Security footage first broadcasted on Wednesday at former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial shows how close the Capitol rioters came to officers on January 6 – with a single policeman keeping them at bay long enough to allow the evacuation of then Vice President Mike Pence.
US Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman is shown in the new footage warning an errant senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) to turn around and take cover while protesters smashed windows down one floor.
The video of the initial invasion from an external point of view was previously shown by news organizations, but the new footage shows an initial trickle of protesters breaking and jumping through the windows before opening the locked doors to the compatriots.
Goodman is seen in security footage paralyzing the horde one floor before the Senate. Finally, he backed up the stairs, but then led the activists away from the Senate chamber, where Pence was still being rushed by the Secret Service down a back staircase.
Del. Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands (D-VI) narrated the footage as the impeachment manager for the Chamber.
“While Pence was being evacuated, protesters began to spread across the Capitol. Those inside helped other protesters to break down doors in various locations around the building, and the crowd was looking for Vice President Pence because of his patriotism, because the Vice President refused to do what the President did. demanded and overturned the election results, ”Plaskett said.
Images previously published by The Post showed Goodman leading the group away from the supposedly unlocked chamber door.
The new footage also shows aides to mayor Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Rushing into a meeting room with an internal door. Minutes later, a horde of Trump supporters run into the corridor they just crossed, crowding outside the door. A Trump supporter throws his body against the door several times.
A different security camera clip shows some of the violent masses allowing other protesters to enter the doors leading to the Rotunda. The windows of the imposing doors were broken.
Plaskett delivered the presentation to fellow impeachment manager, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), Who focused on police injuries along the battle lines. He said his father was a police officer and that his two brothers are currently.
A clip of a security camera reproduced by Swalwell showed that the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer (D-NY) “reached a few meters from the rioters”. The video showed Schumer going up a ramp towards the intruders, only to quickly run back through the passage after realizing that the problem was ahead.
The fight between Trump supporters and the police was described as similar to a medieval siege by a police officer in a video interview aired for senators. Camera footage of the officer ‘s body was shown, showing him dragged along the west steps of the Capitol and beaten. He was electrocuted and suffered a heart attack.
Four Trump supporters and Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died of injuries directly linked to the riot. Two policemen and at least one hooligans died of suicide after the event.
Democratic impeachment members sought to revive the day’s emotions for senators. A new security video showed senators and their team running to a safe place through the richly painted Senate corridors as police ran towards the rioters.
“You know how close you got to the crowd. Some of you, I understand, could hear you. But the majority of the public does not know how close these rioters have come to you. As you moved down the hall – I started walking – you were only 58 steps from where the crowd was gathering and where the police were running to stop them, ”said Swalwell.
Swalwell also showed senators pictures of at least two activists who invaded the current Senate with plastic handcuffs. “If the doors to this chamber had been breached minutes earlier, imagine what they could have done with those handcuffs,” he said.
Before the new footage aired, impeachment managers argued that Trump’s pre-riot speech, along with allegations of post-election fraud, sparked the violence.
Trump was impeached by the House last month for inciting the crowd, but it is unlikely that enough Senate Republicans will vote to condemn him. Democrats need to win over 17 Republicans for a conviction, but they won just six votes from the Republican Party in an initial vote on Tuesday on whether the process is constitutional due to the fact that Trump has already stepped down.