Mike Pence calls for end to violence as he is taken to secure location after Trump supporters storm US capitol

‘This attack on our Capitol will not be tolerated and those involved will be prosecuted to fullest extent of law’

Mike Pence has called for an end to the violence after being taken to a secure location after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.

“The violence and destruction taking place at the US Capitol Must Stop and it Must Stop Now. Anyone involved must respect Law Enforcement officers and immediately leave the building,” he tweeted.

“Peaceful protest is the right of every American but this attack on our Capitol will not be tolerated and those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Images showed Mr Pence leaving the Capitol building, apparently with Republican senator Chuck Grassley, the second highest ranking member of the chamber, after pro-Trump supporters started to storm the building on Wednesday morning.

NBC said Mr Pence had been taken to a secure location with Mr Grassley. 

It was from there that he posted the tweet. 

Mr Pence, whose constitutional role was to oversee the the joint session of Congress that was certifying the electoral college votes of the 50 states and sending Joe Biden on on his way to the White House, had been under intense pressure from Mr Trump to derail the process.

"If Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election,” Mr Trump told his supporters on Wednesday morning at a rally. “He has the absolute right to do it.”

Shortly afterwards, Mr Pence issued a statement saying he would not seek to stop proceedings. “It is my considered judgement that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not,” he wrote in a letter. 

“So Help Me God.”

Mr Trump told supporters: “All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical Democrats.”

After all, hundreds of people started making their way to the buildings where the vote was underway, storming their way inside and stopping proceedings as the legislators were evacuated.