we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy. for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism of this capital, the elected representatives of the people of the united states have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the constitution of the united states. so may god bless the lost, the injured and the heroes forged on this day. may god bless all who serve here and those who protect this place. and may god bless states of america. let's get back to

work. applause that was the vice president mike hence their reopening that session of —— after though scenes of violence saying the capital is now secured and he has condemned the violence, he says his message to those who wreaked havocin message to those who wreaked havoc in our capital is that you did not win, violence never wins. freedom wins. he says let's get to work. let's listen now to mitch mcconnell. to the objection raised on the state of arizona. what is the objection? that objection so ordered. on the side of the american people, the united states senate will not be intimidated. we will not be kept out of this chamber by

thugs, mobs or threats. we will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. we are back at our post. we will discharge our duty under the constitution and for our nation. and we are going to do it tonight. this afternoon, congress again the process of honouring the will of the american people and counting the electoral college votes. we fulfil this solemn duty every quarter years for more than two centuries. whether our nation has been at war or whether our nation has been at waror in peace, whether our nation has been at war or in peace, under all manner of threats, even during an ongoing armed rebellion during the civil war. the clockwork of our democracy has carried on. the united states

and the united states congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today. we have never been deterred before and we will be not deterred today. they tried to disrupt our democracy. they failed. they failed. they failed to attempt to insert —— obstruct congress and this failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our republic. 0ur the task before us is for our republic. our nation was founded precisely so that the free choice of the american people is what shapes our self—government and determines the destiny of our nation. not fear, not force. but the peaceful expression of the popular will. now we assembled

this afternoon to count our citizens votes and formalise their choice of the next president. now we're going to exactly what we started. we will complete the process the right way, by the book. we will follow our presidents and our laws and our constitution —— precedents. and we will certify the winner of the 2020 presidential election. criminal behaviour will never dominate the us congress. this institution is resilient. 0ur democratic republic is strong. the american people deserve nothing less. that was the

senate majority leader there, mitch mcconnell saying that the us senate will not be intimidated nor kept out of the chamber by threats or intimidation. let's had now to chuck schumer, the senate minority leader soon—to—be majority. never have imagined the experience like the one we have just witnessed in this capital. president franklin roosevelt set aside december seven 1941 as a day that will live in infamy. unfortunately we can now add january six 2021 to that very short list of dates in american history that will live for ever in infamy. this temple to democracy was desecrated. its windows smashed and our offices vandalised. the world saw america's elected

officials hurriedly ushered out because they were in harm's way. the house and senate floors were places of shelter until the evacuation was ordered. leaving rioters to stalk these hallowed halls. lawmakers and our staff, average citizens who love their country and serve it every day, feared for their lives. i understand that one woman was shot and tragically lost her life stop we mourn her and feel for herfriends life stop we mourn her and feel for her friends and family. these images were projected to the world. foreign embassies cabled their home capital is to report the harrowing scenes at the very heart of our democracy. this will be a stain on our country not so easily washed away. the final terrible indelible legacy of the 45th

president of the united states. undoubtedly our worst. i want to be very clear. those who perform these reprehensible act cannot be called protesters. no, these were rioters and insurrection is. goons and thugs, domestic terrorists. they do not represent america. there were a few thousand violent extremists who try to ta ke violent extremists who try to take over the capital building and attack our democracy. they must and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. hopefully by this administration. if not, certainly by the next. they should be provided no leniency. i want to thank the many of the capitol hill police and secret service and local police who kept us safe today. and worked

to clear the capital, and return it to its rightful owners and rightful purpose. i wa nt to owners and rightful purpose. i want to thank the leaders, democrat and republican, house and senate, speaker pelosi, leader mcconnell, who came together and decided that these thugs would not succeed. that we would finish the work that our constitution requires us to com plete our constitution requires us to complete in the very legislative chambers of the house and senate that were desecrated, but we know, always, belong to the people, and do again tonight. but make no mistake, make no mistake my friends, today's events did not happen spontaneously. the president who promoted conspiracy theories that motivated these thugs, the president who exhorted them to come to our nation's capital, and give them on, he hardly

ever discourages violence, and more often encourages it. this president bears a great deal of the blame. this model was in good part president trump's doing, incited by his words, his lies, this violence, in good part is responsibility — his responsibility, his everlasting shame. today's events, certainly, certainly would not have happened without him.january would not have happened without him. january this eczema go down as one of the darkest days in recent american history, a final warning to our nation about the consequences of a demagogic president, the people who enable him, the captive media that parrots his lies, and the people who follow him as he attempts to push america

to the brink of ruin. as we reconvene tonight, let us remember in the end, all this mob has really accomplished is to delay our work by a few hours. we will resume our responsibilities now and we will finish our task tonight. the house and senate chambers will be restored, good as new, and ready for legislating in short order. the counting of the electoral votes is our sacred duty, and democracy‘s roots in this nation are deep, they are strong, and they will not be undone, ever, by a group of thugs. democracy will triumph, as it has for centuries. so to my fellow americans, who are shocked and appalled by the images on their

televisions today, and who are worried about the future of this country, let me speak to you directly. divisions in our country clearly deep. but we area country clearly deep. but we are a resilient, forward—looking and optimistic people, and we will begin the ha rd people, and we will begin the hard work of repairing this nation tonight, because here in america, we do hard things, in america, we do hard things, in america, we do hard things, in

america, we always overcome our challenges. i yield the floor. that was chuck schumer, the senate minority leader, who will become the senate majority leader because democrats picked up leader because democrats picked up two seats in the senate, talking there talking four up two seats in the senate, talking four years of trump's presidency to shepherd his fellow senators to have immunity, not to anger the president, not to step on toes, i think he has started to

distance himself more from the president, but it was remarkable to hear him not mention the president by name, and not leave this at his feet because those protesters who came to the capital, they came directly from listening to donald trump give a speech, donald trump give a speech, donald trump give a speech, donald trump told them to go to the capital, told them that their votes were being stolen, that the election was being stolen, and they needed to confront the people who were not sufficiently supporting his attempts to capture the presidency in this one last—ditch effort, so you talk a lot about how the republican party is changing, other republican party could be distancing themselves from donald trump, but we did not hear it in those two speeches. do you think republican loyalists who will protest the result of the electoral college and try to disrupt the certification, that will carry on after what has happened here. i think we will find out in moments as the proceedings move along but we have already

heard from some of the senators who were supporting the challenges, mike of indiana, wisconsin, very outspoken before, saying they would reconsider doing a full contest of these states, in a procedure that would drag on two hours for each state that is contested. it would drag on well past midnight, i think

they would be realising that after what happened earlier today, selling doubt and uncertainty. i also know that as us senators we all take solemnly the oath we all take solemnly the oath we swear to support and defend the constitution of the united states. against all enemies, foreign and domestic. at this moment in history i can think of nothing more patriotic than renewing our faith in of nothing more patriotic than renewing ourfaith in the charters of freedom that our founding fathers crafted for our republic. starting with the fundamental american principle in our declaration of independence, that governments

derive theirjust powers from the consent of the government. the people have spoken in this election and our onlyjob here todayis election and our onlyjob here today is to do what they ask. it is not to argue election security. that is not the place for what we are doing today. 0ur constitution specifically reserves to the people the right to meet in the respected states and vote for the president and vice president. asa president and vice president. as a result, individual states oversee and implement the election process, not the federal government, to guard against fraud or irregularities in the voting process. the states are wired to have robust election security measures, likewise state legislatures have the opportunity to examine evidence of voter fraud before they certify their electoral couege they certify their electoral college votes. and our courts, from district courts to the united states supreme court, adjudicate legal challenges and election disputes. all of those

things happened after the 2020 election. state houses in courts across the country took allegations of voter fraud seriously and follow the constitutional process to hear challenges to this years elections. no state found evidence of any widespread voter fraud evidence of any widespread voterfraud and evidence of any widespread voter fraud and neither did evidence of any widespread voterfraud and neither did any court asked to review the findings of the state. in arizona, republican governor and the democratic secretary of state, the republican attorney general and state supreme court chiefjustice all certified the results of the election on november 30. and we know, we have heard that arizona has been voting now for almost 30 yea rs been voting now for almost 30 years and governor ducey has expressed confidence in the states process numerous times. in november he said we do elections well here in arizona. the system is strong and that

is why i appreciated so much. we have some of the strongest election laws in the country. laws that prioritise accountability and clearly layout our procedures for conducting, canvassing and even contesting the results. and they were right. arizona has one of the most transparent election processes in the country with built—in accountability, starting with internal auditing. we have heard unfounded allegations that voting machines in arizona and elsewhere somehow changed vote tallies or somehow improperly rejected valets while claiming to accept them. these allegations all ignored a fa ct these allegations all ignored a fact that arizona counties conducted valid audits by hand to doublecheck the machine cou nts to doublecheck the machine counts and those audits found no widespread fraud or irregularities. the county where more than 60% of the

state population resides conduct did a post—election hand count ordered in the week after the election. and that showed perfect 100% accuracy in the machine tabulation. so why would we need, my colleagues, to call for a ten day emergency ordered to be conduct did by a legislative commission when it has already been done by the state of arizona? what happened to states rights? the audit involved checking ballots for the presidential election but also ballots for federal and state legislative elections. the audit report shows every pressing's machine and hand count pressing's machine and hand cou nt totals pressing's machine and hand count totals for each race audited and for every single race in every precinct the difference between the hand count and the machine count was zero. the audit report stated no discrepancies were found at the hand count ordered boards. seeking to find any reason to

contest these results, some republicans then tried to claim this county failed to follow state law in following the audit by not selecting voting precincts to audit. this was wrong. and this too, much of the report in rejecting this claim, the state court of arizona found that the county followed the properly issued guidance on hand audit procedures from the arizona secretary of state. and the court found that the officials of the county could therefore not lawfully have performed the audit the way the plaintiffs wa nted audit the way the plaintiffs wanted it done. if they had done so they would have expose themselves to criminal punishment. and that is the democratic senator from divider speaking there is lawmakers resume the process of certifying joe biden's electoral college win. the process that was disrupt the when those people stormed

capitol hill, leading to the death of one woman. let's speak now to brian lanser. we just let's speak now to brian la nser. we just heard let's speak now to brian lanser. wejust heard chuck schumer, the incoming senate majority leader, saying the president bears responsibility for what happened and he egged on his supporters. what is your reaction? thank you. i agree with chuck schumer and with mitch mcconnell. the president's actions this morning and today were beyond support and he ginned up the folks at the rally that charge the capital and that was beneath the dignity of an american president. is this something that has been long in the making? i was there today and speaking to people who spoke very strongly that the election had been stolen from them when in fact there is no evidence of that and it is something that the president has promoted. so is this something that is the result of yea rs of something that is the result of years of the president construct thing and alternate

reality and ultimately refusing to a cce pt reality and ultimately refusing to accept that he lost? if we are looking to construct something that took years to get here, the american media, specifically cable television is also to blame. everybody is to blame for the chaos in washington today. but i think the president's actions are unique. i think it isjust his inability to acknowledge his loss this november. we have spoken about it before. some people feel he has lost and is trying to move on but he is trying to move on but he is trying to move on but he is trying to find a narrative, a thread that allows him to save face and say he did not lose and that is why we are seeing this alternate reality unfold. how do you see the next two weeks playing out now that this has happened ? weeks playing out now that this has happened? the president is due to leave office onjanuary 20. what can he do to make this right now? i don't think he is

looking to