Hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, leaving the halls of Congress with broken windows, vandalized walls and ransacked offices.
Among the wreckage were pieces of broken furniture, battered doors and heaps of trash littering the hallway floors. A thick film of dust and tear gas residue remained throughout the building that contains the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Stolen and damaged items were reported in elected officials' offices, including the wood and gold placard above House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.
Staff spent the night cleaning up the debris of the chaotic and at times violent riot that left four people dead — three who died of "medical emergencies" and one woman who was fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
In one photo, four bullet holes can be seen in the glass of the House doors. Stickers on the glass contained phrases like, "F--- antifa!" and "Not my president" under a photo of Biden.
One video shows damage to the frame of a different door inside the building.
And in another video, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., gives a tour of his ransacked office, which showed a broken door, stripped pieces of wall art, a discarded "Make America Great Again!" flag on the floor, and a cigarette butt extinguished in a picture frame. Merkley also said a laptop had been stolen from the office.
On Wednesday, disturbing images from the mob flooded social media, including a photo of a noose hung on the west side of the Capitol and rioters waving Confederate flags or using white power gestures.
The frenzied scene erupted Wednesday afternoon as rioters broke through barricades and forced Congress to evacuate parts of the building amid a ceremonial event affirming that President-elect Joe Biden won the November election. Trump spent the day inciting and praising a mob that stormed the Capitol, prompting Twitter and Facebook to lock him out of his accounts.
