violent mob storms a joint session of congress earlier yesterday. now this morning, four americans are dead, dozens injured, and millions of americans left shocked and in fear. the nation is left wondering this morning, can this happen again? listen. >> today is a reminder, a painful one, democracy is fragile. it requires people of goodwill to stand up. good early morning to you. we are in the nation's capital today. we are tracking all of these developments plus what is going on on the house floor this our. >> we have live coverage of wednesday's assault on capitol hill. things are quiet in washington this hour. the city is under curfew. it's under protection of the

national guard. the attempted insurrection interrupted the final certification of the next president of the united states. lawmakers are back at it. possibly a testament of the strength of our constitution. the power has been tested like never before in america. lets go now back to the nation's capital were news congressional correspondent is still with us. he worked all day yesterday and all night tonight he is sticking with us into the morning. >> good morning and things are calm now outside the us capital. but things are not come inside the us capital.

the demonstrators almost had a fist fight on host for. the house of representatives is debating the pennsylvania slate of electors. that's going to become and buy in the next couple of hours or so. there was a dustup about the language used in the house floor by conor lamb a democratic congressman from pennsylvania was appropriate. and then andy harris and a congressman from texas almost got into fisticuffs in the back of the chamber. you could see a flood of members going towards the rear of the chamber. he was a linebacker for baylor university and played for the tennessee titans. he may not be the guy that you want to mess with on the chamber floor. they were able to separate them but this comes as they debate

the pennsylvania slate of electors. this shows just how much the nerves are coming on capitol hill after the weekend sessions over christmas and new year's coming on the third of the vitriol over the electoral college and the dates that followed by the mayhem here at the capitol building with protesters. let me do a reset on where we are. they are debating pennsylvania right now inside the house chamber. when they finish this debate they will have a vote. the senate has already voted a bit ago. the vote was 92-7 to accept pennsylvania. and then we go back to the joint session of congress. and this is where the vice president is in control of the

process. 's going to open the certificates and announced with the vote are from each state. we do think pennsylvania is the last state that's going to challenge. without earlier they may challenge in georgia but that did not happen. they've only challenged arizona and pennsylvania. at the end of this they will announce the total and announced that joe is the next president of the us. ike -underscore how tense this has been with the protesters and demonstrators merging in the building. they ran into the senate chambers running through the office of anti- policy.

a lot of people thought members may come back and try to lower the temperature. they were some republicans who thought the main and giving contest both. people were amongst several republicans challenging the both earlier and switch to their position later on. they said we now need the entire congress to come together and certify the election. we must stand together.

there is a lot of hope but not a lot of chance for unity. we turn now to the streets of washington were fox news correspondent kevin is standing by. we arrived here around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon. we were joined by thousands of demonstrators here. he offered remarks today talking about his frustrations as related to the 2020 elections.

while the overwhelming majority had plenty of others that were not. they were bent on trying to gain access to the building. we saw been pounding on the walls of the doors. they got mixed up not just with each other but law enforcement officers. we've seen flash grenades as well. they're all trying trying to secure the perimeter. we actually saw this happened on the inside of the capital. this was a very dicey circumstance for a lack of a better description. things began to calm down around 630. the police began to move the cross farther and farther away from the building.

the demonstrators stayed around for a while. things are obviously much more calm now than they had been earlier today. they want to keep this building secure in the city secure as well. >> results of the capital building on capitol hill. three people have died during today's events. mike has been tracking these developments all day long. he joins us now what is the

situation this our? >> the situation at this moment is very calm when the left side. we've talked about people that have died out here today. the one woman that was shot was shot by capitol police. she was a 14 year veteran of the air force. her mother ahmad told local news that she had no idea what she was doing participating in these demonstrations. one witness spoke about the chaos when she was shot. >> she did not say anything. we wanted to shine a flashlight on earth to see if she was still

bleeding. we watched her eyes go wide and there was nothing we could do. it's not clear how many people reach the capital. it was around 1:00 p.m. when they broke on the doors. they forced their way inside and they were scaling the walls. be seen fire extinguishers that were set off people ransacking things. we also sought to pipe bombs were left behind. >> we are going to start to release those and we are going to able to release more when we have more discussions with the capitol police.

the capitol building was cleared they've moved very swiftly left across the lawn. knocking people to the ground conflicting with protesters. most of the crowd has moved away it's all very calm after 52 were arrested.

stacey from there we are going to check back this afternoon. >> the protests turned violent in the capital on wednesday. could begin to certify the results of the presidential election. the past 12 hours are going to be recorded in the history books but also live on in the courts were people that clashed and stormed the halls of congress are going to have to face the consequences. am surprised by the numbers. fifty-two seems like a lot but 47 were arrested for violating curfew. i means that is just five people were arrested for rampaging through the capital? >> you can expect more arrests.

that was an abysmal failure. there better be more arrests. there is surveillance video everywhere. there are photographs on the internet and people are going to be identified. 's we've seen the photo in number of times of a demonstrator sitting in nancy's office in her chair. 's he tells the story that's been out there on the internet about what he was doing and exactly why he was doing it. can a guy like that be prosecuted just for appearing in a photograph? >> he wasn't just in the photograph. he violently entered the us capital. he absolutely can and should be prosecuted. nobody inside the building should be considered anything

but a criminal. they were intent on overthrowing the process of the government and that has to be true. >> i have received some tweets from people saying look we are trump supporters and we are there to support our president and we were not participating in this rampage. 's that's clearly a lie. he asked his supporters to go to the capital and they did. it broadcasted that live. anybody saying anything else is clearly lying. this is incredibly anti- democratic. two suggest it was another group doing not is entirely inappropriate. >> and what about the president and what responsibility does he hold?

>> it's not appropriate now to impeach him it's hard to imagine when it would be. he openly requested that his people interrupt the process of government. he should have moved to get the national guard there. why did the take two hours to secure the capital? we should never see what we saw today in terms of absolute instruction of the house of the government. the president needs to prevent and provoke it. >> you are the lawyer and i am not. doesn't this amendment deal with mental capacity? it's up to the vice president and members of the cabinet to decide whether or not he is fit

for office. it certainly suggests when he acts this way that he is not acting in the best interest of the country. if we can pull off the sound its number 201 for the control room. the president claims the election was stolen. i support the president's right to use the legal system. he filed lawsuits and we went

into courtrooms all across the country. but over and over the courts rejected his claims. >> he is saying the president in his view does not have a leg to stand on when it comes to this argument. >> i think that is what is so striking. they believe this election was stolen. in every opportunity the lawyers did not allege fraud. they've never been able to prove the president was not able to argue argue these back-and-forth i think mitch did the right thing. in order to protect democracy we have to uphold the vote. >> two very dark day for the nation has now come to a close.

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twenty-two minutes past the hour congress reconvening in washington after a violent riot. tonight tempers are flaring on the floor of the house of representatives. some members almost swinging fists as they go early into the morning. we returned to our panel. the former assistant to george bush. thank you again for sticking with us. writer i thought friendliness may break out on the house floor after everything that they went through this morning. 's love them were in tears running for their lives and then we hear that they are about to

break out into a fist fight. we don't know the details but is that just how it goes or what's going on? >> i'm sure that's exactly what's going on but cooler heads have prevailed. it's about time they rise to the occasion. that is what i saw in the aftermath. our leaders rose to the occasion all over the country. they brought the country together and that's what we need now. all of the constitutional process was delayed it has not been denied. the fact that they got back to work shows the resilience. nothing is going to deter the constitutional duties of the government to proceed as we are required to do.

i'm glad to back to work in the constitutional process continues >> the last republican president put out a statement saying that they were sickened by what they saw the capital. he said this is how results are disputed in a banana republic. i'm appalled by the reckless behavior of the leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for the institutions. a violent assault on the capital and disruption of a constitutionally mandated meeting of congress was undertaken by peoples that passions have been flamed by falsehoods. your thoughts are met? >> at think it is important that they spoke out. we also had president obama and clinton people across the political spectrum. statements from leaders and military leaders condemning the

behavior we seen today. >> this is a very vulnerable month for the country. anytime you have a transfer of power there is going to be a moment of weakness when you have what is supposed to be peaceful transfer of power that is been interrupted because the president is lying to his supporters and getting them into a frenzy. this all as to the risk and if you are in russia or china or even north korea you are waiting for a way to exploit this. there are real questions about whether or not he should serve out this term. it's that much more important when you have statements from leaders in both political parties condemning things we've seen today. it's important that members of congress speak up and stop the shenanigans.

it is time to show not only for the own country but the world that we can come together and behave responsibly. some jail terms may do a a lot of good towards preventing this thing in the future. that with that being said many of those that march in the capital today spent the summer watching people burn buildings lose stores and destroy businesses. very few of them were ever apprehended and very few of them were ever prosecuted. doesn't that send a message? >> it does send the message. such behavior and conduct has to stop. in respect to our differences when one ignores respect for law enforcement and when you ignore violent behavior you end up with

hope what we saw today in the capital. what happened today carries violence to a new level. i think in the coming days we need to worry about what lies ahead. with got a president that has just said he refuses to accept reality. what is he going to do? is he going to continue to incite his followers two violence? or is he going to step back into the responsible thing? i think that is largely up to the republicans in congress. there is no time for impeachment republicans need to find a way to rein in the president or force him to resign if he is not going to accept the will of the

people and certify the election. if he is not going to do these things we risk further violence in the days ahead. he's been the face of the party for the last four years. did he lose the party today? >> i have the same very disappointed. by behavior of not just the president up members of his family and those around them. this is no way for our president and leader to be acting. when president lee's office they can't wait to get out of town. you never hear from them until long after they've left. i don't think that's going to happen with him. the party needs to get beyond this.

leaders come and go. we must move on. it's incumbent upon them to get together and unite. and i think they're going to do aspects the vote on the certification of the pennsylvania vote continues. >> good morning and may have just concluded on the house floor. we believe this is going to be the last challenge of the night. there may be for other states and they go in alphabetical order. this is a vote in the house of representatives that under normal circumstances would take about 25 minutes. they hope to wrap this up around

330 in the morning. they want to take a short break and then reconvene a joint session. this was all about just contesting pennsylvania than that we have to move through the rest of the alphabet. it was significant after the mayhem at the capital today. they reconvened earlier in the senate majority leader gave a very pointed speech today. he was criticizing the president for his rhetoric today.

can make he said the senate is not going to be intimidated or kept out of this the chamber by thugs. blunt up capitol police should and will do a kick review of what went wrong and what they need to do to be sure nothing like this will happen at the capital again. loosing a lot of review and investigations. they think the capitol police chief should be fired. they have it wrapped up tonight they have to certify the electoral college they had we

concessions over new year's. we almost had a fistfight. it was two in the morning in the house chamber and there was a dustup over some language used on the house floor. and that we had a confrontation in the back of the chamber. we don't believe that blows were actually exchange. it just shows they called them be calm. it was one of those moments at the capital and they almost had a fistfight on the house floor. >> now maybe the time for mitch

and the republicans to come together or something like that. is there any possibility of something like that happening? >> they may be forced to do this in some capacity and the reason why it is what happened in the senate runoff. nowhere is it written down that just because you have the senate and the vice presidency that you are now in the majority. there's probably going to be some sort of power-sharing arrangement worked out between these two. this happened 20 years ago when they were split perfectly in the senate. republicans have control over the senate but their public leader from south dakota they

all voted and agreed to a power-sharing agreement. felt that the capital they are out in full force into the capital a political battle is now raging over electoral votes in the house has just voted to reject the challenge to pennsylvania's electoral vote stay with us we will be read back.

back to our continuing coverage be expected a fierce political debate as republicans were set to object to the november victory. but nobody saw violence from protesters coming.

a woman was shot two death inside the capital. she's now back with more from washington. >> all is calm but in order for this stated this way we saw00s of vehicles from the virginia state police including bearcat armored vehicles arriving from swat teams. they arrived minutes before getting on air. we saw the mainly break out after the mob assaulted at the capital. the forced evacuation for members of congress. >> we gather due to a selfish man's injured pride.

some continue to support his dangerous gambit. they will forever be seen as being complicit in it attack against our democracy. >> 1100 members have been mobilized. 6,000 members of the national guard are in route. 400 members of the state troopers are headed this way in fact we just saw as he mentioned 00s of troopers vehicles arriving. the mob 40,000 strong. of course the chief of staff has spoken with the vice president. it's notable that the president was not almost calls. the former defense chief blasted

him and blamed him for the violence. today's violent assault on the capital subjugates the american democracy. he's trying to destroy trust in the election. the constitution and her public is going to overcome this and we are going to come together again in a never-ending effort to form a perfect union. >> they are calling on all citizens who saw anything. some members of the mob that stormed the capital they want tips leads or anything and you can go on their website to find information. for now all is calm. >> stern words from the former secretary.

>> take a look here at mitch condemning the behavior we saw yesterday. >> joining me now to react as the homeland security analyst. adam good morning to you. a lot of americans are looking at the events of yesterday saying in attack on the us government by american citizens motivated by the president's kicks off all the boxes for domestic terrorism. >> is a veteran this is guided by the principles of due process and the law. it was a decision made by the people that went to the capital today.

it started as a peaceful protest in transition into a much larger issue. they did eventually breach the capital building. 's put the democracy in the process in jeopardy. it needs to be called out across the nation republicans and democrats have called this out and announced this. this must continue to be the focused that this is not the american way. this is not the process we must honor the process and the democracy. >> earlier today he tweeted out that he spoke with the vice president who is a genuinely fine and decent man. he emerged as a good congressman today. >> i bring this up because it touches on something a lot of people have been talking about all day.

there are shades of 911 here. the scramble from the capital. seeing capitol hill get shut down. there were moments of panic that were reminiscent of that fateful terrible day 20 years ago. >> i would not categorize that is that. instruct the heart of america instilled trembles are people. we still mention it today. being a war veteran all time you any event like that is very serious in the country. when must nt to hold our values and be accountable for the constituent. as a leader in my county i'm going to be held accountable.

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it was an unprecedented attack. millions watch live from their homes and others were on the front line. joining us now is kerry a senior campaign reporter from the washington examiner. >> i went to the capital to cover the states that were going to be contested. i was in the house chamber when arizona was being debated. at first it was being ignored

and at one point we started hearing a lot of weird sounds going on outside. at one point the capital police came in and they started giving us these gas mass codes. that is when things got serious they said get underneath your seed put your gas mask on and they started shoveling us out of the chamber. that's when things get really serious. at that point we heard a gunshot and that's one may realize things were getting pretty bad. >> for a while we were being shuffled toward the door of the chamber on the balcony.

they have told us to stay there and stay on the ground. we had a reporter on the balcony with members staying there because we didn't know whether or not those from gunshots or who was shooting. it was interesting that one point we did have a lawmaker shouting haig get your people out of here to the republicans. they had some arguments going on there. a terrifying day and a terrifying assignment. >> certainly. we got some interesting things going on outside the chamber as well.

there were a lot of protesters fighting with police as well. one of these things is that we had a lot of people being shoved around. what's interesting to is that my colleagues spoke to a number of protesters outside later on. a number of protesters actually thought they were allowed to be in the building. when they entered and when they got there they were surprised to find out that know they were not allowed in the building. and next thing they knew they

were being shoved inside. very few have been arrested at least at this point. >> the decision desk has called the georgia senate runoff races. this puts the senate at an even 2-50. back with us now to talk about what this means is judith miller good morning to all of you. democrats are going to pull the house and senate and the presidency is there anything left on the democratic power in the next year. >> not many. the most significant development was the election in georgia.

the other thing this does is it makes a small cluster of moderates show up for the democrats. there is always the threat of a filibuster. some of us who warned them at the time be careful what you wish for. i think what you're going to see because of the change in parties of congress is the concentration on the real problems in this country. they did not vote for this mayhem.

what is up first on the new congress' agenda once we get past yesterday? >> the first thing we need to do is look at joe. lets let's look at the speech that he gives to the country and we will see what he hopes to accomplish in his term. >> we are looking forward to a joint session of congress it's not the state of the union. >> thank you for the leading around. we will get back you in a few minutes. >> is nearly 3:00 a.m. on the east coast. we are tracking the violence in the nation's capital.

we have continuing coverage for turning in just a moment. ..

shannon: assault on democracy, a group of protesters storming the halls of congress. scenes of chaos and violence breaking out during a joint session of congress. for now calm has been restored in the nation's capital with the time honored tradition of peaceful transfer of political power scarred. good early morning, john: with continuing coverage of wednesday's astonishing events in washington