Washington – A violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday and forced lawmakers into hiding, in a stunning attempt to overturn America’s presidential election, undercut the nation’s democracy and keep Democrat Joe Biden from replacing Trump in the White House.

The nation’s elected representatives scrambled to crouch under desks and don gas masks, while police futilely tried to barricade the building, one of the most jarring scenes ever to unfold in a seat of American political power. A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and Washington’s mayor instituted an evening curfew in an effort to contain the violence.

The rioters were egged on by Trump, who spent weeks falsely attacking the integrity of the election and had urged his supporters to descend on Washington to protest Congress’ formal approval of Biden’s victory. Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on his behalf when the proceedings were abruptly halted by the mob.

Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to a previously almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office. Though the efforts to block Biden from being sworn in on Jan. 20 always were sure to fail, the support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the nation’s democratic guardrails.

Congress reconvened in the evening, lawmakers decrying the protests that defaced the Capitol and vowing to finish confirming the Electoral College vote for Biden’s election, even if it took all night.

Before dawn, lawmakers completed their work, confirming Biden won the presidential election.

Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the joint session, announced the tally, 306-232. Trump, who had steadfastly refused to concede the election, said in a statement immediately after the vote there “will be an orderly transition” of power on inauguration day.

Pence reopened the Senate after the harrowing day and addressed the demonstrators: “You did not win.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the “failed insurrection” undertaken by “thugs” underscored lawmakers’ duty to finish the count. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would show the world “what America is made of” with the outcome.

The president gave his supporters a boost into action earlier that morning at a rally outside the White House.

“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” Trump told supporters at the rally.

The president urged supporters to march on the Capitol, telling them, “Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy.”

Trump then spent much of the afternoon in his private dining room off the Oval Office watching scenes of the violence on television. At the urging of his staff, he reluctantly issued a pair of tweets and a taped video telling his supporters it was time to “go home in peace” – yet he still said he backed their cause.

Hours later, Twitter for the first time locked Trump’s account, demanded that he remove tweets excusing violence and threatened “permanent suspension.”

A somber Biden, two weeks away from being inaugurated as the 46th president, said that American democracy was “under unprecedented assault,”  a sentiment echoed by many in Congress, including some Republicans. Former President George W. Bush said he watched the events in “disbelief and dismay.”

The domed Capitol building has for centuries been the scene of protests and occasional violence. But last Wednesday’s events were particularly astounding both because they unfolded, at least initially, with the implicit blessing of the president and because of the underlying goal of overturning the results of a free and fair presidential election.

Tensions were already running high when lawmakers gathered in the early afternoon for the constitutionally mandated counting of the Electoral College results. Despite pleas from McConnell, more than 150 GOP lawmakers announced they planned to support objections to some of the results, though lacking evidence of fraud or wrongdoing in the election.

Trump spent the lead-up to the proceedings publicly hectoring Pence, who had a largely ceremonial role, to aid the effort to throw out the results. He tweeted: “Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

But Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, defied Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the votes to make Biden president.

In the aftermath, several Republicans announced they were dropping their objections to the election, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., who lost her bid for reelection last Tuesday in a closely watched race.

Demonstrators fought past police and breached the building during the chaotic scene earlier in the day. They shouted and waved Trump and American flags as they marched through the halls, many without masks.

Lawmakers were told to duck under their seats for cover and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.

Rep. Scott Peters, D-Calif., told reporters that he was in the House chamber when rioters began storming it. Security officers “made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault.”

He said they had a piece of furniture up against the door. “And they had guns pulled,” Peters said. Glass panes to a House door were shattered.

The woman who was killed was part of a crowd that was breaking down the doors to a barricaded room where armed officers stood on the other side, police said. She was shot in the chest by Capitol Police and taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead.

Washington, D.C., city police said three other people died from medical emergencies during the long protest on and around the Capitol grounds.

Staff members grabbed boxes of Electoral College votes as the evacuation took place. Otherwise, said Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., the official ballots likely would have been destroyed by the protesters.

As darkness fell, law enforcement officers worked their way toward the protesters, using percussion grenades to clear the area around the Capitol. Big clouds of tear gas were visible. Police in full riot gear moved down the steps, clashing with demonstrators.

The mob’s storming of Congress prompted outrage, mostly from Democrats but from Republicans as well, as lawmakers accused Trump of fomenting the violence with his relentless falsehoods about election fraud.

“Count me out,” said longtime Trump ally Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. “Enough is enough.”

Some suggested Trump be prosecuted, impeached or even removed from office under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which seemed unlikely two weeks from when his term expires –although The Washington Post called for such an ouster in an editorial.

“I think Donald Trump probably should be brought up on treason for something like this,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., told reporters. “This is how a coup is started. And this is how democracy dies.”

Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., issued a statement saying, “Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the President’s addiction to constantly stoking division.”

Despite Trump’s repeated claims of voter fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general have said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All the states have certified their results as fair and accurate, with those actions taken by Republican and Democratic officials alike.

Punctuating their resolve, both the House and Senate soundly rejected an objection to election results from Arizona, which had been raised by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., and another from Pennsylvania brought by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa.

Most House Republicans supported the objections, including Rep. Adrian of Nebraska. The state’s two other Republican House members, Don Bacon and Jeff Fortenberry, did not support the objections, nor did Sasse or Republican Sen. Deb Fischer of Nebraska.

Other objections made to election results from Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin fizzled.

AP writers Lisa Mascaro, Eric Tucker, Mary Clare Jalonick and Andrew Taylor filed this report with contributions from Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking, Alan Fram, Matthew Daly, Ben Fox, Ashraf Khalil and Bill Barrow. The Daily Record also contributed to this report.