January 6, 2021

Trump Supporters Spread Chaos to State Capitals

“What we are witnessing does not reflect the overwhelming will of our great country.”

Mother Jones illustration; Getty

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

In the midst of the unprecedented assault on the United States Capitol by Trump supporters, where at least one person has been shot and reportedly died, protests by pro-Trump sympathizers have also erupted in several other cities across the United States. 

A speech by President Donald Trump to his supporters—after months of trafficking in election conspiracy theories and baseless claims of election fraud—culminated in the storming of the Capitol building Wednesday afternoon. It took place while lawmakers inside had begun the official certification of electoral college votes for President-elect Joe Biden. A large group of protesters had gathered there following Trump’s speech, and eventually broke into the building, prompting the evacuation of members of the House and Senate. 

As news of the takeover in Washington, DC, spread, likeminded pro-Trump demonstrators gathered in multiple cities across the US, including Salem, Austin, Sacramento, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Olympia, Columbus, and Topeka. 

The Sacramento Police tweeted early in the afternoon: “Heavy police presence remains in the area of the Capitol. Some arrests have been made for individuals carrying pepper spray.” They also tweeted that reports of physical altercations between two groups of demonstrators have been reported, and that officers were attempting to keep the groups separate.

Far-right Trump supporters also gathered at the Oregon Capitol building in Salem to protest the certification. Oregon State Police tweeted early this morning that protesters were expected, and later reported a group of protesters were on the move throughout the city.

An estimated 300 people protested at the Texas Capitol building in Austin, but the building was closed shortly after protesters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, DC, according to the Texas Tribune. In Atlanta, the secretary of state’s office was also evacuated as a precaution, while armed protesters gathered outside the Capitol building.

Trump supporters also took to the streets in Los Angeles in a demonstration that was later declared an unlawful assembly. 

In Olympia, Washington, a protest that started at the statehouse marched to Gov. Jay Inslee’s mansion where protesters broke onto the grounds.

Inslee, who had earlier condemned the break-in at the US Capitol as “an attack on democracy itself,” reportedly left his besieged home after protesters arrived. He later retweeted a tweet from the Washington State Police. 

In Columbus, Ohio, pro-Trump and Black Lives Matter protesters converged at the statehouse in a clash that devolved into violent skirmishes, according to the Columbus Dispatch.

Mayor Andrew Ginther condemned the siege in DC, even a protesters gathered in his own city, tweeting, “What we are witnessing does not reflect the overwhelming will of our great country and cannot be allowed to interfere with peaceful transfer of power.”


AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate