incidents of violence captured on video: multiple officers were dragged down a flight of stairs and beaten with metal pipes and an American flag pole; another was bludgeoned with a hockey stick; another was crushed as he attempted to guard a door to the Capitol.[1] Rioters shouted as they surrounded one fallen officer: “We got one!” Others urged, “Kill him with his own gun!”[2] Four rioters died during the attack.[3]
It took more than three hours to secure the Capitol after the insurrectionists invaded the building.[4] Another three hours passed before the Joint Session could resume.[5] The rioters tried but—as Majority Leader McConnell noted—ultimately failed to prevent Vice President Pence and Congress from carrying out their constitutional responsibility to count the Electoral College votes.[6] At approximately 4 AM, President Biden was confirmed as the winner of the 2020 election.[7]
F. President Trump’s Dereliction of Duty During the Attack
As armed insurrectionists breached the Capitol—and as Vice President Pence, the Congress, and the Capitol Police feared for their lives—President Trump was described by those around him as “borderline enthusiastic because it meant the certification was being derailed.”[8] Senior administration officials described President Trump as “delighted” and reported that he was “walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was
- ↑ Id.; Evan Hill et al., They Got a Officer!’: How a Mob Dragged and Beat Police at the Capitol, N.Y. Times (Jan. 11, 2021); Katie Shepherd, Video Shows Capitol Mob Dragging Police Officer Down Stairs. One Rioter Beat the Officer with a Pole Flying the U.S. Flag, Wash. Post (Jan. 11, 2021); Peter Hermann, ‘We Got to Hold This Door’, Wash. Post (Jan. 14, 2021); Pierre Thomas et al., “Like a Medieval Battle Scene”: Officers Recount Being Attacked by Capitol Mob, ABC News (Jan. 15, 2021).
- ↑ Peter Hermann, ‘We Got to Hold This Door’, Wash. Post (Jan. 14, 2021).
- ↑ Jack Healy, These Are the Five People Who Died in the Capitol Riot, New York Times (Jan. 11, 2021).
- ↑ Shelly Tan et al., How One of America’s Ugliest Days Unraveled Inside and Outside the Capitol, Wash. Post (Jan. 9, 2021).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Matthew Choi, “They Failed”: McConnell Condemns Rioters Who Stormed the Capitol, Politico (Jan. 6, 2021).
- ↑ Shelly Tan et al., How One of America’s Ugliest Days Unraveled Inside and Outside the Capitol, Wash. Post (Jan. 9, 2021).
- ↑ Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins), Twitter (Jan. 6, 2021, 10:34 PM).
