LIVE: Wall Street at record highs as Democrats take control of Senate

US Capitol siege LIVE updates: Hours after a rally by Donald Trump at Washington DC, his supporters stormed Capitol Hill. Stay tuned for Latest LIVE news

2:59 AM

Pentagon chief says violence at Capitol was 'reprehensible'

Acting US Defense Secretary Chris Miller on Thursday condemned the violence at the US Capitol, more than 24 hours after Republican President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building in an assault on American democracy.
 

"Yesterday's violence at the Capitol was reprehensible and contrary to the tenets of the United States Constitution," Miller said in a statement.
 

"Our Republic may have been disrupted yesterday, but the resolve of our legislators to conduct the people's business did not waver," Miller said, adding that the Pentagon would carry out a peaceful transition of power to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20.
 

2:58 AM

Biden blames Trump for violence at Capitol that's shaken US

President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday denounced the rioters who stormed the US Capitol as “domestic terrorists” and he blamed President Donald Trump for the violence that has shaken the nation's capital and beyond.
 

The protest by Trump supporters that breached the security of Congress on Wednesday was “not dissent, was not disorder, was not protest. It was chaos.” Those who massed on Capitol Hill intending to disrupt a joint session of Congress that was certifying Biden's election victory over Trump “weren't protesters. Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob — insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It's that basic,” Biden said.
 

In solemn tones, Biden said the actions Trump has taken to subvert the nation's democratic institutions throughout his presidency led directly to the mayhem in Washington.
 

“In the past four years, we've had a president who's made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done,” Biden said. "He unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was the culmination of that unrelenting attack.” The mob of hundreds of Trump backers broke into the Capitol and roamed the halls looking for lawmakers, who were forced to halt their deliberations a nd evacuate to safety. The violent protesters were egged on by Trump himself, who has falsely contended that he lost the election due to voter fraud.
 

1:25 AM

Wall St at record high as Democrats take control of Senate

Wall Street hit record levels on Thursday as market participants bet on more coronavirus relief aid under a Democrat-controlled U.S. Congress to help the economy ride out a steep pandemic-induced downturn.
 

Investors shrugged off growing calls for President Donald Trump's removal and a staff exodus on Thursday, one day after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy.
 

"The market is now looking past Trump and it's looking forward to a Biden presidency, more structure and stimulus," said Dennis Dick, a trader at Bright Trading LLC.
 

"A Democratic Congress is going to obviously be more concerned about the small businesses, and the Main Street." Economy-linked financials jumped 1.5%, while industrial and materials sectors hovered near record highs on expectations that President-elect Joe Biden would line up a bigger fiscal package and boost infrastructure spending.

 

"You're seeing a reflation trade on the assumption that a more progressive and aggressive fiscal stimulus package could be in the offing," said Keith Buchanan, portfolio manager at GlobAlt in Atlanta.
 

Rate-sensitive bank shares gained 2.7%, tracking a surge in the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield.
 

The S&P 500 technology index, up 2.4%, was set to more than make up for its losses from a day earlier, when shares of some of the biggest technology companies dropped on fears of increased regulation. Read more
 

1:21 AM

Facebook blocks Trump, Zuckerberg calls unrest 'an insurrection'

Facebook Inc said it would block US President Donald Trump's accounts for at least the next two weeks until the presidential transition is completed and perhaps indefinitely, the most significant sanction of the president by any major social media company.
 

The decision by Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg comes after Facebook announced on Wednesday it would lock for 24 hours Trump's page, which has 35 million followers.
 

Tech giants have been scrambling to crack down on the president's baseless claims about the US presidential election after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol in unrest that resulted in four deaths.
 

"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Thursday. He said the block would also apply to Facebook-owned Instagram. Zuckerberg called the unrest "an insurrection" in an internal all-hands staff meeting on Thursday, according to audio of the call heard by Reuters.
 

1:19 AM

YouTube removes several videos posted on Trump's channel

YouTube has removed several videos that US President Donald Trump has posted on his channel and warned that any channel found to be posting three times within 90 days with false claims on US election results will be permanently removed from the Google-owned video platform.
 

The move comes in the wake of the unprecedented storming of the US Capitol by Trump's supporters on Wednesday and thus disrupting the constitutional process of counting and certification of the Electoral College votes of the presidential elections. Four people, including a woman, died in the clashes between protesters and police.
 

“Over the last month, we've removed thousands of videos which spread misinformation claiming widespread voter fraud changed the result of the 2020 election, including several videos that President Trump posted on Wednesday to his channel,” Google said in a statement.
 

“Due to the disturbing events that transpired on Wednesday, and given that the election results have been certified, any channel posting new videos with these false claims in violation of our policies will now receive a strike, a penalty which temporarily restricts uploading or live-streaming,” it said.
 

“Channels that receive three strikes in the same 90-day period will be permanently removed from YouTube,” Google said in its statement.
 

Trump's YouTube channel has 2.68 million subscribers. Following the violence that erupted at the US Capitol after his supporters stormed the building, YouTube has removed most of his videos from the rally he addressed earlier in the day.
 

YouTube believes that those videos alleging widespread fraud in the 2020 elections violated its policies.
 

1:18 AM

Biden slams pro-Trump mob as 'domestic terrorists'

President-elect Joe Biden slams pro-Trump mob as 'domestic terrorists' one day after violent siege on US Capitol. (AP)

Joe Biden

1:16 AM

If Trump not removed under 25th Amendment, Congress may go forward with impeachment: Pelosi

If Trump not removed under 25th Amendment, Congress may go forward with impeachment, says Nancy Pelosi (AP)

12:00 AM

Trump faces mounting pressure and calls for resignation or removal

President Donald Trump came under mounting pressure Thursday after inciting a mob of protesters who stormed the U.S. Capitol -- facing calls to resign or for Vice President Mike Pence to undertake extraordinary constitutional moves to oust him from office.
 

Chuck Schumer, the top Senate Democrat, called for Pence and the Trump cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides an avenue for the president to be removed. Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a staunch Trump critic, also called for Trump’s removal.
 

Meanwhile, resignations continue to mount, including Trump’s former chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, and the head of his council of economic advisers. In an apparent bid to quell the outcry, Trump issued a statement overnight committing to an “orderly transition.”

12:00 AM

Trump supporters storm US Capitol; 4 dead in violence before Congress certifies Biden-Harris

In an unprecedented assault on democracy in the US, thousands of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building here and clashed with police, resulting in four deaths and interrupting a constitutional process by Congress to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the election.
 

The Electoral College votes of Biden and Harris were finally approved early on Thursday after both the Senate and the House of Representatives rejected all objections raised by the Republicans to the votes in the states of Pennsylvania and Arizona.
 

In the presidential election held on November 3, Biden and Harris received 306 electoral votes, while President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence got 232. The counting of Vermont's three electoral votes put Biden and Harris over the 270-threshold needed to win the presidency.
 

The 78-year-old Democratic leader and his 56-year-old Indian-origin deputy will be inaugurated on January 20, it was announced after the constitutional process was finally completed by a joint session of Congress.
 

In the violence on Wednesday, four people died, including one woman who was shot by a police officer, amid protests and rioting on Capitol Hill that resulted in dozens of demonstrators being arrested, police said.
 

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee called the rioting by pro-Trump demonstrators "shameful" during a news conference.
 

One woman was shot and killed by Capitol Police during the rioting. Police said three other people - a woman and two men - died after apparently suffering "separate medical emergencies" near the Capitol grounds.
 

At least 14 DC Metropolitan Police officers were injured, including one who was hospitalised after suffering serious injuries when he was pulled into a crowd and assaulted, Contee said.
 

Metro Police made 80 arrests related to unrest this week in downtown DC, including 68 arrests on Wednesday night, according to a mayor's spokeswoman. Most were for violations of the mayor's 6 p.m. curfew.
 

10:42 PM

Chuck Schumer Calls for Trump to Be Removed From Office by Cabinet

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer called for President Donald Trump to be immediately removed from office, saying he incited insurrection against the government by encouraging the mob that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday.
 

Schumer, who is set to become majority leader, said in a statement that Vice President Mike Pence should invoke the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, using support of the cabinet to take over in the Oval Office until Joe Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
 

“If the vice president and the cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president,” Schumer said in a statement.
 

Schumer iss the highest-ranking official yet to call for Trump to be removed. A number of rank-and-file Democrats have urged Trump’s impeachment, and a Republican, Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, earlier backed ousting the president via the 25th Amendment.
 

Read More: Why Trump, Yet Again, Prompts Talk of 25th Amendment: QuickTake
 

“Not only has the president abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people’s house, he invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection that we saw here,” Kinzinger said in a tweeted video statement. “The president is unfit and the president is unwell and the president must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily.”
 

The 25th Amendment provides for the removal of the president if the vice president and a majority of the cabinet determines that he or she is “unable to discharge the powers and duties” of the office. If the president contests the finding, and the vice president and cabinet persist, Congress can order the president’s removal by a two-thirds vote in both chambers.
 

10:28 PM

Top China, Russia advisers among White House resignations after Capitol violence

Top national security aides and other staffers have resigned from President Donald Trump's administration over the storming of Capitol Hill by his supporters, and officials said on Thursday more departures are expected soon.
 

Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, a leading figure in the development of Trump's China policy, resigned on Wednesday in response to the incident, a senior administration official told Reuters.
 

That was followed by Ryan Tully, the senior director for European and Russian affairs at the National Security Council, another senior official said on condition of anonymity.
 

Trump's pledge on Thursday about an "orderly transition" to President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20 was partly intended to head off further resignations, but the second official told Reuters: "It's not going to stop it."
 

With under two weeks left of Trump's presidency, many aides were already heading for the door but the sudden departures underscored the revulsion among Trump staffers over what was widely seen as his encouragement of mobs of supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to prevent formal certification of Biden's Nov. 3 election victory.
 

Congress did so early on Thursday.
 

The shocking images at the Capitol filled television screens in the United States and around the world, a deep stain on Trump's presidency and legacy as his tenure nears its end.
 

10:27 PM

US Treasury Secretary Mnuchin expected to serve out term: Report

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is expected to serve out his term until the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 20, sources familiar with Mnuchin's thinking said on Thursday.
 

Mnuchin and other key Treasury officials were expected to continue working on various policy initiatives, including domestic stimulus measures and an array of international initiatives, the sources said. Several key administration officials resigned Wednesday, citing President Donald Trump's response to a violent assault on the US Capitol by his supporters.
 

10:05 PM

Wall Street at record highs as Democrats take control of Senate

Wall Street hit record levels on Thursday as market participants bet on more pandemic aid under a Democrat-controlled US Congress to help the economy ride out a steep downturn.
 

Economy-linked financials jumped 2.2% while industrial and materials sectors hovered near record highs on expectations that President-elect Joe Biden would line up a bigger fiscal package and boost infrastructure spending.
 

At 10:18 am ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 269.28 points, or 0.88%, to 31,098.68, the S&P 500 gained 53.75 points, or 1.43%, to 3,801.89 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 261.18 points, or 2.06%, to 13,002.01.

 

9:52 PM

Thin Democratic control of Senate offers Biden chance for steps on climate

Democratic control of the Senate offers President-elect Joe Biden an opportunity to advance parts of his climate agenda, but the paper-thin majority likely puts sweeping global warming legislation beyond reach.
 

The election of Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in the Georgia run-off on Tuesday put the Senate at an even 50-50, giving Vice President-elect Kamala Harris the tie-breaking vote and removing control of the chamber from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his fellow Republicans.
 

That virtually guarantees that Biden's nominees for departments dealing with climate policy will breeze through Senate confirmation on simple majority votes. The nominees, including Michael Regan for administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), are intent on making climate change regulation one of the pillars of the administration soon after Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
 

It also means Democrats could push moderate proposals that many lawmakers in both parties support, like reducing carbon emissions from transportation, advanced nuclear energy technology, and domestic production of critical minerals used in batteries and renewable energy.
 

But Biden's vision for a $2 trillion climate plan, including broad limits on greenhouse gas emissions or federal mandates for clean energy, may be harder to achieve through legislation in a divided Senate still gripped by rancor over the Nov. 3 election.
 

Most bills require 60 votes in the 100-seat chamber to pass.
 

9:51 PM

Bolsonaro warns US-like political crisis could happen in Brazil

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday the lack of trust in the vote count in the US election led to Wednesday's mob attack on Congress and warned that the same could happen in his country.
 

The far-right leader repeated claims of widespread fraud in the Nov. 3 vote and said Brazil's electronic voting system, internationally praised for its efficiency and speed in counting ballots, can be manipulated.
 

Hundreds of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday in a harrowing assault on American democracy. A shaken Congress early on Thursday formally certified Democrat Joe Biden's election victory.
 

Bolsonaro, an admirer of Trump and whose anti-establishment style of politics he has mimicked, advocates a return to printed ballots for the 2022 presidential election, in which he plans to seek a second term.
 

"What happened in the American elections? Basically, what was ... the cause of the whole crisis? The lack of confidence in the vote," he told supporters outside his residence.
 

Bolsonaro said, without giving any evidence, that there were people who voted three or four times, and dead people had voted.
 

"Here, in Brazil, if you have electronic voting, it will be the same. Fraud exists," he said. "If we don't have the ballot printed in 2022, a way to audit the votes, we're going to have bigger problems than the United States," he said.