As Democrats continued to prosecute Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial on Wednesday, they displayed shocking images to the senate jury to show how the crowd of ex-president supporters attacked and beat police during the Capitol attack on June 6. January.
California Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the Democrats’ impeachment managers, spent much of his presentation demonstrating how insurrectionists got close to lawmakers, including Senator Mitt Romney and Majority leader Chuck Schumer, who was a minority leader at the time.
But Swalwell shifted gears, seeking to highlight the efforts of members of the United States Capitol Police and the District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department, three of whom died after the disturbances.
“We all know that that terrible day could have been much worse,” said Swalwell. “The only reason it wasn’t because of the extraordinary bravery of the men and women of the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police departments.”
To illustrate his point of view, Swalwell displayed images of “graphic” and “disturbing” meetings between the police and the crowd.
A video showed the crowd at the entrance to the building beating the police with a crutch, a hockey stick, a megaphone and a Trump flag. Swalwell then displayed images from body cameras never seen before.
“The attack on the police that afternoon was constant,” said Swalwell.
Senators also watched clips of some of the officers later speaking to the media, including one who was attacked by the crowd and suffered a heart attack.
“At one point I was electrocuted,” said DC Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone. “People were shouting, ‘We got one! We got one!'”
A photographer also recorded the moment when Fanone was captured by the crowd.
Footage of DC police officer Daniel Hodges speaking to ABC Nightline program was also shown.
“The medical mask I was wearing at the time was pulled over my eyes,” said Hodges, “so I was on the floor and blind and they started attacking me from all sides.”
The senators then watched horrible images of an officer being crushed almost to death by a horde of Trump supporters.
Earlier Wednesday, Democratic House chief impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin highlighted the BuzzFeed News report on black officers who encountered racist abuse during the attack.
“I sat down with one of my friends, another black, and tears started streaming down my face,” the officer told BuzzFeed News. “I said, ‘What the fuck is that, man? Is this America? What the hell happened? I’m so tired of this shit. ‘”
“That is the question before you all at this trial,” said Raskin. “Is this America?”