Confederate Flag Brought Inside U.S. Capitol Building For First Time Ever By Trump Rioter

History was made in Washington D.C. Wednesday afternoon when a massive crowd of Trump supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol building to disrupt the electoral college vote that would officially declare Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election.

Photos of an unidentified, unmasked man carrying a Confederate flag was widely shared on social media. Stanford professor Sam Wineburg tweeted the photo and wrote, “Take this in: Never once, in the years 1860-1865, was this flag ever paraded in the halls of the American capitol.”

Washington Post reporter Rebecca Tan also shared photos on Twitter where the crowd can be seen waving Confederate flags, American flags, Blue Lives Matter flags and Trump flags outside the Capitol building. “Scenes from DC right now,” she wrote. “They’ve raised the confederate flag outside the Capitol.”

President Trump gave a “Stop the Steal” speech on the National Mall earlier in the day on Wednesday, where Trump refused to acknowledge that he lost the election to Biden. Trump once again stated that the election results were fraudulent. This speech led his supporters to storm into the Capitol.

Politicians were forced to move to safety while the joint session of Congress was interrupted. Congress was able to reconvene late Wednesday night to officially declare Biden the winner of the election.

While the Capitol was being breached, Trump tweeted, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

Trump later tweeted a video statement asking for his supporters to go home and that the election was still stolen from him. “This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home and go in peace,” Trump closed his statement in a now-deleted video. Twitter and Facebook have locked the president’s accounts for promoting violence.

President-Elect Biden also gave a speech Wednesday calling Trump to “step up” and end the violence. “Let me be very clear, the scenes at the Capitol do not reflect the true America,” Biden said. “What we’re seeing is a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent, it’s chaos.”

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have demanded for action to be taken against Trump for Wednesday’s riot.