Top story: ‘Insurrection, incited by the president’
The extremity of what Donald Trump, his enablers and most crazed supporters are prepared to bring about has been witnessed in Washington DC after a pro-Trump mob including armed militants overran the Capitol building – forcing elected representatives to flee for safety and leaving the joint session of Congress unable to immediately certify Joe Biden’s election as president. After security forces regained control of the building a citywide curfew was imposed and legislators reconvened to cement the democratic transition of power. Our live coverage of that process and the fallout from extraordinary events continues. I’m Warren Murray, here to summarise.
One woman was shot on Capitol grounds during the upheaval and died afterwards – she was named in reports as Ashli Babbit, a 14-year military veteran and Trump supporter. Reports said three more people died in what were described as medical emergencies. Senate staff members were praised for quick thinking and bravery after they grabbed the Electoral College ballots and whisked them to safety as legislators fled. Joe Biden, the president-elect, went on live television and demanded Trump “fulfil his oath and defend the constitution, and demand an end to this siege … It’s not protest. It’s insurrection.”
But Trump issued only muted calls for the mob to be “peaceful” and, eventually, released a prerecorded video calling for his supporters to “go home”, in which he called them “very special” and repeated his debunked claims that the presidential election was stolen. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram have now locked Trump’s accounts for at least 12 hours. Twitter warned that future violations of its policies would result in his account being permanently blocked.
When the rioters were cleared out and deliberations resumed, Pence and the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, both Republicans, gave speeches condemning the desecration of the Capitol though didn’t mention the president’s incitements. But Chuck Schumer, who will soon displace McConnell as leader of an incoming Democratic majority, took direct aim at the voted-out president and called the mob he had raised “domestic terrorists … This mob was in good part President Trump’s doing, incited by his words and his lies.”
The Republican senator Mitt Romney was among the relatively few of his party members to directly link Trump to the violent uprising, describing the storming of the Capitol as “an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States”. In a highly symbolic moment, Kelly Loeffler from Georgia, who has just been voted out of the next Senate, rescinded her objection to the certification of Biden’s win. But other Trump supporters including Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley declined to grasp the moment of bipartisanship, tying proceedings up with debate of objections into the early hours.
British politicians joined reactions from world leaders that were sometimes directed straight at Trump. Boris Johnson condemned what he called the “disgraceful scenes in US Congress … The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power”. Meanwhile a movement to quickly banish Trump from office has begun, with Congresswoman Ilhan Omar announcing she was drawing up articles of impeachment. “We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfil our oath,” Omar wrote. Others called for the invocation of the 25th amendment to the Constitution, which would allow the president to be summarily suspended by the vice-president and members of cabinet – who were said to be holding discussions on the matter. Lindsey Graham, Republican senator from South Carolina, said: “Trump and I … we’ve had a hell of a journey. I hate it to end this way. Oh my god, I hate it … but today, all I can say is ‘Count me out. Enough is enough.’”
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Democrats win the Senate – Amid it all, US democracy kept chuntering on in other quarters. The Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff won his runoff election, giving Democrats control of the Senate as well as the House for the opening of Joe Biden’s presidency. Ossoff’s victory against David Perdue was called by the Associated Press late on Wednesday and follows fellow Democrat Raphael Warnock’s victory against incumbent Kelly Loeffler. With the victories of Ossoff and Warnock, the US Senate will be tied 50-50. The incoming vice-president, Kamala Harris, will serve as the tie-breaking 51st vote, giving Democrats control of the chamber for the first time since 2015.
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‘Pattern’ of Covid bungling – More than 1,000 people died from coronavirus in the 24 hours up to Wednesday, UK figures show, while hospitals reportedly treating a record 30,000 patients. The alarming figures came as England’s sweeping lockdown was endorsed overwhelmingly in the Commons. Greater Manchester hospitals are “at serious risk of falling over”, the council leader has warned, while care home providers are battling rising infection rates as they await vaccine deliveries. One home in Sussex said it lost half its residents over Christmas. Headteachers have warned that some schools are “rammed”, despite the lockdown. Keir Starmer said the necessity for another lockdown was “not just bad luck and it is not inevitable” but the result of the PM’s failure to act earlier. High-street pharmacies are to start offering the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine next week, either on their premises or at designated sites.
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Self-chlorinating chickens? – Gene editing of crops and livestock may soon be permitted in England for the first time under a consultation launched by the government. Ministers say changing the current strict rules, which originate from the EU, would benefit consumers and farmers. However, Compassion in World Farming says the past breeding of livestock for profitable traits suggests gene editing will be harmful to animals. The Soil Association has questioned the speed with which the government is considering the change, saying “it is vital that citizens and farmers who do not wish to eat or grow gene-edited crops or animals are offered adequate protection”. The National Farmers’ Union has welcomed the consultation, along with many scientists in the field. “We need food and agriculture, but we also need it to stop harming the planet,” said Prof Huw Jones from Aberystwyth University.
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‘Snowflakes’ step up – The British army says it is on track to meet its annual recruitment target for only the second time in eight years. With nearly three months to go before the recruiting year ends in March, a total of 7,719 young people have signed up. That represents 78% of the numbers required. A recruitment advertising drive in 2019 mocked descriptions of young people as “snowflakes” and “phone zombies” in encouraging them to enlist. Formally the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is not yet ready to declare that Covid-19 has helped with recruitment. But applications often rise during economic hardship and the army offers a secure career. Five thousand troops and other members of the armed forces are deployed in locations on Covid operations around the UK in what the MoD has described as “the biggest homeland operation in peacetime”.
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Sound of Pa Salieu – The Coventry rapper Pa Salieu has topped the BBC’s latest tastemaking “Sound Of” poll, which tips music artists destined for success each year. The 23-year-old of Gambian heritage released his debut mixtape in November, described as “fresh and inventive” by the Guardian’s head pop critic Alexis Petridis.
Salieu is yet to reach the UK charts, but tracks such as Frontline and My Family have quickly become cult classics. Runner-up is 21-year-old singer-songwriter Holly Humberstone, from Lincolnshire, who has won acclaim for her earnest and emotional contemporary pop (including in the Guardian’s tips for 2021), and has toured with Lewis Capaldi.
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Sport
Manchester City will take on Tottenham in April’s Wembley showpiece aiming to win the Carabao Cup for a remarkable fourth consecutive year, a feat only Liverpool have achieved. The Football Association will not take action against three Arsenal Women players who, without the club’s blessing, flew to Dubai over the Christmas period while London was under tier 4 lockdown rules. Juventus inflicted a first Serie A defeat of the season on league leaders Milan as Federico Chiesa’s double led the Italian champions to an exhilarating 3-1 win at San Siro on Wednesday.
The International Olympic Committee is working on ways to get athletes the coronavirus jab in the second or third wave so that the Tokyo Games can go ahead safely in July, the Guardian has been told. Premiership players have been banned from celebrating tries “face to face” as part of a series of stricter Covid-19 protocols introduced amid the rising number of cancelled matches with persistent offenders facing disciplinary action from the Rugby Football Union.
Business
Shares rose in Asia on Thursday after Wall Street rallied on expectations of more stimulus – whatever the chaotic scenes in Washington. The Nikkei 225 index gained 1.8%, South Korea’s Kospi jumped 2.6% and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia advanced 1.8%. India’s Sensex rose 0.6% and shares in most other markets were higher, though the Hang Seng lost 0.4% a day after dozens of pro-democracy figures were arrested. Sterling this morning is worth $1.359 and €1.103 while the FTSE is tracking to open around 0.4% higher.
The papers
Today as you might expect we look a little further afield than usual on the paper round. Our full review can be found here and a summary follows. The Guardian carries a scene from the Capitol’s rotunda, filled with a pro-Trump mob waving the flag of their leader: “Chaos as pro-Trump mob storms US Capitol”. On its digital front page the New York Times carries the headline “Mob incited by Trump storms Capitol”.
Dan Balz, writing in the Washington Post, says US democracy has been debased. The Daily Telegraph describes the riots as “democracy under siege” and says of the failed assault on the capitol “This is the last chapter in Trump’s toxic legacy to America”. In the UK the Daily Express calls it “Anarchy in the USA”, writing that the outgoing president “opened the gates for violence and deaths”.
The Times also leads its front page on the dramatic image of police defending the floor of the House, plus a smaller picture of the crowds outside. The headline is “US Capitol under siege”. The Financial Times carries the riots outside the building and covers the refusal of the vice-president, Mike Pence, to help Trump overturn the will of American voters. The headline is “Rioters storm Congress after Pence defies Trump on election”.
The Metro also goes with “Anarchy in the US” and shows the same scene from a different angle. It reports a bomb was found on the grounds of the Capitol and that one woman was shot. She has since died. The i also goes for the anarchy angle in its headline and takes in the Democrats’ double win in Georgia’s Senate runoffs too. The Daily Mail gives the unrest the picture slot, with the headline: “Trump’s hate mob storms the Capitol”.
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