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(The Center Square) – Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol Building Wednesday afternoon, interrupting the congressional session that was meeting to confirm the Electoral College votes.

Hundreds of protesters were shown on television news coverage walking through Statuary Hall without having gone through any security checkpoints. Debate was halted, and lawmakers were ordered to return to their offices and shelter in place. Legislators were told they may need to hide under their chairs and to be quiet and not draw attention to themselves.

The protesters appeared to have come from a rally earlier in the day in which Trump condemned, as he has repeatedly since November, the results of the Nov. 3 election that made former Vice President Joe Biden the president-elect.

Capitol Police put out calls to several other agencies to provide assistance after getting overrun, and Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser has put in place a 6 p.m. curfew and asked for the Washington, D.C., National Guard to be called up.

Trump didn't directly address the actions of the protesters but he did ask them to avoid violence, tweeting "Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!"

The sight of massive crowds halting the democratic process in the nation's capital city was jarring to observers, some of whom laid the blame for the crowd's actions at the president's feet.

"This is a coup attempt," tweeted U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. Then, addressing Trump, he wrote, "You are not protecting the country. Where is the DC guard? You are done and your legacy will be a disaster."

(The Center Square) – The U.S. Senate voted 93-6 on Wednesday night against an objection to Arizona's Electoral College vote.

After a delay of several hours because protesters from a pro-Trump rally stormed the U.S. Capitol building, the U.S. House and Senate returned to their respective chambers Wednesday night to vote on the Arizona objection and continue certifying electoral votes from all the states.

The six Republican senators who voted in favor of the Arizona objection were Ted Cruz of Texas, Josh Hawley of Missouri, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

Shortly after the Senate rejected the Arizona objection, the House voted against it, 303-121. All 220 Democrats in the House and 83 Republicans voted to reject the objection.

Earlier in the day, as per procedure, a joint session of the House and Senate was gaveled open by Vice President Mike Pence shortly after 1 p.m. After the electoral votes from Alabama and Alaska were certified Republican Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar objected, with the support of Cruz, to Arizona's electoral vote.

The House and Senate retired to their separate chambers for debate about 1:30 p.m. By 2:15 p.m., the two chambers had to be evacuated as the protesters entered the Capitol building.

Before the disruption, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York echoed each other’s sentiments, saying it was not the job of Congress to pick the president.

McConnell, who already had recognized former Vice President Joe Biden as the next president, said he supported President Donald Trump’s quest to challenge results in a number of states.

“Now we have these sweeping conspiracy theories, even though his challenges were rejected over and over, including some by judges he appointed,” McConnell said.

It is unclear whether further objections might be filed as several Republicans said they no longer would support the effort. The GOP originally considered objections regarding Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, was one of the first to announce she was changing her stance on the objections.

“We must have a peaceful transfer of power,” she said in a statement. “The only reason for my objection was to give voice to the concern that governors and courts unilaterally changed election procedures without the will of the people and outside the legislative process.”

McMorris Rodgers said what happened at the Capitol was “disgraceful and un-American.”

Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and James Lankford of Oklahoma also said they no longer would vote in favor of objections.

(The Center Square) – There will soon be a lot more questions about the 2020 election at the Wisconsin Capitol.

Legislative Republicans on Tuesday took the first step toward an official investigation into claims of voter fraud or voter malfeasance.

“Over the past year, year and a half, we’ve heard allegations of improprieties. Specifically, state laws not being followed,” Rep. Joe SanFelippo, R-New Berlin, said.

Sanfelippo is the second in command on the Assembly’s elections committee.

Republican lawmakers have been demanding answers since news broke about questions just what outside political activists Green Bay did for the city’s election office.

That report said the activists all but took over.

“I think it’s in everybody’s best interest to be open and forthcoming in how our elections are administered throughout the state,” Sanfelippo added.

Sanfelippo said he hopes that election managers voluntarily appear before his committee, and answer all of the questions they are asked. But he said lawmakers are ready to issue subpoenas if necessary.

“I can’t honestly see why anyone would not want to answer questions or provide documents,” Sanfelippo explained. “This just gives us the necessary tools to move forward.”

Sanfelippo and other Republicans say their goal with their investigation is to restore trust in Wisconsin’s election system.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his efforts to get the state ready for a strike in the Tampa Bay area by Hurricane Milton.

"The governor of Florida says he's gotten all that he needs," Biden said. "I talked again to him yesterday and I said no, you're doing a great job, we thank you for it and I literally gave my personal phone number to call.

"There was a rough start in some places, but every governor from Florida to North Carolina has been fully cooperative and supportive and acknowledged what this team is doing and they're doing an incredible job, but we've got a lot more to do."

The praise from Biden comes as DeSantis and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, continue to be at odds. Harris called him "selfish" for not taking her calls and DeSantis shot back, saying she was trying to "parachute" her way into storm recovery and relief efforts.

Biden also said in a briefing at the White House that his administration would help "communities before, during and after these extreme weather events."

The federal government's response to Helene has been under fire from former President Donald Trump, the 2024 Republican nominee.

"They’re offering $750 to people whose homes have been washed away, and yet we send tens of billions of dollars to foreign countries that most people have never heard of," Trump said at his Butler, Pa. rally Saturday.

His comment was without context. The Biden administration has confirmed more than $137 million in assistance with more expected, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said more than $33 million in FEMA assistances to individuals had already been paid to more than 109,000 people. More than 2,100 are housed in hotels through FEMA transitional sheltering.

Hurricane Milton, likely one of the worst storms in 100 years in Tampa, is predicted to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday morning as a Category 3 storm packing winds of 120 mph.

It'll be the second storm in as many weeks to hit the state and DeSantis urged Floridians in a news conference in Ocala on Tuesday to not lose faith in the state's ability to bounce back.

"It's not easy," he said. "I know people have been working around the clock, not just with state government, but our local counties and cities and then all the other partners that participate in this. But people are pushing forward. They're stepping up. I know some of our residents that just experienced hurricane damage from Helene are also fatigued. Just hang in there and do the right thing. Just let's get through this. We can do it together.

"And then on the other side of it, make sure everybody's safe and and we'll put the pieces back together. The state is strong, we're going to be able to weather it. Not going to be easy. We're going to suffer damage."

The storm surge in Tampa Bay, which hasn't been hit directly by a hurricane since 1921, could be as high as 15 feet. That's triple what the area experienced with Hurricane Helene, which passed offshore on Sept. 23 before making landfall in the Big Bend region of Florida.

Helene's biggest impact has been in western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee, where flash flooding destroyed communities and killed 230, including 84 in North Carolina.