Staff at the Nancy Pelosi House hid under a table while protesters tried to break into the office door they were in, Pelosi told 60 Minutes in an interview that aired Sunday night. President Pelosi was on the floor of the House during the counting of the poll of the electoral college on the afternoon of January 6, when protesters encouraged by President Trump began to pass through barricades, confronting the police and invading the Capitol on a day that shook the nation.
“When the protesters were attacking the Capitol, even before they reached those doors, the Capitol Police pulled me off the podium,” Pelosi told 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl. “And I was worried because I said, ‘No, I want to be here.’ And they said, ‘Well, no, you have to leave.’ I said, ‘No, I’m not leaving.’ They said, ‘No, you must leave.’ “
The police, weapons in hand, kept the invaders out of the House floor, but across the Senate Capitol, the crowd that supported Trump was able to enter the chamber. The scenes were shocking to watch.
“I think there was – universally accepted that what happened was a terrible, terrible violation of – the Capitol, the first branch of government, the legislative branch, by the President of the United States,” said Pelosi.
The crowd was free to roam the halls of Congress, a group arriving straight at President Pelosi’s offices. They broke one of the office doors before they he passed through another door – behind which Pelosi’s team cowered, terrified.
“The employees went under the table, barricaded the door, turned off the lights and were silent in the dark,” said Pelosi. “Under the table for two and a half hours.”
During that time in hiding, they heard the invaders knocking on that door – as can be heard in a recording of one of the employees’ phone numbers. Across the hall, a group broke into the speaker’s private office.
“Do you see what they did with the mirror over there? The glass was everywhere. They took a computer and all that stuff,” said Pelosi. “And then the table they were actually on was right there that they defamed that way, feet on the table and everything.”
The man who was seen in the photo with his feet on the speaker’s desk was arrested on Friday. And the FBI is investigating whether any of the agitators – some seen with ballistic vests, with zip ties – intended to kidnap or kill lawmakers or their officials.
“The evidence now is that – that it was a well-planned and organized group with leadership and guidance and direction. And the direction was to go and get people,” said Pelosi. “They were saying out loud, ‘Where is the speaker? We know she has employees. They are here somewhere. We will find them.'”
While all this was going on, Mayor Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, from an undisclosed location, asked the president to tell his followers to leave the Capitol.
“The president said, ‘Go home’, but the election was, you know, continued with his lies, his misrepresentations, his illusion that he won with an overwhelming victory in this election,” explained Pelosi.
“So, finally, the protesters were expelled,” Lesley Stahl from 60 Minutes told Pelosi. “And you almost came back for the session. How did that happen?”
“I know of Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell, there was a consensus that we should go back. There were some suggestions that it could take too long, and we should do it in an undisclosed location,” said Pelosi. “But there was a general belief that – because of the strength message that we needed to send, we had to get back to Capitol as soon as possible.”
Even after the day’s events, some Republicans still moved forward with their decisions to challenge certified election results.
“After the violence. Shame on them,” Pelosi said of objections to the certified vote. “And shame for two-thirds of the Republican caucus in the House to support … so these people are facilitators of the president’s behavior.”
Pelosi’s office announced on Sunday night that House Democrats will bring a resolution on Monday calling on Vice President Pence to begin removing Trumps from office under the 25th Amendment.