to secure locations, as the vice president was. now these demonstrators are inside the senate chamber. if barry mccaffrey is still with us, i apologize for the interruption i had to get to eamon javers you were saying, general mccaffrey, it was incomprehensible that they were not prepared muriel bowser requested the national guard now it's reporting by cnbc the request has been made for the national guard to come in and clear the halls, which would be an astounding thing to see there's been so much concern based -- expressed by 10 former national security chairmen, 10 living national security chairmen that the president might, in some way, invoke the military against the people. that was from their statement. that now it would be required that the national guard would have to clear the people from the people's halls is

extraordinary. >> yeah. well, look, the district of columbia has a very unusual legal status when it comes to both the national guard and federal police federal government, obviously, has, at the end of the day, summary authority over the districtbiacolumbia. the white house, the capitol and other federal buildings are carve-out zones where essentially it's not d.c. police it's a federal security force. in this case, the capitol hill police that are responsible. so, the mayor really doesn't have the authority to send her national guard into the capitol building this would be a federal responsibility and, you know, again, it's the most shocking failure of security imaginable. the police that congress, the united states, physical risk in an occupied congressional chamber because they weren't

prepared to deal with it this is now going to end up, legitimately at some point, as u.s. armed forces intervention to clear the capitol that's where it's likely to go and it would be a legitimate order. all this, of course, prompted by essentially an auto coup by mr. trump. it is a criminal action we're watching unfold. >> general, if we can take the air of the fophoto from our sise network msnbc, there is a disturbing image at this moment of capitol hill police bringing out a victim who is bloodied from the capitol i have no way of knowing how this happened, what the circumstances are, but someone has been -- someone has been badly injured in some way.

the capital is occupied by apparently american citizens in an extraordinary historical moment in the united states. >> just past 3:00 on the east coast, noon on the west coast. i'm shepard smith in new york. and this is cnbc continuing coverage of anarchy in washington pushing forward toward the inauguration of president-elect biden. procedural moments, it was two hours after a presidential rubble rousing speech. as you can see thereuters news agency is reporting there are

protesters inside the senate chamber. leader pelosi, the d.c. mayor is asking for national guard to clear the protesters there are protesters at this moment inside the senate chamber. we have witnessed at least one person coming out of the capitol, as katy tur has reported on msnbc, who was injured. we know that there was an armed standoff inside the capitol. we know that there have been requests for -- from the mayor for the national guard to clear those protesters the question now with the procedural process suspended on the hill, how long it might take for the capitol to be cleared, for order to be restored and democracy to take a march toward transfer of power is an unknown matter. >> one thing i don't have

information on is where the president is we presume he is at the white house and whether the president might make any statement the senate is evacuated. vice president pence ushered to a secure location after those pro-trump demonstrators stormed the capitol and, for lack of a better term, are now occupying it as we wait for it to be cleared. from nbc news, the u.s. capitol descended into chaos on wednesday as hundreds of pro-trump protesters swarmed the building, forcing the senate to evacuate vice president mike pence to be ushered to a secure location the frenzied scene after protesters broke through a barricade, and abruptly paused the ceremonial event, affirming that president-elect joe biden did, indeed, win the

presidential election. vice president pence was presiding over the joint session of congress at the time. he was rushed out by secret security vice president pence and pro temp were taken to a secured location senators were told to stay away from locked doors. the chaotic situation came after president trump, who has refused to accept the results of the election and today said he would never surrender spoke to a large crowd in front of the white house. he angrily vowed that he would never concede to president-elect biden and baselessly asserted that the election results were fraudulent quoting the president, we will never give up. we will never concede. you don't concede when there's theft involved th that, from president trump to the crowd of supporters, some of whom chanted "usa" and waved anti-biden banners

the president later falsely claimed that the president-elect would be an illegitimate president. the u.s. capitol police said it was evacuating areas near the building, as pro-trump protesters stormed barricades set up outside the perimeter and law enforcement was seen trying to push them back n other images we saw demonstrators scaling the walls to enter inside the chamber. remember, the house was not available for public today everything was closed in washington in anticipation of possible demonstrations. the library of congress directly across the street from the main capitol building was also evacuated. people told to remain calm and move in a safe manor to the exist. then the president tweeted, please support our capitol police and law enforcement they are truly on the side of our country. stay peaceful. eamon javers is with us now. it began with large crowds, but

now -- and then escalated to this assault on the capitol. now, eamon, we have new video. >> reporter: yeah. that's right, shep pro-trump loyalists have stormed the senate floor now and frank thorpe, nbc news capitol hill reporter, just tweeted out this video, which you can see now, of protesters on the floor, milling about. at least one of those protesters wearing a trump flag as a cape you can see another one appears to be unloading a suitcase or duffel bag of some point he just tweeted that out a few moments ago. they appear to have total and unrestricted control of the senate floor i don't see any capitol police presence there at all on the u.s. senate floor as we watch those protesters sort of milling about without really seeming to have any sense of what they're going to do once they got there. but the concern among many here, in addition to the symbolism, is

going to be who got on to the senate floor, what did they bring with them in this is a very controlled, secured environment. everybody who comes in has to go through metal detectors, have their bags checked and everything else. all of these bags have been brought into the capitol complex. it's not clear by whom, with what intent, where all those people are right now this is an enormous security nightmare of epic proportions for the capitol police now to deal with all of these people roaming the capitol, angry, shouting we've seen video of them fighting with capitol police inside the capitol building and now we don't know exactly what they're carrying or what their intent is, shep. it's a very scary moment on the senate floor as you see those protesters have total control over one of the most hallowed chambers in american democracy. >> eamon, an update now on the person who was seen bloodied and being removed from the capitol

nbc's josh lederman is now reporting that it was a female, a woman who was being taken from the capitol, very bloodied and clearly injured, somewhat severely, according to the report of josh lederman. let's listen to ellison barber now, who is on scene. >> reporter: made it to nancy's office when i asked him to stop and talk to us, he also declined on that those people were inside, a celebratory mood for them as they make their way out. you can see on the steps here where people are still gathered. off to the left side of the steps. capitol police have kind of congregated in a group there they've been there for the last little bit, kind of just standing by to the side of these protesters we have seen a couple snipers or what appear to be snipers on the roof of the u.s. capitol other than that, though, the situation on this side has remained somewhat calm

it's not really the right word for this as you said, we've not seen any acts of violence, per se, right in front of us we have seen a forceful crowd, as they made their way up to the front and initially passed through those bicycle barricades as some people came out and claim to have been inside the u.s. capitol, those people are then being greeted amongst this crowd as heroes of sorts, being cheered for going inside one person who had come out, they had some sort of liquid water type thing on them they said they had been sprayed. but again, none of those people were willing to speak with us on camera you can hear the crowd right now cheering some as they have flags, many of them trump flags. a "don't tread on me" flag held on both sides has been put on the -- have been hoisted up kind of on the side there this crowd is staying here where

they are, capitol police on this side not seeming to necessarily engage with the crowd here as i said, we haven't seen any sort of violent acts from the crowd here people who are claiming to have been inside are being celebrated as they make their way out lester >> ellison barber, live on scene, who was delivering a report for the nbc broadcast network, which has cut in to local programming in many parts of the country with a special report with lester holt as house chambers were occupied by demonstrators. i have two bits of new information, and important ones. president-elect biden is scheduled to speak about eight minutes from now with a message on all of this cnbc will have live coverage of that as i mentioned earlier, the mayor of washington, muriel bowser does not have the authority, because she's not a governor washington, d.c. is not a state. she does not have a, per se,

control to activate the national guard. she requested that the national guard clear the halls of the capitol. that request made of the justice departme department and now, according to the reporting of "the washington post," the justice department has denied that request. we have no indications if the president is planning to speak we do know that the president-elect will speak shortly. now three minutes past -- 13 minutes past 3:00 in washington. kayla tausche is watching along with us. kayla, do you have a sense of whether people are leaving the interior of the capitol, whether there are forces available to facilitate such a thing or whether this is just playing out in a sort of unsupervised way after the security cordon was breached >> well, it seems like it's the latter, just from the dispatches that are being sent across social media by reporters and

others who are present at the capitol at this hour remember, shep, this was a day that would be disinfecting and social distancing, where a normal course of electoral authority was going to be run in a slightly longer timeframe because of some of these covid protocols, because of the global pandemic but yet because of the scene unfolding on capitol hill, people are huddled in masses, in groups reporters crowding into the various -- what they call the gallery where reporters have computers, printers, access to technology and where they normally have work space to file their articles and their tv dispatches for the time being, there's a still a lockdown people don't feel comfortable to move about within the building, just based on what we're seeing from our colleagues who are there. there are lawmakers who are filing intermittent dispatches through their own social media feeds. of course, we had jim heinz of

connecticut, his belief that tear gas was being used in some parts of the capital we got a tweet from marco rubio, the senator from florida, who had not communicated the direction that he was going to go on the election results today. his colleague, senator rick scott, had planned to object to the electoral results from pennsylvania, but marco rubio tweeting a few minutes ago, there is nothing patriotic about what is occurring on capitol hill this is third world style anti-american an aarchy. we are still awaiting any potential remarks from the sitting president. there are reports about him potentially viewing what's going on, on tv. we've reached out to the white house for confirmation about the president's whereabouts and whether he plans to make any sort of address. there's the president-elect as well, who is expected to give a speech around 2:30 p.m you can imagine he's taking stock of everything that is going on and crafting his message. the message today was expected

to be about the economy but clearly there's so much more at stake than that right now. shep >> okay. washington, d.c. police are now reporting they are treating several people for injuries and, according to washington, d.c. police and the reporting of nbc's tom wynter, there is an unconfirmed report that one person has been shot at the capitol. again, that's from quoting the washington, d.c. ems, an unconfirmed report of one person shot and multiple people being treated for injuries we have no indication that the president is going to speak. we do have a new tweet from him. quoting now from president trump. i am asking for everyone at the u.s. capitol to remain peaceful. no violence! remember, we are the party of law and order. respect the law and our great men and women in blue.

thank you. says president trump it's just an -- it's just extraordinary that we're in this situation. it's my understanding that the justice department has denied the request for the national guard to come out. we know that the curfew begins in two hours and 45 minutes, and you wonder, eamon javers -- actually, ylan mui, how is it possible to enforce a curfew without the police presence larger than that of the capitol police without some help from some law enforcement agency? this is not a crowd that appears in any mood to disperse at the moment. >> that's right, shep. the crowd has already gotten past the security perimeter, already facing off against capitol hill police. that 6:00 p.m. curfew will be a difficult one to enforce we'll see how many people are still out after that we do now have some word on the

whereabouts and security of lawmakers in both the house and the senate nbc reporting that senators are in a secure location, but are unclear how long they'll have to remain there but that they are safe nbc also reporting that house speaker nancy pelosi is safe as well it's not clear exactly where she is many lawmakers, as well as some press also have been evacuated from the house chamber to the long worth office building that is just across the street from the capitol building itself they are in the ways and means committee room now, that has been set up as a sort of alternate house chamber. if you've ever been inside the ways and means committee rooms, you'll know what i'm talking about. it's one of the largest chambers and committee rooms inside the capitol complex and inside the house. it was set up partly as this alternate chamber because of its size that room, however, is also extremely cold and this is important because one of the reasons that it is so

cold, at least reporters have been told, is because that was set up so that in the case of a gas attack, the molecules in the air will move more slowly and lawmakers might be more safe so that room has served a special purpose. and now we see that lawmakers are being evacuated there, including abigail sandberger, sheila jackson lee all of them appear to be in the long worth office house building inside the ways and means committee room for now we'll see if they will be able to leave the capitol complex and what other rooms they might be evacuated to shep >> ylan, through new reporting from nbc news that there's a joint operation under way between capitol hill police and d.c. metro police, and the process has begun to clear the house chamber, that they will then move to the senate chamber and clear the senate chamber and some indications that a process to clear the outside of this building, which you see on

your left and also on the right now, of clearing the outside of the capitol. still no national guard, as mentioned before those two agencies, d.c. metro police and capitol hill police working jointly to clear, as reported on nbc news, there is a process under way to bring police vans in and haul away any of those who are uncooperative or have broken laws. so, it's not as if, as we were saying earlier, this is happening without, quote, supervision. there is a process in place now to clear those who breached the security lines is general mccaffrey still with us it's also interesting to note -- in a microcosm, the markets have been living in a different world than the people. the markets have been soaring during all of this

markets reacting extraordinarily favorably to the idea of a vast infrastructure program with the flow of washington money to begin what has been described as inf infrastructure year, and a lot of hiring and a lot of spending. the dow soared more than 600 points, with infrastructure stocks leading the charge. and even as the capitol is under siege, as the house and senate chambers are occupied, as a bloodied woman is carried from the capitol and multiple people are being treated by fire rescue, the dow, the market is up 368 points. the s&p 500 up 32 at this moment only the tech-heavy nasdaq in the red. it's just another show of how the markets and the real life are not in sync and have not been in sync it was said this morning, bob

pisani said this morning, the markets love the idea of infrastructure, of money flowing, of turning the page, of some degree of certainty about where the country is headed and what the plan is for the future. how we'll tackle the vaccine and distribution thereof and getting the economy back open, getting people back into their jobs, kids back into their schools, life back into our restaurants, retail outlets and the market loves all of that and as is almost always the case, ignores the starkest realities that overtake our lives. the capitol is under siege and the market is soaring. it is astounding to watch. the bottom right of your screen on cnbc, and the center of your screen simultaneously. and the lower third there, the house/senate evacuated as the u.s. capitol has been stormed.

there's a joint operation between metro police and capitol police though those are formidible forces, they're not that large in number. >> that's right, shep. capitol police is thousands of police officers, large police force but it has clearly been overwhelmed here in the capitol building as we watch these trump loyalists storm the capitol building, invade the house floor, invade the senate floor house police seem powerless to do anything about it they seem to have engaged in a strategic retreat here they're not clearing or have not, to this moment, been clearing those floors. the priority seems to have been getting the members of congress

themselves physically safe and then take care of the building itself that seems to be the order that they're going in they're going to have the aid now, d.c. metropolitan police. we're not seeing national guard. we're not seeing federal forces being brought in here to deal with the storming of the american capitol building. as we watch those trump loyalists on television, nbc's kristen welker is reporting from the white house, they are watching the same images at the white house that we are watching now. after the president spoke to many of these very same people and urged them to march on the capitol today peacefully, the president said, nbc's kristen welker is reporting that the president is now at the white house and is monitoring the situation. there are no plans for him to speak. white house officials are described as being in the upper and lower press areas. those are areas in the west wing of the white house and their tvs are tuned in the coverage of trump supporters storming the capitol

what we're waiting to see is whether the president has any message for these trump loyalists. you see them waving trump flags, the blue lives matter flags. the president has tweeted out, urging them to respect law enforcement and the men and women in blue you can see there in the capitol police uniforms what will the president say to these people this is a moment, a new national low for america. the president is going to have to talk to his supporter nous who have done this and tell them where they need to go from here. for now, the president spoke to them this morning and said to them false information after false information after false information about what can happen here to reverse the election results this is a group that is frustrated, angry, and largely has been made frustrated and angry by the president of the united states. to what end is the question here and maybe we'll get some answers from the president maybe we'll get some answers

from the president-elect law enforcement has an enormous, enormous challenge on its hands right now inside the united states capitol you just hope that nobody else has to get hurt before this ugly, ugly situation is resolved shep >> without question, eamon you mentioned that the president must come and do something it's notable now that kevin mccarthy, who is one of the president's greatest supporters, without question, who has backed him without fail throughout the last four years, has just appeared on the president's at least one-time favorite network fox news channel and urged the president to do something. we don't know specifically what that would be, whether it would be the president asking that his supporters stand down and remove themselves from the capitol and allow order to be restored we still have no indication that the president plans to make any

address to the nation. he has tweeted we are expecting in just a matter of moments the president-elect joe biden to offer a statement to the nation, presumably a call for calm we know that the d.c. metro police and capitol hill police are mounting an effort to clear the demonstrators from the capitol. we know that a number of demonstrators are being treated. we know that d.c. has reported -- has, quote, unconfirmed reports of one person being shot. we know there was an armed standoff we have a report from a u.s. congressperson that she heard flash bangs in the hall outside her door and said so in a shaky voice on our sister network. it is worth considering how this must look to the rest of the world. i mentioned a short time ago

that in these times in years and cycles past, as the united states passed the torch from the leader of one party to the leader of another in a peaceful proce process, it was in each instance as the sun begins to set on washington, fledgling democracies around the world that this is how you do it showing united states as that shining city on the hill of which reagan spoke, the light for democracies and fledgling republic republics around the world of how this is to be done let's listen to josh lederman outside the capitol with great reporting today. you were reporting earlier on the victim who came out. tell us more on that, if you could. and set the scene there at the capitol to the degree that you can. >> reporter: well, shep, it has been total chaos out here for

several hours since we witnessed protesters breach several barricades and make their way right up the stairs here to the entrance to the capitol. they have been occupying, for lack of a better term, these stairs right over here and then i'll have tracy span a little bit to the left you can law enforcement up there, kind of watching guard but from our vantage point not really able to interfere or do much of anything we heard several loud bangs, and after that we saw some of those law enforcement officers spinning, covering their eyes, clearly reacting to some type of irritant in the air. as you mentioned, a few minutes ago over here to the south side, over where the entrance to the house of representatives is, we did see a stretcher that was brought in to the building then just a few minutes later, that area was quickly cleared by law enforcement personnel, in riot gear. then we watched, shep, as the stretcher was carried out of the building with a woman on that

stretcher, clearly being resuscitation attempts by medical personnel. there was a lot of blood unclear exactly the condition of that person. now nbc's pete williams is now reporting that one person has been shot in the capitol we don't know if that was the same person that we saw. but the individual that we saw was clearly in very dire condition. and the crowds here have not been getting any smaller law enforcement is largely allowing the people here to continue protesting, while law enforcement focuses on protecting the building and whatever operations are taking place inside, shep. >> josh, stay right there, if you would. it's 30 minutes until the close of the market day on cnbc. the dow up 475 points, 480 now, despite what we're seeing here we'll have market coverage as the day continues. josh, i know you were there from the very beginning and we know that the capitol was closed today, that there was a security cordon, and then the

breach happened. were those who made the initial breach, to your knowledge, were those met with pushback? was there some sort of pushback as pictures on social media i'm seeing would suggest or were they essentially outnumbered and allowed to enter or what >> essentially after the president finished his remarks, you had all those people marching from up toward the direction of the white house down here to the capitol eventually, as you suggested, they simply outnumbered the law enforcement officers here at the scene. even though you had capitol police who try to form a line to prevent people from crossing in and getting closer to the capitol, eventually they were outnumbered. there were basically bike racks that were up as barriers those were knocked over and people rushed past and then made it through consecutive layers of barriers that the law enforcement were trying to

erecollec erect. some of them have made it inside, according to our reporting. >> josh, one more thing. we know that capitol hill police and d.c. metro police are in a joint operation now to clear the house chamber and then subsequently the senate chamber and that they would eventually begin clearing there have you seen any signs of a law enforcement presence that would have the capacity in its numbers to do such a thing >> reporter: we have seen more and more law enforcement officers showing up. including we saw, at one point right over here -- you can see right there, this is a caravan of vehicles from the metropolitan police department this is not capitol police this is not national guard this is district of columbia police they came in their riot gear and entered the capitol. we've seen others from the national guard and other law enforcement agencies, and in the last few minutes we also have seen some snipers show up on the roof of the capitol. i don't see any of them up there

right now. they are clearly trying to bring more of a presence here, but as of what we see right now, shep, nothing on the scale of what would be needed to confront the thousands of protesters here and actually clear them away from the u.s. capitol. >> josh, our kayla tausche is reporting that the virginia governor is sending in the national guard i believe kayla is with us kayla, are you there what can you tell us >> reporter: well, shep, governor northam just put out a tweet saying my team and i are working closely with d.c. mayor bowser to respond to the situation in washington, d.c per the mayor's request, he is sending members of the virginia national guard along with 200 virginia state troopers. this comes in response to a reporting from nbc's garrett haake that speaker pelosi had requested the national guard's involvement to clear the halls

of the capitol and to restore order on the grounds of the capitol during this incredibly sensitive day. it's worth noting also, as we talked about, the security situation and hearing from general mccaffrey about the lack of security readiness at the capitol. this has been a point of contention, and a point of debate for recent weeks, especially after the summer months when we saw national guard involvement in protests, riots, looting on the streets of washington, d.c. in response to some of those black lives matter and social unrest movements. and that there had been a lot of talk about the potential politicization of using the military in some of these ways and just a couple of days ago, over the weekend, there had been an op-ed in "the washington post" by all ten living former defense secretaries, saying there is no role for military in the processing of election results, that peaceful transfer of power, as you noted, is a hallmark of american democracy and using the military as part

of that process is simply inappropriate. so, there had been this view that the military not only was not needed for this type of event, but was inappropriate to be involved because of what it would signify or how it would be directed in that goal. but as we see right now, states are getting involved around the dmv area, and the governor of virginia is sending his resources, deploying them to the capitol to assist in this effort shep >> kayla tausche, thank you. fact check for a moment. the president made a speech. the senate convened to move the process forward to inaugurate a new president in a couple of weeks. now the united states capitol is under siege. the house and senate chambers have been occupied the governor of the neighboring state is sending in the guard, 200 state troopers our capitol is under attack from

within, and the capitol has been overtaken by the people. an extraordinary moment in american history nbc news contributor jake sherman is on the phone with us, live inside the capitol. jake, what are you seeing and hearing, and what can you tell us >> reporter: well, not much because i'm in a room of lockdown where i've been for several hours. shep, i've been covering this institution for my entire professional life. i spent a lot of time reporting on it. this is unimaginable i was thinking about this a minute ago me and several of my colleagues. i get stopped when i have my ear pods in my pocket. that's how secure the building specifically is. the president, make no mistake, shep, the president has sent them here and they've now occupied the u.s. capitol. weapons are drawn and many of us

are in danger. i mean, you know, not trying to dramatize the situation. but we're in danger. >> jake, have you -- do you hear -- have you heard anything? one congresswoman said she heard flash bangs in the hall. another talked of hearing all the commotion there. i wonder if any of it has been close enough for you to -- >> yeah, shep. i was on my way to the restroom as someone was literally breaking the glass so, yes, they broke into the building they locked it down. i don't want to give up my present location here but yeah we saw people in the statuary hall, the house floor, the senate floor

it's extremely, extremely, extremely dangerous. you know the problem, shep, and i don't mean to go on too long here, but this is a big complex. come here every single day in the capitol and getting the place secure is going to be a challenge. cops, s.w.a.t. team officers roaming through the capitol with long guns. i don't know how they're going to unring this bell here the capitol has literally been occupied windows have been smashed and doors have been breached. >> jake, thank you think of what he just said there are people wondering the halls with long guns and now new reporting, new from cnbc homeland security departments of the federal government is now

sending additional federal agents to assist those from d.c. metr o police, capitol hill police and now presumably members of the virginia national guard in clearing the capitol of its own people, who have brought it under siege you have to presume or assume that one of the many concerns would be that in this process of clearing that there could be the kind of violence that could get someone else hurt. we know that people have already been hurt. but there's no way that the united states of america can, for the first time in the history of the nation, allow a siege on the capitol to go on for too much longer. it's rather astounding to think that over the years we've set up protections in the days after 9/11, cordon went up, the shutdown of the nation to keep anyone else who might want to come here and do us harm out

the extraordinary procedures that were put into place and we know, as jake was just describing, and others at cnbc and across nbc platforms who work at the capitol each day and note level of security that is there, that this could happen on a day when they knew that there were plans for trouble at the capitol. businesses were boarded up streets were shut down the capitol was made inaccessible a security cordon was put up there's always a ring of security around it there was an extra ring put up today. we witnessed the pictures of people crashing through those rings, of the armed standoff at the door, of now reports from associated press of shots fired and confirmed by nbc news. what d.c. police are calling unconfirmed report of one person having been shot

people were long guns inside this is the sort of thing you see from a banana republic in fact, one congressman on cnn a short time ago said exactly that mike gallagher said this is the stuff of the banana republic it must stop the president now tweeting to respect law enforcement and stand down mike pence, as you see at the bottom of your screen, the violence at the capitol must stop now and yet hours into this, we are hours into a siege on the capitol building of the united states of america, and we have not seen the president of th united states! think of this. it's a wednesday afternoon in washington the senate is in session to process this peaceful transition of power the president of the united states is tweet iing stop the steal and then tweeting stand

down and as this is under way, we do not see or hear from the president of the united states it is unthinkable in the history of america that, a, the capitol would be taken over and occupied by the people and certainly that, b, the president of the united states would not have anything to say about it he is at the white house he is inside the people's house. these are his supporters who have come to this event today where he spoke to say we don't accept this transfer of power. i will not concede to the transfer of peaceful power now his followers have overtaken the people's halls and we have not heard from the president where are we as a nation

we have witnessed this road of refusal to accept reality, of lie after lie after lie about the state of play in america the lies about fraud the lies about dead people voting lie after lie after lie that have created this mob that believes that the government has been overtaken, that the election was fraudulent. the president allowed them to go on and when they literally overtake capitol hill, we don't hear from him. had you parachuted in after a trip to another planet, this would be absolutely unbelievable the capitol has been overtaken, and the president is nowhere to be found the producers were telling me we have somewhere to go chelsea, where is that

somewhere? congressman hill, republican of arkansas, is with us where is the president is there anyone who can say to the president, we -- this is an enormous opportunity for president-elect biden, who is presumably going to speak momentarily. for the president of the united states to see this and not -- and not have anything to say publicly, congressman, your thoughts on this >> well, shep, i agree with you. it's an embarrassing day for our country. it's a shocking day for all americans who are texting, calling, watching television, watching your broadcast. and the president should not be in the white house he should be on national television asking these protesters to stand down, leave the capitol building they're welcome to protest out on the plaza they're welcome to have their first amendment right. but what we're witnessing today is outrageous.

>> congressman french, is the president responsible for any of this, as he told people that he will not accept the results of the free and fair election and he will never concede? is the president, in any way, responsible for this and, if so, what should the president do now >> i think the president bears responsibility, along with others that have misled the american people that they think that the counting of the electoral college votes could lead to a change of the outcome of the november 3rd election that's not a constitutional responsibility to congress it wasn't going to happen. it isn't going to happen today and so that rhetoric, if that's what people think is a possibility, if that's what drove them to washington, then that's misleading. and what the president can do and anyone else who has encouraged that sort of thought is get out publicly and correct the record that's not constructive. that's not going to happen

that's not the mission of the house and senate and that's absolutely what the founders were fearful of that's why the founders in the 1787 convention designed our constitution so that the selection of the electors, the voting of the electoral college, the design of our election were held in the state capitals, designed by the states, so we wouldn't concentrate power in washington we wouldn't have the american people convene on the congress for this exact reason. and so i would urge any of my colleagues in the capitol or certainly the president to be outspoken, to ask these people to stand down and let us do our work, and let us get back to the people's business in the house of representatives. >> congressman, kayleigh mceneny is now tweeting that national guard and federal police are en

route to the capitol and at the same time we've not heard from the president. if he won't stand up, congressman, should he stand down is it time for this president, whom you just said brought this on our nation, to step down and let us move forward? and if not, why not? >> the president bears part of the responsibility for the heated rhetoric that's caused this afternoon's outrageous public behavior, and he needs to take responsibility for that by, as i say -- >> he has not, congressman, with great respect. and i apologize for interrupting in the middle of a satellite delay. but he has not taken responsibility for two hours, the capitol has been under siege and occupied by people, and we've not heard from him. if he will not stand up and say stop, should he step down and let us move on yes or no, congressman >> well, he's going to be stepping down at noon on january 20th, and he will bear this

responsibility. >> i meant today the day that the capitol was taken under siege by the people and occupied, and we have not heard from the president for two hours. if he can't stand up, congressman, should he stand down today yes or no? >> he needs to stand up and he needs to speak out now. >> but he has not, congressman as a republican who had to leave that -- those hallowed halls today, who is not being able to do work because our capitol is under siege, do you have the courage and wherewithal to say if the president will not stand up before this mob, should he stand down >> well, shep, that's not a decision i get to make i agree with you that he bears this responsibility and i call on him to take action in that regard let's see what he does and -- >> congressman, this has been the language of conservative republicans throughout this administration through more than 25,000

documented lies by "the washington post," the republicans have said, this is not my responsibility. some have said he should do this many have gone along with him. well, here we are today, congressman, with great respect. and thank you for taking the question here we are today as literally the capitol hill has been overtaken by the people. the president has had many hours to say stop it he has not would you like to have a president who would say stop it? and why does he still it deserve to be our president if he's allowing this without so much as lifting a finger >> well, he does bear that responsibility he should speak out. i'm glad he's authorized the national guard use that's overdue that should have been done immediately. >> i don't know that he's the one who authorized that. but be that as it may. it's such a sad day, congressman. i'm not coming to this from a political point.

i'm coming to it from the point of a journalist, who has watched coups take place in haiti, who has watched federal buildingings overtaken in haiti, the middle east and elsewhere and have thought how wonderful it would be to get back to the country where there is order, where there is a peaceful transfer of power, where i understand that democracy is not pretty. it is always messy, but it is the best system in all the world. and to see it overtaken today is astounding and without precedent. but then to see us have no leader to step forward and even say please stop, it is beyond and to the exclusion of all reason it's outside of anything i've ever thought possible. i've never even contemplated such a thing have you, sir? >> well, i haven't seen it in my lifetime in america, but i've certainly seen it in my travels. s ophia, bulgaria, back when the

berlin wall fell i never thought i would see it in the united states, whether in a state capitol or u.s. capitol. it's a heartbreaking day, and it needs to stop. and the president needs to be the first to help make it stop i agree with you there and as i say, i think i share the views of many americans how heartbreaking -- how heartbroken they are on this day at the u.s. capitol. >> should some republican come up and demand that the president say something, or step down? chip roy, congressman chip roy has just said mr. president, get to a microphone. call for calm now. it's understandable now that his closest followers, who have stayed with him through thick and thin hang on his every word. we know this from watching the rallies. 74 million people voted for him. with some leadership it's possible that this siege on america could end. >> i would certainly urge the speaker and mitch mcconnell and

chuck schumer and kevin mccarthy to deliver that message to the president if they haven't already. we, as all members of congress, with our media contacts over the last two hours, made that view very clear from the members of the house and senate i would certainly call on the house andsenate leadership to urge the president to personally engage here, live and on television. >> congressman, thank you so much for the time. i know it's a difficult day. >> keep our country in your prayers. >> i hear you, congressman we have new information now. honestly, we had been given information to suggest that president-elect biden would speak some 30 minutes ago or so. you have to imagine that there is a concerted effort under way to have something happen with the president. i mean, i don't remember a time in my travels of reporting where

this sort of thing happened where a country's capitol was overtaken where either an incoming or outgoing leader didn't come up and demand the establishment of order, especially with the national guard and federal troops, according to the reporting of kayleigh mcenany from thewhite house on their way to the capitol. you can only imagine what that will produce you heard eamon javers and you heard from jake sherman, speaking of protesters with long guns wandering the halls of the capitol. that's where we are now. now federal troops are head to the capitol. when leon panetta is with us now. mr. secretary, thank you so much for being here i'm trying to imagine inside the halls of congress federal troops approaching an american citizen with a long gun, demanding that they step down and perishing the thought of what happens if they don'

don't. >> well, it's disturbing to see the capitol under siege. there's no question that but that the first responsibility now is to restore law and order. i'm glad that the federal agents and national guard are responding and they're going to have to establish order. and it may not be pretty at times, but that is ultimately the most important objective, is to restore order in the capitol so that those responsible for our government can continue to function. >> mr. secretary, as a former defense secretary, at a moment like this, were you in an official capacity, what would your professional advice be to the leader of the nation, to the president? >> i think there are two very important things that need to

happen number one, the president of the united states needs to go to a microphone and speak, not just to the american people but more specifically to those protesters and ask them to stand down this is unacceptable behavior in our democracy and has to stop. he, in some ways, inspired what is taking place. he now bears the primary responsibility to put it to an end. in addition to that, the second step is the leadership has to make very certain that they are able to restore order in the capitol and allow the congress to get back to business. this is the functioning of our democracy. these are people who are trying to interfere with the functioning of our democracy that is simply unacceptable and

has to stop. >> does the president relinquish the authority to lead when he sits in the white house as the capitol has been overtaken and says nothing >> i think -- i can think of no greater failure. look i can think of no greater failure by a commander in chief than to allow this kind of disturbance to continue and not stop it. that's the responsibility of the president of the united states that's why you elect a commander in chief and for him not to come forward and assume the responsibilities that he still has as president of the united states, as far as i can see, it is an irresponsible act by this

president not to do anything. >> when you and other former secretaries wrote the letter, what was in your mind? was there concern that the president would, for reasons that benefit himself only, in some way use forces against the people had you ever considered we might have a day like this, where forces would be necessary to remove the people from the people's halls >> well, i have to tell you that one of my great disappointments is what the hell was law enforcement on capitol hill thinking by not having secured the capitol today? everybody knew that there would be a disturbance everybody knew that there would be people who were interested in doing nothing else but creating havoc in the capitol and, very frankly, it was the responsible -- it was the responsibility of law enforcement and the capitol hill police to secure the capitol,

and i'm not sure what happened that allowed this event to get totally out of control. >> your level of concern now, as we note from the reporting of the white house that federal -- that national guard troops and federal agents are on the way to clear the scene. >> i think that's absolutely essential. we are a country that understands that we are not free unless we are secure therefore, to heave that security requires that these officials respond and go after those that are violating the law, that are trespassing and that are interfering with our democracy. and that's why you need the

agents, you need the national guard to clear the capitol, remove those who are protesting, create a perimeter around the capitol to ensure this never happens again and allow our democracy to function. that's what needs to be done and it needs to be done quickly, because the longer this continues, the more it undermines people's trust in our democracy. >> former defense secretary leon panetta on the line with us. mr. secretary, thank you for your service thank you for your time this afternoon. >> thank you well, it's just before the close of the market day. the capitol is still occupied by protesters federal agents are on their way to the capitol to clear the scene. america is under siege from within the president of the united states is inside the white house, where today he has

tweeted to stop and has not come forward to speak to the nation before that, he was before a large crowd in washington, explaining that he will never concede after the people decided that he should be replaced, interrupting the peaceful transfer of power and refusing to step forward to stop the anarchy. it's 4:00 on the east coast. and on wall street, the markets have just closed for the day wilfred frost is live for us now with a quick market reset before we continue our coverage. >> before we check in on the market i received a statement from the chairman and ceo of jp morgan, jamie dimon, on this ongoing situation in d.c i can bring it to you now. he says, quote, i strongly condemn the violence in our nation's capitol this is not who we are as a people or a country. we are better than this. our elected leaders have a responsibility to call for an end to the violence, accept the results and, as our democracy has for hundreds of years, support the peaceful transition of power now is the time to come

together, to strengthen ou exceptional union. as you said, shep, the market has just closed higher, s&p up by .6% as jamie dimon stock, jp morgan one of the best performers today, banks led the charge up 7% they had been up 8 or 9% there was a cyclical tilt to the markets, financials, materials the best performer tech the worst performer mike santoli is with us as well. mike, the dow jones still closed at 30,829, at a record all-time high, up .4%, 437 points, off its high of 600 points ultimately the market relatively resilient in the face of this violence today. >> wilf, gains moderator but the market started the day aggressively pricing in the policy implications of likely democratic control across all three branches, based on more stimulus, based on faster economic growth. and, for the most part, that conclusion has lasted through

all this the premise has not been challenged it's just a matter of moderating some of the confident risk appetites we saw a couple of hours ago. if you looked at the s&p 500, it fwaned back about half of its daily gains in the last couple of hours the volatility index had really receded quite a bit in the market strength has come back. i don't think it changes the overall story, but clearly just very much people sort of pulled in some of their horns after a very good run in the market. >> shep, the other thing to keep an eye on is bitcoin surged to an all-time high over the course of the last 30 minutes or so. 36,6 h 36,600, up 6% today. gold, which you may have expected to rally during this uncertainty, improved a little bit. down % earlier, was down 1.7% by the close. just a reminder, the dow record all-time closing high today, despite .5%, 437 points, down

its session highs, which were up 630 points. >> it is an extraordinary thing, a fairly new one to cnbc, to sit here and watch what is the darkest day domestically, in the history of our nation in my lifetime and the markets hit an all-time high. the juxtaposition is hard for me to really wrap my head around. >> understandably. it comes down to all manner of factors, most importantly the level of stimulus that we've seen from march throughout the year, from both the federal reserve on the monetary side and, of course, increasingly on the fiscal side. a couple of weeks ago. and the prospect we'll get more fiscal stimulus, given the results that we got overnight, assuming, of course, everything is certified and goes through as expected. >> wilf, thanks so much. just past 4:00 on the east coast, 1:00 on the west coast. washington under siege

i'm shepard smith in new york. we have new information from nbc news improvised explosive device has been found at the capitol. it did not detonate. the federal agents have it and it has not harmed anyone second bit of information, an explosive device has been located at the headquarters of the republican national committee. that explosive device was real, was detonated by a bomb squad and harmed no one. the democratic national committee headquarters have now been evacuated subsequently. another new bit of information 1,100 national guard are mobilized and en route to the capitol. they will be used to clear the capitol, set up checkpoints around the capitol and restore order. at this moment, the capitol is still occupied by protesters

there were nbc news reports that capitol hill police and d.c. metro police were in a combined operation to clear the interior. the degree of success on that matter is unclear to us at this moment but one of the goals in the minutes ahead will be to clear the people from the steps of the capitol. extraordinarily and without explanation through it all, the president of the united states has not made a statement we did just hear from the attorney general, bill barr. the attorney general said that the madness must stop, that the capitol must be cleared, that the people must leave. the president has by twitter called for the people to obey or follow the lead of capitol police and not cause any further trouble. we know that three people have been injured an unconfirmed report according to d.c. police of one person having been shot hear you see the armed standoff

happening inside the capitol it says moments ago. it was more like an hour and a half or so ago president-elect biden is now walking up to give a live address. here he is let's listen. >> i've delayed coming out to speak to you i initially was going to talk about the economy. but all of you, all of you have been watching what i've been watching at this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault. unlike anything we've seen in modern times an assault on the citadel of liberty, the capitol itself. an assault on the people's representatives. the capitol hill police, sworn to protect them, and the public

servants who work at the heart of our republic. an assault on the rule of law like few times we've ever seen it an assault on the most sacred of american undertakings, the doing of the people's business let me be very clear the scenes of chaos at the capitol do not reflect a true america, do not represent who we are. what we're seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness this is not dissent. it's disorder. it's chaos it borders on sedition and it must end now i call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy

to go forward. you heard me say before in a different context, the words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is at their best, the words of a president can inspire. at their worst, they can incite. therefore, i call on president trump to go on national television now, to fulfill his oath and defend the constitution and demand an end to this siege. to storm the capitol, to smash windows, to occupy offices, the floor of the united states senate, rummaging through desks.

on the capitol on the house of representatives. threatening the safety of duly elected officials. it's not protest it's insurrection. the world is watching. like so many other americans, i am genuinely shocked and saddened at our nation, so long a beacon of light and hope for democracy, has come to such a dark moment. through war and strife, america has endured much and we will endure here, and we will prevail again and we'll prevail now. the work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of democracy, of decency, honor, respect, the rule of law. just plain, simple decency the renewal of politics about

solving problems, look iing out for one another, not stoking the flames of hate and chaos as i said, america is about honor, decency, respect, tolerance. that's who we are. those who we've always been. the certification of the electoral college vote is supposed to be a sacred ritual to affirm the majesty of american democracy today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile to preserve it requires people of goodwill, leaders with the courage to stand up, who are devoted not to the pursuit of power or their personal interest pursuits of their own selfish

interests at any cost, but of the common good. think what our children watching television are thinking. think what the rest of the world is looking at. for nearly 2 1/2 centuries, we, the people, in search of a more perfect union, have kept our eyes on that common good america is so much better than what we're seeing today. watching the siege from the capitol, i'm reminded, as i prepared other speech notice past i was reminded of words of abraham lincoln in his annual message to congress whose work today has been interrupted by chaos. here is what lincoln said. he said we shall nobly say or merely lose the last best hope on earth went on to say the way is plain,

peaceful, generous, just a way, which if followed, the world will forever applaud and god must forever bless the way is plain here, too that's who we are. it's the way of democracy, of respect, of decency, of honor and commitment as patriots to this nation. notwithstanding what i saw today or are seeing today, i remain optimistic about the incredible opportunities. there's never been anything we can't do when we do it together. and this god-awful display today is bringing home to every

republican and democrat and independent in the nation that we must step up. this is the united states of america. there's never, ever, ever, ever, ever been a thing we've tried to do that we've done together and not been able to do it so, president trump, step up may god bless america. may good protect our troops and all those folks at the capitol who are trying to preserve order. thank you, and i'm sorry to have kept you waiting [ inaudible question ] >> are you concerned about your inauguration, sir? >> have you spoken to mr. mcconnell today? >> the president-elect of the united states, 13 days prior to inauguration, steps to a microphone and addresses the

nation and calls for the sitting president of the united states to stand up and demand that his supporters stand down. and from the president of the united states we've heard nothing. president-elect biden saying that those who were at the capitol today do not represent america, do not reflect america, its ideals, its virtues, its standards. says what he witnessed today, what we've all seen in shock and horror, is not dissent it is chaos, as he put it. it is disorder, as he noted. and it borders, as he uttered, on sedition. the words of a president matter, said the president-elect at best, they can inspire and have, i might add. at worst, they can incite. the inference is unmistakable.

the president of the united states incited today's activities the president of the united states refused to concede, refused to accept the will of the people, and now his supporters, after hearing his speech, his profanity-laced refusal to step aside calmly and by tradition, marched from the site of the speech at 11:00 a.m. today toward the capitol of the united states, overcame a security cordon, breached the halls of the capitol, entered its halls, overtook the house chambers, the senate chambers. some entered into an armed standoff with guards senators and members of congress were escorted from the building through the tunnels underneath,

told to don gas masks, an unconfirmed report from d.c. police of one person having been shot a congresswoman reporting to nbc news of flash bangs in the halls. now the report that 1,100 members of the national guard and federal agents are marching on washington to clear this scene. and from the president of the united states, we have heard nothing. the saddest day in america, in my lifetime. to see capitol hill overtaken by americans is the latest and last straw in our divided nation. the former secretary of defense on our air moments ago called for a perimeter around the

capitol to prevent this from happening again. think of that. how many of you, on a class trip, or as a parent or grandparent have escorted your grandchild or child to those steps, to show them where democracy sits, and what democracy represents and that at any point the people can come to this building, where our laws are made, where our representatives gather to do the work of the people and on this day to see it overtaken and overrun by people carrying long guns it is a dark day in american history. and darker, darker even that the president of the united states has not stepped forward to say stop it. where is the president and if he will not come forward,

as joe biden just insisted he must and demand this end, should the people demand that his legitimacy of governance must stop reuters news service is just getting this word, reuters news service is reporting a taped message from the president is on the way. a tapeed message from the president. we will have that shortly. when this day began our mission as a news organization was to begin to turn the page, to let the ranchor and partisan decision nbc news has just confirmed or projected that congressman -- that osoff has won in georgia.

that's now a 50/50 senate with control in the hands of vice president as the president pro tem and the tie breaking goes to the democrats now. the democrats control in the senate by a razor thin margin, far-left agenda is not a possibility here but democrats control the house, though by a much smaller margin. democrats control the senate democrats will control the white house and we have a new agenda ahead. to begin explaining to the american people through our reporting across nbc news platforms what that different america will look like now that america has turned a page, as it has so many times throughout our lifetimes. the people have made a decision they want to go in a different direction. it's what we do. it's how democracy works our plan was to discuss who would be leading the different chairmanships on capitol hill, what those chairmanships would mean, how the dialogue would change, toward infrastructure. the new president has insisted this will be an infrastructure

presidency in the early days it's the reason that the markets are up in the way that they are today, with infrastructure stocks leading the way that was our plan for the evening news at 7:00 eastern on cnbc tonight to tell the story of the page turner to look forward to what america could become, to shots in the arm. when, how and by what method and the recovery of our economy and how we could get the two sides to speak together. it is vice president biden now president-elect biden who has said throughout the process, we want to be able to speak to each other again, no matter your background or your politic aal persuasion, you know he has done that throughout the course of his political career would he be able to? questions for the future all that is gone now because we have chaos in washington where does the video from the president come it comes from twitter. we have that twitter video now,

is my understanding. >> i know your pain. i know your hurt we had an election that was stolen from us it was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side but you have to go home now. >> stop. stop the tape. with -- that is not true and we are not airing it. that is -- imagine the height of responsibility, of irresponsibility the president of the united states just lied again the president of the united states just said the election was stolen it was not we know that the election was not stolen, because it has played its way out throughout the courts he has complained about inside of machines in georgia, the ballots were hand counted. all of this has been litigated through the courts his own justice department, his

own hand-picked judges that's yesterday's news. the president of the united states has just returned to the rhetoric of a stolen election, and it's a lie it's a bold-faced lie. it's the kind of rhetoric that has led us to this moment. congressman from arkansas a short time ago, a republican, conservative republican who said exactly that the president must step forward and not continue that rhetoric, but to tell the people this must end. and instead we get that. is eamon javers with us? if so, eamon, where do we go from here? the president who brought this on, i don't -- where do we go from here? >> reporter: look, this is a president who has made an entire career, business in politics of doubling down. what you just saw was the president doubling down again on his false claims afternoon

election being stolen. what we heard from the president-elect, joe biden, was that this is a painful reminder that democracy is fragile and it needs to be preserved. again, generation after generation biden expressing his frustration at the awful scenes that we're seeing up on capitol hill. shep, as i watch this, having worked in the capitol building for years in my career, it strikes me that one of the tragedies here for american democracy, and there are many. one of the tragedies here is that these pro-trump forces were successful in their mission today. they stopped the constitutional process of counting the votes in the electoral college. that process was suspended in the house and senate on the floor when the protesters breached the chambers and members had to evacuate. the constitutional process of transfer of power in the united states has been suspended now, presumably very temporarily, but that is a success in the eyes of whoever it is who is leading this operation on the u.s. capitol today.

you can imagine that they will use that and the video and their forces on the house and senate floor in defiance of the capitol police as part of a recruiting effort to expand their ranks in the days and weeks to come and i think there are many alarming aspects of this, that's one. another one is this tweet we just have seen from a republican national committee spokesman who says earlier today a suspicious device was found at rnc headquarters rnc staff was safely evacuated from the building and the device has been successfully detonated by a bomb squad. that matches the reporting we've seen of potential improvised explosive devices in the capitol itself those are potential terrorist acts by people who, if those are live bombs, could be intending harm to the practitioners of american democracy, the political parties, the members of congress. this is a very dangerous and

horrific moment for american democracy, shep, as you were pointing out what we watched with the president-elect is a leader coming to power at a time when the country is coming apart politically, and trying to put his arms around it and figure out how do we move forward in a way where we can pull this country together and show some optimism you heard biden suggesting that he was still optimistic about what we can do together. boy, it's tough to see how that can happen from here on out, shep this is a very divisive new low in american history. >> it is eamon javers, thank you. after the president uttered the continuing falsehoods about the election, he then did plead for people to step down. so we're going to -- we've edited the president's statement such that the plea for calm is all we'll air. here it is. >> especially the other side, but you have to go home now. we have to have peace. we have to have law and order.

we have to respect our great people in law and order. we don't want anybody hurt it's a very tough period of time there's never been a time like this, where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country this was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of the people. >> no, no, i'm not going to sit here for this. i'm not sitting here for this. everybody knows better than this this was not a fraudulent election former defense secretary william cohen is with us sir, your thoughts >> well, i can't add much more than what you said, shep you were very eloquent in your analysis of what's happened to this country today, we saw the desecration not only of our capitol but of our country. these people are not patriots. they're thugs. they wave the flag while they're

shredding the constitution and they've done so at the behest of the president of the united states. i listen to president-elect joe biden, insisting the president step up, i wanted to conclude by saying step up or step down. >> step down. >> it is time for him to step down step away. you're no longer our president you haven't been president you have been stoking this kind of violent action for four years now at every one of your rallies. you pointed to the main street press as the enemies of the people he has become the enemy of the people by calling upon them to go wild in washington, to call them to come to washington, to do whatever they could to reverse this election. so we've been worried about the president calling up the military all i can say is thank goodness we didn't call up the military, because they would have, in fact, helped precipitate exactly what trump wanted, to see a civil war break out across this city and across this country

so at this point, all we can do is say two weeks can't pass soon enough this man has abandoned hundreds of thousands of people dying on the battlefield of this disease, covid-19 he walked away while several hundred thousand people have died and yet what was he doing? he was missing in action, awol and he was out playing golf. that tells you what kind of president, commander in chief he has been he walked away from the wounded and the dying without even uttering a word of compassion. of feeling sorry for the sadness and the sickness that people have had to endure under his watch when he said he was commander in chief, he was a war-time president and a war-time president doesn't abandon the battlefield. so i can say he is responsible for this and now that he wants to claim time for to you exercise restraint no it's too late. you already encouraged them to

do exactly what they've done and you're responsible for it. he should be held accountable for it i don't know where his cabinet has been all of this time, but it's long overdue for the 25th amendment because this man is no longer capable of serving the united states of america. >> he began this media event at 11:00 this morning with a speech the people who were at that media event continued it over to the capitol, overtook the capitol. he continued the immediate event with that unthinkable video from twitter, horrible thing that they've done to this it's all lies. we can't help thinking this is all complicit. we showed them with rubble rousing pack of lies we're all complicit. never again. never again will that -- will the president of the united

states be live while i'm sitting in an anchor chair because what he does, he spouts lies that rile us up who knows where this leads national guard troops are on the way to clear his supporters. what will happen then? you would have hoped that the president would say i'm so sorry it's come to this. we must stand up for democracy now. instead we got that. i don't know why i would have expected more. >> shep, he has no moral core. he is inclined to break or bend every institution, tried to corrupt it from our military to the intelligence community, to the state department whether in

sports, we believe someone is going to win and lose and to come pack and fight another day. he said only if i win is it legal. and he campaign ed on this back in 2016. it was rigged in that sense, with president putin with his fingers on the scale now he's saying all through the campaign, i can't lose he's saying heads i win, tails you lose only i can win if it's legal if it's illegal, i lose. so he has been out there, promoting this and stirring up the anger. and then you have his supporter

s on capitol hill saying the people are angry why are they angry they're angry because he told them to be angry he has told them that it's all a fraudulent election. therefore, they have a right to be angry, and to storm capitol hill just as they stormed the capitol in michigan and kidnapped -- planned to kidnap the governor and behead her these were his people doing this all he says was, well sheerks didn't even thank me because the fbi discovered the plot. he's out there, stirring this and stirring them and they're not patriotic. they're not patriots they're mobs and they're thugs. we're at a pivotal moment. forces are on the way to clear the capitol.

every time you think it can't get worse, it does there are millions and millions and millions of people who believe his lies are truth how do we turn the corner? how do we begin that process >> i've known joe biden most of my adult life. me to the senate, he to the house. he has a great heart and great mind he travels the world and knows what this country can do when it's united. it's being divided principally upon racial lines. we have to recognize that original sin is still with us. if you can think of whether or not the black lives matter movement came to washington and

they started to march on the capitol hill and tried to break into it, you think that the police would have been there in force? you think they would have allowed them to go into the capitol and take up residence in the capitol? so there's a big racial component here because most of the president's proud boys, they're white. and they get away with what they're doing because they're white. we see a man with a knife in his hand in his car being shot in the back seven times, and that's okay and now we have hundreds if not thousands of people storming the capitol armed with guns and that's okay, too we have to treat them with kid gloves i think joe biden is the right man at the right time. we've got to try to reach across to the people who have good hearts and who believe that this country is a force for good in the world.

what i saw take place today was something that would please the heart of vladimir putin. he has got to say hooray for president trump. he has done everything i've wanted to see happen to the united states. he's carried out my objective by undercutting the nato, undercutting the eu, undercutting our intelligence community. undercutting our state department everything that putin would like has happened here under president trump. so if you can imagine what they're looking at in moscow saying, hey, putin's agenda has been carried out this is now an assault upon the democracy, which is exactly what president putin has been trying to do and has vowed to do. that is to weaken the united states as a beacon of freedom and democracy. so, it begins with joe biden but there has to be more you have young, gifted, talented, educated senators up

on capitol hill who are simply vying to become the new trump. they want to inherit his base of support, which is 74 million strong, who don't care what trump does or says, as long as it's trump himself it doesn't matter that they're not abiding by the rule of law we're supposed to be the country that believes in the rule of law. the president talks about law and order. do you know what he never talks about? justice, equality. you look at the archives of the supreme court. it says equal justice under law. we know that hasn't been true for the history of this country. it's never been equal. but what we've always said, we're trying to build a more perfect union. we're trying to be more equal. >> right. >> we're trying to share the bounties, people of different color, ethnicities, religions. and this man has single-handedly been tearing that down

you're right the media has been complicit, because we have followed him down every rabbit hole that he has dug for us and we do it because of ratings. it's time for the good people of this country to say we have to heal the country and all the divisions that exist, racial, ethnic, religious, cultural, soci social, economic we've got to come together and joe biden is the man, i believe, that has the best chance and it may not work. >> secretary cohen -- >> anyway, you have my thoughts. >> and i appreciate them former defense secretary william cohen, thank you so much let's look at -- i have a moment of hope for you, but listen to this listen to this [ crowd noise

>> inside the capitol today. a moment of hope now this, from nbc news pete williams, justice correspondent. the senate continues to work the senate will stay until its work is done, to move the process forward such that joe biden can be inaugurated as the next president of the united states pete williams reports that the senate is in a secure location, plans to work and be in session in that secure location and continued account, which in years past, in cycles past, for hundreds of years since the formation of this union, it's a process that has happened largely without incident, largely as a procedural moment today, of course, there were -- there was one, at least, objection that happened by arizona during the role call, and then a series of performances by leaders in a

break, and then the siege on the capitol. so you wonder, and i don't know, we'll report as we have the information. you wonder if other states will still object given the current circumstances. congressman brendan boyle is with us, democrat of pennsylvania, inside as it's happened congressman, your thoughts >> yeah. thank you. it's good to be with you wish the circumstances were different. right now, i'm with a group of colleagues moved to a location i can't say by u.s. capitol police i was happy, just as you were turning it to me, i heard your news reported that the senate will stay in session that is a very encouraging piece of news. as a house member i strongly encourage house leaders to do exactly the same thing there is no way -- this is much bigger than the individuals joe biden and donald trump it is way bigger than that this is about democracy and our

constitution versus anarchy. we need to stay in session we need to fulfill our constitutional duty and finish this process and ensure the 306 electoral votes for joe biden and kamala harris are certified, because that is our constitutional system. >> the question is process, congressman. we are in a place where there are -- and i've said it before, but it is the crux of -- the root of the problem. tens of millions of people believe when the president falsely claims that the election was stolen, that the ballots were fraudulent, that the count was rigged, they believe it. >> yeah. >> if i believed that, that our nation were being overtaken i, too, would march in the streets. i wouldn't stand for the united states, the entire system to be corrupted, as the president claims it was, and millions of his followers believe. what do we do about that you have to fix that. >> disinformation is -- this is

one of the big existential questions of our time, because we do -- unlike just 40, 50 years ago when most people were getting their information from common sources, we are now in an environment in which the people who just stormed the capitol and still are right now are getting their information from sources i probably never even heard of and that concerns me it also shows you why, while thousands of people armed, storming the capitol, are clarely a threat, frankly the greater threat long term are those who incite this, those who literally profit from feeding them this steady diet of disinformation and lies. the question of how we solve this i don't pretend to have all the answers. i just know we need to if we are going to finally move forward in a united direction that preserve s our democracy. because in the end -- i never imagined i would say this about

the united states of america but if we had talked a few years ago, i would have said without question we will stay a democracy forever. it would be foolish to even question it. now, i still think that, but maybe 95%, 96% i now understand the wisdom in what john adams said democracies don't die from external threats they die by suicide. what we're seeing today is a suicidal act to a democracy. >> congressman, it's up to people on capitol hill to get this together and govern us again. step forward with your republicans across the aisle and make this happen do it for all of us. there is no time to waste. congressman brendan boyle, thank you. live pictures we were seeing moments ago, the cameraman had to bring it down it was very clear what was happening. the clearing of the capitol. is this still live

is that live this is accurate this is live they are clearing the steps of the capitol. it's my understanding the process of clearing on the inside is continuing let's get to eamon javers, who is watching along with them. tell bus the logistics of the clearing of the capitol. >> what you're looking at, shep, a large group of trump supporters who have occupied the capitol building, the exterior and interior of t fbi and police officers will go through room by room in the capitol to figure out where these people went, what devices they may have planted if any, what equipment they may have brought with them and make sure each of those rooms are secure they'll have to clear that large crowd off the steps and away from the capitol building itself there is the potential for violent clashes, as we know, from crowd control history in the past when you try to move a large group of people that does not want to be moved that will have to be done

delicately and precipitously the video from inside the senate shows you how this happened. you see one capitol police officer retreating from a full run outside the senate chamber, to the camera left here is the senate floor itself. those protesters are moving closer and closer to the front door of the senate you see that police officer calling for backup, calling for additional support, they are about 15 or 20 feet from the door of the senate right there, at that point of confrontation that is what's known as the ohio clock area you've seen pictures of it as presidents, congressional leadership, senators and others have given press korchs conferences in that very area. that is just steps off the senate floor you see one capitol police officer there in nearly a full run retreat as protesters are surging into the building. they were clearly overwhelmed, the capitol police were, and unable to deal with it, as he repeatedly is calling for backup in that situation. then you see some additional

officers come to his support there. they lost control of the situation relatively quickly inside the capitol building. now they'll have to take all those areas back, physically, as they clear that area inside the senate chamber the area around the senate chamber and these areas you're seeing now in the exterior of the senate the irony here is that that is the area where they built the scaffolding for the inauguration of presidents. that's the area where president trump took the oath of office and had things been normal, that is the area where president-elect biden would take the oath of office now it is occupied by pro-trump forces who are seeking to disrupt the election of the president of the united states you see them up there. those are some of the towers that have been built presumably for the tv coverage of the inauguration and they seem now to be occupied by trump loyalists, waving flags. i believe that's a picture of president trump on the flag there. they occupy the tv towers to the

right and left of the pavilion in the middle where the president takes the oath of office, that area with the railing just between those two trump signs now is the height of american democracy takes place, and now it is a scene of the height of american anarchy, shep. >> eamon, ellison barber is reporting -- she just finished apologies. eamon, i have a question we now have ellison barber listen to ellison. do we have ellison barber with us we're listening to a report of hers i do want to ask eamon if we're able to get ellison, great meantime it appears there are more troubles across the nation, at least in some spots now, eamon. from georgia, i can bring you this there were concerns earlier

about the secretary of state as the count continued in georgia nbc news now projects osoff wins the second senate seat there there are two democratic senators from georgia, which makes it a 50/50 split in the senate, gives the control of the senate however slim to the democrats, in control of all the houses in power in washington. while we get that word, we now know that the counting of the votes in georgia has stopped, an abundance of caution they've stopped the count. in addition the d.c. mayor is speaking live now. let's listen to mayor muriel bowser. >> the police department has been deployed to assist the united states capitol police in restoring order to the capitol, and our chief of police will lead the command to clear the capitol building and establish a perimeter around the capitol i have requested both the virginia state police and the maryland state police to deploy

officers, and they have engaged immediately to deploy officers to the metropolitan police department to help regain control of the united states capitol. i have also invoked, several days ago, a standing mutual aid agreement with our surrounding jurisdictions, and i want to thank them for deploying those jurisdictions include arlington county, montgomery county, prince george's county as well as baltimore city. we want to thank them for sending their officers in, assisting us with public safety in the district as well as the response to the united states capitol building additionally, i want to acknowledge and thank the new jersey state police, who will also be assisting the metropolitan police department so, with that, i want to turn to chief conti.

secretary of the army will make comments and we will take brief questions. >> thank you, mayor. good afternoon and thank you, mayor bowser. my name is robert j. conti iii i'm chief of police of the metropolitan police department in washington, d.c as you are aware, demonstrators came to our city this morning to exercise their first amendment rights and were largely concentrated in the area of the national mall. following the president's remarks, a large crowd began to march eastbound on madison avenue northwest and constitution avenue northwest. as the demonstrators approached the united states capitol grounds, there was a noticeable change in their demeanor they reached the fencing along the u.s. capitol grounds and confronted police lines surrounding the building mpd was requested by the united states capitol police to provide assistance with crowd management and due to the violent behavior toward the police officers there and their intent on gaining

access to the capitol, a riot was declared it was clear that the crowd was intent on causing harm to our officers by deploying chemical irritants on police, to force entry into the united states capitol building as you are aware, they were able to gain

they happen on a regular basis. this is here in our city this event were not representations of peaceful protests today was riotous behavior and those people will be held accountable. we can take nany questions you may have >> thank you, mayor bowser

about 3:30 this afternoon we enabled the d.c. national guard to reestablish the safety and confines of the u.s. capitol we will be working with other federal law enforcement entities who will be coming here to additional support and help. >> the national guard has been brought in to restore order. let's go to the call senator, thank you and your thoughts on the way this is being handled. >> i don't think anyone in this country could have watched president-elect biden's speech

and the current president's speech and not thought my goodness this calls for presidential leadership, not someone to stand up and tell an aarchists that he loves them that is beyond the pale of leadership what you just heard from the chief of police, the march happened right after the president's comments if you want proof it incited this march to the capitol, i don't think you have much difference you can look at it and say how could you come to any other conclusion >> these are the known knowns, the truth. those are all true, but what do we do now because we have a real problem? millions and millions of americans who believe the

election was stolen. how do we fix this, come together and move forward? >> the first thing is fulfill the constitutional obligation to read and certify the electoral college vote i would call on josh hawley, and ted cruz, every member, as mitch mcconnell said, this harmless protest gesture. now there is nothing harmless about this call on them to stop the protests, certify the election, send a message not just to our country but the rest of the world you cannot stop american democracy. you have to dig deep i come from a part of the country where 65 to 70% of the people support this president. i imagine after this it's going

to be fewer people say impart of this effort. >> we will see senator, we have a growing problem now. i have to show you something here is a protest building outside the governor's mansion in st. paul. this is minnesota. there is a stop the seal rally which began as a car parade and is now a march in las vegas. we have a national -- we just witnessed the occupation of the capitol of the united states and we never had the president come out on a live camera to try and stop it. we have an enormous historical, unprecedented problem. >> shep, you might recall this when i said my fear was that re-election of president would

lead to you a toautocracy. i think you challenged me. i think there is a sense if you don't win the election, you take things into your own hands that's a failure by the leadership with we are going to curry favor with his c constituency we had a congressman who said that's what people like, how he talks. how he talks leads to this behavior i think it's going to take all of us listening, not just dictating or getting mad about the other side but listening to the other side and segregating. i think president-elect biden said this is not 64 or 70 million people they don't represent every trump

voter. let's reach out to the other trump voters and make sure we understand >> part of the problem is, clearly, two examples, ted cruz is a brilliant lawyer himself. lindsey graham, south carolina, brilliant. they know all of this is false and yet on they march. who can convince those who support these lies that lead to these events they have to be stopped as well. >> well, that's my point there has to be a level of accountability my call is to ted cruz i tweeted this out and said all of you people who want to protest the electoral college, now is the time to step up and say it is not going to change the outcome. we can do in each of these states to try to examine what

happened in the election to see if something went wrong, but stand down and confirm the electoral college vote to confirm democracy. this kind of division and rioting, anarchy on the streets of our capitol endangering not just members of congress and senators, but endangering every staff member and my beloved capitol police i ran a law enforcement agency i have affinity for the men and women who are blue who carry out our law enforcement. i understand the blue lined flag when i see these anarchists carrying that flag, it breaks my heart.

>> thanks so much. i just have gotten word from the d.c. police -- it's so incredibly sad -- theprotester deployed chemical irritants on police to enter the capitol. we have known for a long time that anarchists would be part of this you have to wonder how much of this is people trying to set this democracy onfire. >> i think it is people who have joined the cause of trump. they believe that they are patriots, believe in their heart of hearts that they are defending our democracy and that's the opposite of what they are doing, but it is because of donald trump and his enablers that this is happening in america today. >> former senator heidi heitkamp

of north dakota. they are clearing the front of the capitol now. the metro dc police say they were sprayed with chemicals and that's how they entered the capitol. let's listen to this >> on the steps at this part of the u.s. capitol the people who were up there have come down now i don't know if we can walk a little bit -- we don't want to get too close, but i don't know if you can see some of what has been left. people have put up signs you can see some of the signs on cars about pelosi and people have been standing o