WASHINGTON (AP) – Lawmakers came to the House on Thursday night to tell their personal, often stunning, accounts of the siege of the United States Capitol by a pro-Trump crowd, preserving for record their own memories of the most violent attack. domestic to Congress in the nation’s history.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., led colleagues in the hour-long session before the former president’s impeachment trial, saying their stories need to be told at a time when some in Congress and the nation are trying to minimize the damage of January 6 and “move on”.
“Unfortunately, this is what we often hear from trauma survivors,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who was criticized by detractors this week after sharing his own harrowing story of hiding that day, fearing for his life.
She said: “Twenty-nine days ago, our nation’s Capitol was under attack. That is the big story. And in this great story are thousands of individual reports, as valid and important as the others. “
One by one, Democratic lawmakers – no Republicans participated – shared their memories: seeing the hundreds of protesters flocking outside the Capitol and listening to the provocations, screams and breaking glass. And then “the feeling,” as Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., Said, “of being stuck.”
Lawmakers were computing the Electoral College vote certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the election when President Donald Trump, who refused to budge, encouraged a crowd of supporters in the White House to go to the Capitol and “fight like crazy” for him.
Phillips said that when he heard the screams, he realized that a pencil was all he had as a defense. He thought of moving to the Republican side of the Chamber of Deputies “so that we could blend in”. He and others believed that the protesters “would save us if they simply confused us with Republicans.”
Then, he said, he realized something – for his colleagues who are not white like him, “mixing was not an option”.
Five people died, including a protester, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by police inside the Capitol, and United States Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who was mortally wounded in the face of the crowd. Three other people died from medical emergencies.
Dep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., Asked colleagues to understand that white nationalists are a serious domestic threat; Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., Burst into tears.
Congressman Adriano Espaillat, DN.Y., said that, as representatives in Congress, the attack on the Capitol was an attack on its constituents.
“We are their voice here,” he said. “We shouldn’t sweep it under the rug.”