insurrection[1] —while others carried knives, brass knuckles, a noose, and other deadly weapons.[2] One officer attempting to guard the Capitol described the attack as a “medieval battle scene.”[3]
After storming through the barricades surrounding the building, rioters laid siege to the Capitol itself. One rioter screamed, “What are we waiting for? We already voted and what have they done? They stole it! We want our fucking country back! Let’s take it!”[4] Some in the mob scaled walls to reach the Capitol, while others climbed makeshift ladders and still others clambered over one another to get inside.[5] The mob physically overwhelmed law enforcement personnel guarding the entrances to the building and smashed through windows to gain access.[6] Police put their own lives at risk to defend the Capitol, but they were overcome by a crush of insurrectionists.
The mob breached the Capitol on the Senate side first, after the Joint Session had separated for each Chamber to consider an objection to Arizona’s Electoral College votes.[7] Senators were in the midst of debate when rioters stormed into the building.[8] Secret Service agents swiftly rushed Vice President Pence out of the Senate and evacuated him and his family to elsewhere in the Capitol complex, avoiding a potentially deadly encounter.[9] A Capitol Police officer shrewdly and heroically led a violent crowd away from the entrance to the Senate Chamber, narrowly preventing a swarm of
- ↑ See, e.g., Officer Dallan Haynes Statement of Facts, at 2 (Jan. 7, 2021); DC Police Department (@DCPoliceDept), Twitter (Jan. 7, 2021, 1:52 PM).
- ↑ Officer Christopher Frank Affidavit, at 1 (Jan. 6, 2021), https://perma.cc/YN87-BDKH; Officer Alexandria Sims Affidavit, at 1 (Jan. 7, 2021), https://perma.cc/392C-CGPC; Special Agent Lawrence Anyaso Affidavit, at 1 (Jan. 7, 2021), https://perma.cc/M3GZ-WSVM; Luke Mogelson, Among the Insurrectionists, The New Yorker (Jan. 15, 2021).
- ↑ Peter Hermann, ‘We Got to Hold This Door’, Wash. Post (Jan. 14, 2021).
- ↑ Ryan Goodman & Justin Hendrix, “Fight for Trump”: Video Evidence of Incitement at the Capitol, Just Security (Jan. 25, 2021).
- ↑ Marc Fisher et al., The Four-Hour Insurrection, Wash. Post (Jan. 7, 2021).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Lauren Leatherby & Anjali Singhvi, Critical Moments in the Capitol Siege, N.Y. Times (Jan. 15, 2021).
- ↑ Lauren Leatherby et al., How a Presidential Rally Turned Into a Capitol Rampage, N.Y. Times (Jan. 12, 2021).
- ↑ Ashley Parker et al., How the Rioters Who Stormed the Capitol Came Dangerously Close to Pence, Wash. Post (Jan. 15, 2021).
