![]() ![]() Shortly after being told to put on gas masks, most members were quickly escorted out of the chamber. “They had a piece of furniture up against the door, the door, the entry to the floor from the Rotunda, and they had guns pulled.” The officers eventually escorted the lawmakers out of the chamber. “When we got over to other side of the gallery, the Republican side, they made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault, it looked like,” he said. He said security officers urged lawmakers to put gas masks on and herded them into a corner of the massive room. Scott Peters, D-Calif., told reporters he was in the House chamber when protesters began storming it. Phillips yelled at Republicans, “This is because of you!” Police evacuated the chamber at 2:30 p.m., grabbing boxes of Electoral College certificates as they left. “Protesters are in the building,” were the last words picked up by a microphone carrying a live feed of the Senate before it shut off. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Vice President Mike Pence were evacuated from the Senate as protesters and police shouted outside the doors. “It was breathtaking how quickly law enforcement got overwhelmed by these protesters,” he told The Associated Press. Chris Pappas, a Democrat, said Capitol Police banged on his door and “told us to drop everything, get out as quickly as we could.” A loud bang sounded as officials detonated a suspicious package to make sure it was not dangerous. They broke into the building.Īnnouncements blared: Due to an “external security threat,” no one could enter or exit the Capitol complex, the recording said. Some in the crowd were shouting “traitors” as officers tried to keep them back. Throngs of maskless MAGA-hatted demonstrators tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps. Under the very risers set up for Biden’s inauguration, Trump supporters clashed with police who blasted pepper spray in an attempt to hold them back. “I looked out the windows and could see how outmanned the Capitol Police were,” Phillips said. Dean Phillips of Minnesota surveyed the growing crowd on the grounds not long after Trump had addressed his supporters by the Ellipse, fueling their grievances over an election that he and they say he won, against all evidence. Early on, some inside the Capitol saw the trouble coming outside the windows. ![]()
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