Tuesday November 3, 2020, the Democratic candidate Joe Biden won the US presidential election, facing outgoing President Donald Trump. 306 voters voted for Joe Biden that day, compared to 232 for Melania Trump's husband. The Republican, however, disputes the results since the election, and claims to be the victim of electoral fraud, supported by his supporters. They also met in front of the Capitol on Wednesday January 6, 2021, the day of the Congress meeting which was to certify these results. "Be there, it will be wild!", had launched Donald Trump on Twitter. Just before noon, the President spoke in front of the crowd, as recalled by our colleagues from the Figaro in an article published on Tuesday January 12, 2021: “Our country has had enough. We can't take it anymore … We won this election, and we won it overwhelmingly … Who can believe that Joe won 80 million votes? We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing, and only count voters who have been legally nominated ". Galvanized by this speech, his supporters slipped into the Capitol buildings, armed and in disguise around 2:15 p.m.
Donald Trump's mind-blowing reaction
The images of this assault went around the world and caused amazement and fear, especially among celebrities. 56 people were injured and five died in this unique event in the history of the United States. While the rioters burst into the Capitol, President Trump has remained silent. The American head of state was also unreachable, still according to Le Figaro. Senator Lindsey Graham made several calls to Donald Trump, without success. Determined to exchange with him, he even called his daughter Ivanka, and Kellyanne Conway, former advisor to the White House. But Donald Trump was busy: "The President, who has returned to the White House, watches the events on television and does not answer his phone", write our colleagues.
"They were all trying to convince him to speak up, to tell the crowd to leave", Lindsey Graham recalled in the columns of the Washington Post. But nothing will. Donald Trump ended up speaking a few (long) hours later : "scandalized by violence, anarchy and mayhem", the outgoing President promised retaliation for the troublemakers in a speech given at the White House and relayed on ABC News. A call for calm recorded under pressure from senior advisers.
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