About 200 officers had been mobilised to clear the three Senate office buildings on Constitution Avenue.

Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is already facing criminal charges for mishandling top secret government documents after leaving office.

The document urges lawmakers to legislate so that Trump and others who 'engaged in insurrection' can be barred from holding office – 'whether federal or state, civilian or military'.

The move marks an aggressive escalation of the probe, which has issued more than 100 subpoenas and interviewed more than 1,000 people since its launch in 2021.

The justices denied Trump's emergency request to lift a lower court's decision that prevented the arbiter from reviewing more than 100 documents marked as classified and seized at his estate in Palm Beach.

Trump is notorious for his ability to run down the clock on congressional investigations and legal action, and it remains highly unlikely that he would agree to give evidence.

Police say it remains unclear why he chose to drive to the Capitol complex.

The witnesses described concerns about what would happen if the president did not send a stronger message.

In eight hearings featuring testimony from former White House officials and Trump associates, the panel has painted the former president as responsible for the attack in a bid to stay in power following his 2020 election loss.

Each of the two counts is punishable by 30 days to one year behind bars and a fine of US$100 to US$100,000.

The House of Representatives Select Committee has detailed what members say is Trump's failure to act for the 187 minutes between the end of his inflammatory speech at a rally, and the release of a video telling them to go home.

Cassidy Hutchinson, an assistant to Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows, says the president had demanded to march with the mob.