By Meg Wagner, Melissa Macaya, Mike Hayes, Melissa Mahtani, Veronica Rocha and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN
House members are being given gas masks that were under the seats, according to a pool reporter on the House floor.
"Rules Committee Chair McGovern is telling members there is tear gas in the rotunda and Grabbing mask under seats and be prepared to put on. Everyone is freaking out. Members are all holding the gas masks," the pool reporter said.
Everyone in the House chamber is being told to relocate to cloakroom.
There are about 100 people inside the chamber, that reporter said.
From CNN's Allie Malloy and Peter Morris
The White House is an elevated security posture, CNN's Peter Morris reports.
White House staff and journalists are able to come and go, but uniformed division officers are now armed with assault rifles and patrolling the grounds.
Also, after President Trump returned to the White House following his rally earlier, the Marine guard was present outside of the West Wing. That Marine has since gone inside, indicating that Trump is not currently in the Oval Office.
Charles Ramsey, the former chief of the DC Metropolitan Police, called the breach of U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon by Pro-Trump protesters "as close to a coup attempt as this country has ever seen."
Asked by CNN's Jake Tapper what President Trump should do, Ramsey said, "What I would want the President to do is shut the hell up and get out of the way."
"I mean, the guy is — he's like a cancer, you know," Ramsey added.
"He stirred them up and got the whole thing going. This is as close to a coup attempt as this country has ever seen. That's what you're looking at, folks, that's what you're looking at and it's absolutely ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous, and a lot of people are responsible for this."
Watch:
From CNN's Allie Malloy, Kevin Liptak and Kaitlan Collins
President Trump has urged protesters to support police and law enforcement in a tweet this afternoon as they breached the US Capitol.
Earlier in the day, Trump encouraged his supporters to protest at the US Capitol in the hours before the building was breached.
Despite promising he would join them, Trump retreated to the White House in his SUV and watched on television as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill.
"We’re going to walk down to the Capitol. And we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering, so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength and you have to be strong," he said at his rally on the Ellipse.
As he was concluding, Trump again claimed he would join his supporters as they marched to the Capitol.
"We’ll walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” he said.
For more than 40 minutes, the White House has refused to comment on the chaos unfolding involving Trump's supporters on Capitol Hill, who have now breached the area where Vice President Mike Pence is currently inside. Despite repeated requests, Trump's spokesperson have declined to say anything or deliver any message from the President on what's ongoing.
From CNN's Phil Mattingly, Daniella Diaz and pool reporters
A lawmaker confirms to CNN that the House floor is being evacuated.
There’s an armed standoff at the House front door, and police officers have their guns drawn at someone who is trying to reach the front door.
Protesters, who breached the Capitol building, were reportedly heard banging on the doors of the House floor moments before the floor evacuation began.
CNN's Manu Raju reports. Watch:
From CNN’s Evan Perez
Federal and local law enforcement are responding to reports of possible pipe bombs in multiple locations in Washington, DC.
It’s unclear if the devices are real or a hoax, but they’re being treated as real.
From CNN's Jasmine Wright
The Office of the Vice President-elect will not comment on the whereabouts of Kamala Harris, but add that she is “safe,” according to a Harris aide.
She was set to attend the Electoral College vote certification this afternoon on Capitol Hill.
From CNN's Phil Mattingly and pool reporters
A lawmaker confirms to CNN that the House floor being evacuated.
Protesters, who breached the Capitol building, were reportedly heard banging on the doors of the House floor.
CNN's Jake Tapper called the throngs of protesters surrounding the Capitol building an attempt at a coup.
"We're watching an attempt at sedition. We're watching an attempt at a bloodless coup in the states, Trump supporters stopping the constitutional process, the counting of electors," he said.
"It's an absolutely shameful, disgusting situation that we're witnessing here," Tapper continued, slamming the President for encouraging protests by refusing to accept the election results.
Watch the moment: