January 6, 2021 - PBS NewsHour full episode

Hours after a pro-Trump mob broke into the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, the president continued to make false claims about the election results. Mary McCord, former acting assistant attorney general for national security at the Department of Justice. She now teaches at Georgetown Law School, and joins Judy Woodruff to discuss some of the extremist elements of his base.

In the midst of the chaos at the Capitol, we saw a shift of power in the U.S. Senate after the vote in Georgia as Democrats won both runoff elections. William Brangham has the story.

In a historic and tragic day, lawmakers returned late Wednesday to continue certifying electoral votes in the 2020 presidential election, a process that was disrupted by a chaotic scene, as protestors broke into the U.S. Capitol. One woman was fatally shot by police in the violent intrusion. Lisa Desjardins, Yamiche Alcindor and Amna Nawaz join Judy Woodruff to break down the latest.

In our news wrap Wednesday, President-elect Biden will tap federal Appeals Court Judge Merrick Garland as U.S. attorney general, U.S. officials pressed to accelerate COVID-19 vaccinations as the death toll neared 360,000, Hong Kong police arrested 53 former lawmakers and democracy advocates, and Louisville, Kentucky fired two more police officers in Breonna Taylor’s fatal shooting.

As protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday, the newest senator-elect was watching from his home in Georgia, just hours after being declared the winner in Tuesday's runoff election. Raphael Warnock is also the pastor of the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta where Martin Luther King Jr. once preached. He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss his victory.

Even for veterans of Capitol Hill Wednesday was a day like no other. As an angry mob broke into the Capitol Democrats in Georgia captured both runoff elections, creating a 50-50 split in the Senate. Mississippi Republican Trent Lott and South Dakota Democrat Tom Daschle shared power for their respective parties the last time the body had a 50-50 split in 2001. They join Judy Woodruff to discuss.

PBS NewsHour's Lisa Desjardins reports live inside the capitol building as rioters breach the building, the chambers of congress and clash with Capitol Police.

WATCH ONGOING SPECIAL COVERAGE OF TODAY'S VIOLENT PROTESTS HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKy84YmL-sU

“It was a physical manifestation of these years of completely disregarding some aspects of reality and today it was disregarding the reality of what they themselves were doing to their country,” PBS NewsHour's Lisa Desjardins told PBS NewsHour anchor and managing editor Judy Woodruff after pro-Trump mobs stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 as lawmakers were gathering to count Electoral College vote