Fortunately, there were fast-thinking reporters and photographers inside the Capitol who showed the world what happened next.
The tweets and dispatches described unbelievable scenes – an armed confrontation, vandalism, terrorist threats – and the photos and videos made everything believable.
Frank Thorp of NBC News shared one of the most surprising videos of protesters roaming the Senate House after she was evacuated. He posted a twenty-second clip on Twitter and spoke to anchor Lester Holt over the phone.
“They are just brooding, looking across the tables,” said Thorp. “There’s a guy sitting in the gallery above. He asked ‘Who are you with? Who are you with? ‘ and it was time for me to go. “
Thorp’s music video was a visual confirmation that Congressional corridors were occupied by rebels.
On the Chamber side, photojournalists from AP, Getty and other news services witnessed a barricade situation.
Andrew Harnik’s set of photos was jaw-dropping, as was the caption: “US Capitol Police with guns drawn near a barricaded door as protesters attempt to break into the US Capitol House on Wednesday Friday, January 6, 2021, in Washington. “
The scenes were not broadcast live on television because the cameras in the Chamber and Senate chambers are controlled by legislative bodies, not by C-SPAN or any other means of communication.
Then, members of the media filled the void. Some have posted staccato messages on social media to alert the public to the rapidly deteriorating situation within the iconic building.
“Capitol Police are rushing to all of the House’s gallery doors and locking them,” wrote Matt Fuller of HuffPost at 2:18 pm
At 2:36, he tweeted, “We have people knocking on doors now.”
2:39: “Members now evacuating the chamber from the Chamber.”
2:43: “Weapons drawn in the chamber.”
Fuller then posted a video of the stalemate. At 3:04, he said, “We are in a new location that we have been instructed not to disclose. They are cleaning Capitol.”
Back at the Senate, Fuller’s colleague at HuffPost, Igor Bobic, shared photos of protesters walking from door to door looking for lawmakers.
“They’re in the camera,” he tweeted at 2:47. “One is on the platform shouting ‘Trump won that election!’ This is crazy.”
Bobic took a photo that showed a photojournalist calmly taking a photo of the gallery’s chaos – documenting the moment of history.
While the police were trying to regain control, some journalists huddled in secure rooms with lawmakers and officials.
“We are still in a secret location within the Capitol,” wrote Jazmine Ulloa of the Boston Globe at 5:07 am. “No word yet on when we will be allowed to leave, but we received small dinner trays (chicken, Brussels sprouts and polenta), so it doesn’t look like it’s anytime soon.”
Bobic thanked his friends and Twitter followers for checking his well-being. “I’m safe,” he tweeted, “and hidden.”
Late in the afternoon, CNN producer Kristin Wilson turned on her smartphone camera as she walked down the halls with US Capitol Police officers.
Insurrectionists at the doors of the Capitol could be heard shouting to the police: “Join us, join us, join us.”
Wilson said he saw smoke grenades and smelled gunpowder in the halls.
It’s “so awful to see your workplace, a place you love to cover, to look like that,” wrote Lauren Fox of CNN.
On one of the doors to the Capitol, the words “MURDER THE MEDIA” were scrawled in gold paint.
Outside the building, Washington Post reporter Katie Mettler said she witnessed “an alarming scene” when “a group of TV reporters was surrounded and chased away from their cameras, which a crowd of President Trump supporters destroyed”.
Some of the television production equipment appeared to have been destroyed by the rioters.
Fox News producer Jason Donner, who covers Capitol Hill, tweeted: “What’s happening on Capitol today is disgusting and Republicans will have a lot to answer for. In addition, the press I’m proud to work with will hold them responsible because that’s it that we do in a democracy in the largest nation in the world. “
HuffPost’s Fuller wrote that he was ready “to return to the House” and continue to cover the electoral certification process.
“I’ll be right back on my stool at the gallery,” he wrote. “I’m going to open my little laptop. And we can continue as long as necessary.”