Trump acknowledges election defeat in video on Capitol violence

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Thursday night became the latest Trump administration official to resign in the wake of the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.  She said in her resignation letter to President Trump that there is "no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me."

DeVos insisted in her letter that "history will show we were correct in our repeated urging of and support for schools reopening this year and getting all of America's students back to learning." But, she said, "impressionable children" were watching the riots at the Capitol and "we each have a moral obligation to exercise good judgement and model the behavior we hope they would emulate."

Her resignation came hours after Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, announced her resignation, saying it is effective as of Monday. Chao and DeVos are both members of Mr. Trump's Cabinet, and President-elect Joe Biden has already announced his choices to replace them. 

In a new video posted to Twitter on Thursday night, more than 24 hours after his supporters stormed the Capitol, President Trump said he is "outraged" by the "violence, lawlessness and mayhem" the day before. The president failed to condemn the violence as it was happening on Wednesday.

The president claimed he immediately deployed the National Guard. A senior administration official earlier told CBS News that the D.C. National Guard was activated on Wednesday after Vice President Mike Pence contacted Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller. While Mr. Trump has the power to immediately activate the National Guard, Pence does not — but shortly after Pence's call with the military leaders, the National Guard arrived.

"The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay."

The president said "tempers must be cooled" and "calm restored" after the tense election. Mr. Trump said his campaign has pursued every avenue to challenge the election. 

"A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation." 

—  Kathryn Watson and Weijia Jiang 

Publisher Simon & Schuster said Thursday that it is dropping plans to publish Senator Josh Hawley's book "The Tyranny of Big Tech," saying it "cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom."

"As a publisher it will always be our mission to amplify a variety of voices and viewpoints: at the same time we take seriously our larger public responsibility as citizens, and cannot support Senator Hawley after his role in what became a dangerous threat to our democracy and freedom," Simon & Schuster said in a statement. 

Hawley responded by calling Simon & Schuster a "woke mob" and said "this could not be more Orwellian."

"Simon & Schuster is canceling my contract because I was representing my constituents, leading a debate on the Senate floor on voter integrity which they have now decided to redefine as sedition. Let me be clear, this was not just a contract dispute. It's a direct assault on the First Amendment." 

Hawley was the first senator to say he would object to Electoral College results in some states. While many senators withdrew their plans to object after an angry mob of rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Hawley followed through and objected to the results in Pennsylvania. 

Only six other senators signed onto his objection, and Republican Senator Mike Lee of Utah even said "hell no" when asked if he objected. 

Meanwhile, former Republican Senator John Danforth, a giant in Missouri politics, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday that "supporting Josh and trying so hard to get him elected to the Senate was the worst mistake I ever made in my life."

"Yesterday was the physical culmination of the long attempt (by Hawley and others) to foment a lack of public confidence in our democratic system," Danforth said. "It is very dangerous to America to continue pushing this idea that government doesn't work and that voting was fraudulent."

A spokesperson for the Capitol police confirmed Thursday that Capitol police chief Steven Sund will be resigning in the aftermath of the angry mob of Trump supporters breaching the U.S. Capitol the day before. Sund's resignation is effective Saturday, January 16.

In a statement on Thursday, Sund had defended his officers' actions, saying they "responded valiantly." He insisted Capitol police had a "robust plan" in place to "address anticipated First Amendment activities."

"But make no mistake — these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior," Sund said in a statement. 

Many members of Congress criticized the response, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called for his resignation.

"There was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol police and I think Mr. Sund, he hasn't even called us since this happened," she said.

Talk of the 25th Amendment is intended to shock President Trump into awareness that mutiny is possible if he doesn't take basic steps, Republican officials tell CBS News. The president's statement Thursday morning, tweeted by Trump aide Dan Scavino, was a step in that conciliatory direction. 

A GOP source told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett that Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao's impending resignation takes some of the air out of the 25th Amendment possibility, as she would have voted in favor of removing the president. 

Mr. Trump, sources say, will not let go of his "steal" obsession, and refuses to deal with anyone who won't buttress his angriest and wildest theories. He is speaking to his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani as well as Michael Flynn, his disgraced former national security adviser he pardoned, as well as fringe attorney Sidney Powell more and more, and his chief of staff Mark Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone and others less and less. As one White House adviser told Garrett, "It's just the fourth ring of crazy he talks to now." 

Mr. Trump's isolation is real, and he has no qualms about turning on Vice President Mike Pence or any ramifications thereof. 

As for the future of the party, Trump-style Republicanism has never been more tarnished. Normally reliable Trump cronies are embarrassed and licking their wounds. 

Last year, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel moved the RNC meeting to reelect her up a full month to this week, thinking the timing would be a celebration of two Georgia runoff wins. Now, the party has lost the Senate, its image is in tatters and there is no time to reflect on anything — just to reelect McDaniel as the party chair because there are no apparent alternatives and everyone is still stunned. 

Standing up for strong security at the Capitol and attending President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration will now have to be a Republican priority to exhibit healing and taking Trump mobs more seriously, GOP sources said. 

Standing up for security at the Capitol and attending Biden inauguration will now have to be a GOP priority to exhibit healing and taking Trump mobs more seriously. Pence's office tweeted this afternoon that the vice president hadn't received an invitation to the inauguration, although CNN reports Pence will attend.

Many Republicans describe Wednesday like this: The executive branch conducted an assault on the legislative branch. The legislative branch took cover, regained control of its territory with its police force and neighboring governors (who accurately sensed the executive branch would not swiftly deploy to stop its own assault) and security was restored. One could say this is the ultimate expression of checks and balances holding. But the shocking truth is the executive branch attacked the legislative branch and one of that attacks own victims could have been the Vice President. 

— Arden Farhi, Major Garrett and Nicole Sganga 

Press secretary Kayleigh McEnany delivered a one-minute statement "on behalf of the White House" calling the "violence we saw yesterday" "appalling." 

"We condemn it, the president and this administration, in the strongest possible terms," McEnany said. "It is unacceptable and they should be punished under full extent of the law." 

She said "those in this building are working to ensure an orderly transition." She then walked off without taking any questions. She did not mention President Trump by name. 

On Wednesday, deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews resigned in the wake of the violence at the Capitol. 

Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said federal prosecutors have filed a total of 55 cases in D.C. Superior Court and D.C. District Court against those involved in the attack on the Capitol, including firearms and theft charges.

Sherwin said on a call with reporters that the charges were "a good start" but "just the beginning."

When asked if prosecutors were interested in individuals who made statements encouraging "combat" or "fighting," he said his office is "looking at all actors here."

Questioned specifically if investigators were "going to be looking at the role that President Trump played at that rally and, you know, whipping up the crowd before they went to the Capitol building," Sherwin replied, "We're looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role, and if the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they're going to be charged."

Sherwin said federal rioting and insurrection charges remained a possibility for those involved.

"All of those charges are on the table," Sherwin said. "We're not going to keep anything out of our arsenal for potential charges."

The vice president has not spoken to Mr. Trump since before the president's speech to supporters near the White House on Wednesday, a senior administration official tells CBS News, adding that Pence is working from the Naval Observatory. Mr. Trump addressed the crowd before the breach at the Capitol. 

The president does not want Marc Short, Pence's chief of staff, to return to the White House complex, the official said. Mr. Trump is angry about advice Short is giving the vice president and blames him for Pence not agreeing to try to change the election result in the joint session of Congress on Wednesday, according to the official. 

Shortly after Mr. Trump's speech, Pence told lawmakers he didn't believe he had the authority to unilaterally reject states' electoral votes.

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, echoed calls from Schumer for Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger to resign, calling the security breach at the U.S Capitol "mind-boggling."

"Anyone in charge of defending the Capitol failed in their duties," Graham, a close ally of Mr. Trump's, said.

The South Carolina said he was "embarrassed and disgusted" by the chaos that unfolded at the Capitol. 

"A band of people who are terrorists, not patriots, literally occupied the floor of the House, drove the Senate out of its chambers, and the question for the country is, how could this happen 20 years after 9/11?" he said.

Reflecting on Mr. Trump's four years in office, Graham said his presidency has been "consequential" in terms of the conservative policy victories, but his legacy is "tarnished" by the events at the Capitol.

"It breaks my heart that my friend, a president of consequence, would allow yesterday to happen. And it will be a major part of his presidency," he said. "It was a self-inflicted wound. It was going too far."

Graham also said he does not believe invoking the 25th Amendment to force Mr. Trump from office is "appropriate." 

"I'm looking for a peaceful transfer of power. I'm looking for the next 14 days to reset, and we will hand off power in a traditional sense," he said.

Graham praised several high-ranking officials in the Trump administration, including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuhcin, and urged those weighing whether to step down not to do so.

"To those who believe you should leave your posts now to make a statement, I would urge you not," he said, singling out O'Brien by name.

Graham also implored those close to the president who continue to push efforts to reverse the outcome of the election to stop.

"This has to end," he said, adding that not a single judge found the allegations of voter fraud raised by Mr. Trump's lawyers to be legitimate and not one state legislature decertified their election results.

Republican Senator Mike Lee has been making private phone calls to key White House officials asking them to stay on the job through January 20, a spokesman confirmed. 

Utah's Lee and three other senators have made private phone calls to White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien and White House counsel Pat Cipollone to remain in their posts through January 20, according to an official familiar with the effort. 

Lee and the senators believe there needs to be "strong leadership" at the White House in the final days of Mr. Trump's presidency, regardless of his behavior on Wednesday, said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue.

Their efforts come as some White House officials and even Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao have submitted their resignations in light of the Capitol riots.

At her press conference, Pelosi said she was demanding the resignation of the head of the U.S. Capitol Police in the wake of the attack, and revealed the House sergeant at arms had stepped down.

"There was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol police and I think Mr. Sund, he hasn't even called us since this happened," she said, referring to Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. "So I had been made aware that I would be saying that we're calling for his resignation."

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Vice President Mike Pence to move forward with removing the president under the 25th Amendment, saying Congress may go forward with impeaching Mr. Trump if Pence and the Cabinet do not act. 

"In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation, and our people," Pelosi said at a press conference at the Capitol Thursday. "I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment. If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment."

"That is the overwhelming sentiment of the American people, by the way. Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts, which were sedition and acts of cowards," she added.

Mr. Trump has already been impeached once by the House, although the Senate did not convict him. 

Read more here.

President-elect Joe Biden said the events at the Capitol on Wednesday represented "one of the darkest days in the history of our nation," laying the blame for the assault squarely on Mr. Trump and calling the rioters "domestic terrorists."

"What we witnessed yesterday was not dissent, not disorder, not protest — it was chaos," Mr. Biden said at an event in Delaware to introduce his nominees for the Justice Department. "They weren't protesters. Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It's that basic. It's that simple."

Mr. Biden said the rioters committed "an assault on the most sacred of American undertakings — ratifying the will of the American people."

The president-elect accused Mr. Trump of "inciting a mob to attack the Capitol, to threaten elected representatives ... and even the vice president, to stop the Congress from ratifying the will of the American people."

"I wish we could say we didn't see it coming. But that isn't true. We could see it coming," he said. "He unleashed an all-out assault on our democracy from the outset. Yesterday is the culmination of that unrelenting attack."

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, said he believes Mr. Trump should not finish his term as president following the chaos that occurred at the Capitol.

"There's no question that America would be better off if the president would resign or be removed from office and if Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States would conduct a peaceful transition of power over the next 13 days until President Biden is sworn in," Hogan said during a press conference.

Hogan said he was unsure of how that process should occur but praised Pence for rejecting Mr. Trump's call for him to decertify the electoral votes for Mr. Biden.

"We need leadership right now, and we need to stop all this craziness," he said.  

Elaine Chao, the secretary of transportation, announced she is resigning in the wake of the Capitol assault. Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, is the first Cabinet secretary to resign in the wake of the attack.

"Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters of the President stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed," Chao wrote in an email to colleagues. "As I'm sure is the case with many of you, it has deeply troubled me in a way I simply cannot set aside."

Chao said she was "tremendously proud of the many accomplishments we were able to achieve together for our country" and vowed to help Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee, prepare to take over the Transportation Department.

Chao said her last day will be January 11.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who is poised to become majority leader once Democrats assume control of the Senate, vowed to fire the Senate sergeant at arms if he has not resigned by the time Schumer takes over.

"If Senate Sergeant Arms Stenger hasn't vacated the position by then, I will fire him as soon as Democrats have a majority in the Senate," Schumer said in a statement issued by his office. Sergeants at arms are appointed through Senate resolutions.

Michael Stenger currently serves as the sergeant at arms, the Senate's chief law enforcement officer responsible for security in the Senate and the protection of senators. Rioters managed to access the Senate floor during Wednesday's Capitol breach.

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said at a press conference Thursday that he had "no intelligence that suggested there would be a breach of the U.S. Capitol" ahead of Wednesday's attack. 

"The intelligence leading up to that — we won't talk specifically about the intelligence that we had, but we anticipated certainly that there would be an increased number of people into our city, in comparison to the previous two demonstrations, we certainly knew that," Contee said.

He noted that the intelligence prompted MPD to activate the National Guard. "Not only did we activate the National Guard, but we also initiated mutual aid with several area law enforcement agencies before yesterday." 

Nonetheless, hundreds of protesters entered Congress' halls, forcing lawmakers to take shelter before fleeing for safety. 

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, who was also at the press conference, said officials did not expect in their "wildest imagination" that "the types of groups that were there" would breach the Capitol. 

"It was the 'going in position' that it would be somewhat similar to November 14, December 12," McCarthy said, referring to previous rallies in support of Mr. Trump, "where the types of groups that were there, but had no — wildest imagination that you could end up breaching the Capitol grounds."

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the attack on the Capitol "showed a blatant and appalling disregard for our institutions of government and the orderly administration of the democratic process," and vowed to identify those who stormed the halls of Congress.  

"As we've said consistently, we do not tolerate violent agitators and extremists who use the guise of First Amendment-protected activity to incite violence and wreak havoc. Such behavior betrays the values of our democracy," Wray said. "Make no mistake: With our partners, we will hold accountable those who participated in yesterday's siege of the Capitol."

Wray said the bureau has "deployed our full investigative resources" toward the effort, and urged the public to submit tips and videos to federal investigators.

"Our agents and analysts have been hard at work through the night gathering evidence, sharing intelligence, and working with federal prosecutors to bring charges," he said. "We are determined to find those responsible and ensure justice is served."

A 7-foot-tall "non-scalable fence" will be erected around the U.S. Capitol complex for at least 30 days, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said at a press conference with Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser on Thursday. 

McCarthy said the Defense Department had discussed security plans "with the Capitol Police and others" in the run-up to Wednesday's demonstrations, but "no requests of the D.C. National Guard were made."

"Obviously, it's a different branch of government, so we have to be requested," McCarthy said.

Ken Cuccinelli, the No. 2 official at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), said on Twitter that his department is helping to erect the fencing at the request of the U.S. Capitol Police.

Bowser said "clearly there was a failure" in security, which allowed hundreds of protesters to freely enter the halls of Congress. She said "a more robust presence" of law enforcement would have prevented people from getting inside of the Capitol, and called for a federal investigation into the security response. 

"We're obviously concerned about the 20th," Bowser said, speaking of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration. The mayor added that the violence seen on Wednesday "may not end on the 20th," and should cause people to "reset" their perception of America. 

"What happened yesterday is textbook terrorism," she said. 

Jeffrey Rosen, the acting attorney general, says federal authorities investigating the assault on the Capitol are preparing to bring charges against suspects as early as Thursday. 

"Some participants in yesterday's violence will be charged today, and we will continue to methodically assess evidence, charge crimes and make arrests in the coming days and weeks to ensure that those responsible are held accountable under the law," Rosen said in a statement released by the Justice Department.

Rosen said the nation "watched in disbelief as a mob breached the Capitol Building and required federal and local law enforcement to help restore order." He added that the Justice Department "is committed to ensuring that those responsible for this attack on our Government and the rule of law face the full consequences of their actions under the law."

Rosen said federal prosecutors were working with law enforcement partners "to gather the evidence, identify perpetrators, and charge federal crimes where warranted."

An official in the Commerce Department has joined a growing list of Trump administration officials resigning in the wake of mob violence at the U.S. Capitol.

John Costello, the deputy assistant secretary of commerce for intelligence and security, said in a statement Thursday he has "no choice" but to step down following "an unprecedented attack on the very core of our democracy — incited by a sitting President."

"The President has long disregarded and diminished the rule of law and the constitution," he said. "Yesterday, that culminated in violence sedition against the U.S. Congress for the purposes of overturning a legally recognized and valid election."

Others who have resigned as of Thursday morning include:

• Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff to the first lady

• Sarah Matthews, deputy White House press secretary

• Rickie Niceta, White House social secretary

• Matthew Pottinger, deputy national security adviser

• Mick Mulvaney, special envoy to Northern Ireland

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the vice president to swiftly invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Mr. Trump from office as soon as today.

"What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president. This president should not hold office one day longer," he said in a statement. "The quickest and most effective way — it can be done today — to remove this president from office would be for the Vice President to immediately invoke the 25th amendment."

If Pence and a majority of the Cabinet decline to remove the president, he called for Congress to convene and impeach and convict him.

Schumer is the highest-ranking Democrat to call for the president to be stripped of his office.

The White House announced it has withdrawn Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf's nomination to become the formal head of the department, less than an hour after Wolf issued a statement calling on the president to denounce the rioters who invaded the Capitol.

Wolf has led the agency on an acting basis since 2019 and implemented Mr. Trump's hardline immigration agenda. The president first submitted Wolf's nomination to become homeland security secretary to the Senate last summer, and resubmitted it after the new Congress was sworn in on Sunday.

Former Attorney General William Barr excoriated Mr. Trump for his response to the violent mob of his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol, destroying property and clashing with police in a failed attempt to block the constitutionally required counting of electoral votes by Congress.

"Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable. The president's conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters," Barr said in a statement.

Barr stepped down from his post as head of the Justice Department last month and his last day was December 23. While Mr. Trump repeatedly made false claims the election was "stolen" from him and millions of illegal ballots were cast, Barr said the Justice Department did not find fraud on a scale that could have altered the outcome of the election.

In his first remarks since the deadly and destructive protests at the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said the crowd of pro-Trump demonstrators who stormed the Capitol building engaged in "violent riotous actions." The agency is conducting a review of the incident, security planning and procedures following the events, he said.

"The USCP had a robust plan established to address anticipated First Amendment activities. But make no mistake — these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior," Sund said in a statement. 

Sund said Capitol Police officers and the agency's law enforcement partners "responded valiantly" to the thousands of protesters involved. The pro-Trump mob, he said, attacked officers with metal pipes, deployed chemical irritants and used other weapons during their assault on the Capitol.

Sund confirmed a "sworn USCP employee" fired their service weapon, fatally hitting an adult woman, identified as Ashli Babbitt. The employee was placed on administrative leave.

Officers also responded to reports of two pipe bombs and a suspicious vehicle in the vicinity of the Capitol. The devices were determined to be hazardous and disabled, Sund said.

Thirteen people were arrested for unlawful entry to the Capitol, as well as the owner of the suspicious vehicle.

GOP Congressman Adam Kinzinger of Illinois called for the vice president and Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Mr. Trump from office, citing the president's inadequate response to the assault on the U.S. Capitol perpetrated by a mob of his own supporters. Kinzinger is the first Republican to push for the president's removal from office.

"All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty or even his oath, but from reality itself," he said in a two-minute-long video posted to Twitter. "It is for this reason that I call for the vice president and members of the Cabinet to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people and that we have a sane captain of the ship."

Kinzinger continued, saying, "It's time to invoke the 25th Amendment and to end this nightmare."

A number of Democrats have already called on the vice president and Cabinet to remove Mr. Trump from office in the wake of Wednesday's shocking events, while others are suggesting the House should move to impeach him again for his actions in encouraging his supporters to descend on the Capitol and initial refusal to call for them to pull back.

Kinzinger said the violence by the pro-Trump mob was a "wake-up call to many," as well as a "call to accountability for others."

"Yesterday it became evident that 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," he said.

The Illinois congressman said that when Mr. Trump was asked to denounce the violence committed by his supporters, "he barely did so, while of course victimizing himself and seeming to give a wink and a nod to those doing it."

"Here's the truth," Kinzinger said. "The president caused this. The president is unfit, and the president is unwell. And the president must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily."

Facebook has banned the president from posting to its platform indefinitely and at least until he is out of power, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Thursday. The ban also applies to Mr. Trump's Instagram account.

Zuckerberg said the "shocking events of the last 24 hours" showed that the president "intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden."

"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete," Zuckerberg said in a statement. 

Major tech platforms took action against the president's social media accounts Wednesday as the crisis at the Capitol unfolded. Twitter and Facebook both removed a video of the president calling the rioters "very special" while asking them to go home.

Facebook and Twitter both temporarily locked Mr. Trump's accounts Wednesday evening. Twitter said the ban would last for at least 12 hours, and would not be lifted until the president deleted three tweets. Facebook extended its ban with Zuckerberg's statement Thursday.

"His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world. We removed these statements yesterday because we judged that their effect — and likely their intent — would be to provoke further violence," Zuckerberg explained.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser is holding a news conference Thursday morning in the wake of the violent protests at the Capitol. The press conference is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. ET. 

Watch it live on CBSN:

A total of 6,200 members of the National Guard from six states across the Northeast have been activated by the Defense Department until after the inauguration to assist law enforcement in Washington, D.C., a defense official said.

Guard units from the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia will remain activated through Inauguration Day on January 20.

About 150 Guard troops are helping maintain a perimeter around the Capitol, freeing up law enforcement to assist elsewhere, according to the official. A total of 300 Guard troops are at the Capitol.

David Martin and Melissa Quinn

Chad Wolf, the acting secretary of homeland security, condemned the violence at the Capitol and said Mr. Trump should denounce those responsible for the attack.

"What transpired yesterday was tragic and sickening. While I have consistently condemned political violence on both sides of the aisle, specifically violence directed at law enforcement, we now see some supporters of the President using violence as a means to achieve political ends. This is unacceptable," Wolf said in a statement.

"These violent actions are unconscionable, and I implore the President and all elected officials to strongly condemn the violence that took place yesterday," he added.

Wolf, who assumed control of the Department of Homeland Security in November 2019, said he will "remain in my position until the end of the Administration to ensure the Department's focus remains on the serious threats facing our country and an orderly transition to President-elect Biden's DHS team."

GOP Senator Marco Rubio took to Twitter to issue thinly veiled criticisms of his fellow Republican senators and Mr. Trump for claiming efforts to invalidate electoral votes for Mr. Biden would succeed and that Pence could decertify the election results despite lacking such authority.

"Some misled you. That the VP could reject ballots. That objections could pass or used as leverage to force an audit . They knew the truth but thought it was a great way to get attention & raise money," Rubio tweeted.

Hawley and Cruz, both of whom are considered potential presidential candidates in 2024, led objections to the electoral votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona, respectively, forcing the House and Senate into separate sessions to debate their challenges. But the objections failed, with an overwhelming majority of senators declining to sustain them.

Ahead of Wednesday's joint session, Cruz led a coalition of 11 Republican senators who pushed for an emergency audit of the election results. Many of the GOP senators who joined his coalition, however, backed down after the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Hawley and Cruz also sent fundraising messages that went out during the assault. In their appeals for money, the Republican senators asked supporters to donate to assist their efforts to challenge the election results.

Mr. Trump, too, continued to perpetuate the belief that Congress and Pence would overturn the results of the election. In a statement Tuesday, the president falsely claimed the vice president had "several options" under the Constitution to decertify the results. Pence had no such options.

There are tough questions for law enforcement about their readiness and response to the pro-Trump violence at the Capitol. When rioters stormed the building Wednesday they broke doors and windows and forced officers to create a barricade inside the House chamber. The mob eventually breached both the House and Senate chambers.

The march and organizers' goals had been talked about for days, if not weeks. Law enforcement sources say FBI and Department of Homeland Security intelligence reports were not warning of violence.

Police, however, were no match for the swarm of protesters.

"It appeared to me that the response outside was slow," said Terry Gainer, former chief of the Capitol Police.

He estimates that half to three quarters of the roughly 2,300 Capitol officers were prepared, and that force may have underestimated the protest's potential.

The police response is being criticized by civil rights leaders as a double standard.

After the breach, 1,100 D.C. National Guard troops were deployed and hundreds of federal law enforcement officers were sent in to assist. Compare that to June, when around 5,000 guardsmen and 1,600 active duty troops were brought to the D.C. area ahead of protests following the death of George Floyd.

"If this were a group of young people who was organizing under the banner of Black Lives Matter, we would have seen triple the number of law enforcement," said NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson.

Police say 52 people were arrested, 26 of them on Capitol grounds. There will be more arrests in the coming days.

Gainer said those who did break into the Capitol could now face felony charges.

The FBI is soliciting information from the public that will help with identifying people who "are actively instigating violence in" the nation's capital, the bureau said late Wednesday.

"The FBI is accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting and violence in the U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021," it said.

Members of the public were encouraged to submit photos, videos and other multimedia files related to possible violations of federal law, or call 1-800-CALL-FBI with tips.

Contrary to reports Wednesday that he was considering resigning, national security adviser Robert O'Brien plans to remain in his post until the start of the new Biden administration, according to an official.

"Robert O'Brien intends to stay until the end of the administration," a senior administration official told CBS News. "There's a strong national security team still in place at the NSC, State, the Department of Defense, and the intelligence community."

O'Brien's deputy, Matt Pottinger, resigned Wednesday following the violent protests at the Capitol. The national security adviser praised Pence's handling of the events that unfolded, calling him "a genuinely fine and decent man" who "exhibited courage."

By Kristin Brown 

Mick Mulvaney, the former acting White House chief of staff who was the special envoy to Northern Ireland, has resigned, he told CNBC, joining a growing number of Trump administration officials stepping down in the wake of Wednesday's assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

"I called Mike Pompeo last night to let him know, tell him I'd be resigning from that," Mulvaney told CNBC. "I can't do it. I can't stay." 

Mulvaney, a former congressman from South Carolina, said he expects more resignations in the next 24 to 48 hours.

"Those who choose to stay, and I have talked to a couple of them, are choosing to stay because they are concerned that the president might put someone in to replace them who could make things even worse," he said. "So I'm not condemning those who choose not to resign, I understand that, but I can't stay here. Not after yesterday. You can't look at that yesterday and think 'I want to be a part of that' in any way, shape, or form."

Mulvaney held numerous roles in the Trump administration. He was director of the Office of Management and Budget and acting White House chief of staff, a position he held for nearly 15 months. Mr. Trump selected Mulvaney as his special envoy to Northern Ireland in March 2020.

He is one of several members of the Trump administration to resign following Wednesday's events. Among those who have stepped down are: Stephanie Grisham, chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump, Matt Pottinger, deputy national security adviser and Sarah Matthews, White House deputy press secretary.

President Trump issued a statement early Thursday after Congress affirmed President-elect Joe Biden's victory and it was announced by Vice President Mike Pence. Mr. Trump said that while he "totally disagrees with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th." 

Mr. Trump also vowed to keep fighting to "Make America Great Again!"

The statement was tweeted by White House senior official Dan Scanvino, since Mr. Trump has been restricted from Twitter after his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.

At 3:33 a.m., Mr. Biden received 270 electoral votes. At 3:39, the count was finished. Klobuchar read the results — Mr. Biden's victory — to a standing ovation from both sides of the aisle. 

The final results are 306-232 for Biden. Vice President Mike Pence completed his duties and announced Mr. Biden as the winner just after 3:40 a.m. 

Senate Chaplain Barry Black closed out the session with a prayer in his sonorous tones.