U.S. Capitol: How MPs lived through and are haunted by the storm

It has been a year since the attack on the US Capitol. Hundreds of radical Trump supporters stormed the seat of Congress on January 6, 2021, when President Joe Biden’s election victory was to be certified there. Five people died, including a Capitol policeman who died of a stroke the day after the attack, and an assailant who was shot by an officer. The storming of the Capitol caused horror worldwide, it is considered a black day in the history of US democracy, it shook the nation – and some politicians are traumatized to this day.

Trapped in the grandstand of the plenary chamber, around three dozen House members and reporters witnessed how the mob gradually broke through all the barriers and came closer and closer to their hiding place. Those trapped huddled in the upper gallery and crouched behind the seats while several armed officers barricaded the door of the hall. When the rioters tried to break into the room, they called family members or prayed. Some looked for makeshift weapons and mentally prepared for battle. Many thought they might die.

Capitol MP has mass shooting in mind

“When I looked up, I realized we were trapped,” quoted the Associated Press (AP) news agency Jason Crow, a former Army Ranger who served three times in Iraq and Afghanistan. “They evacuated the Chamber first. And they forgot about us.”

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The experience shook them deeply, and they vividly remembered the sights and sounds in the midst of the chaos, reported ten of the politicians who were stuck in the stands to the AP shortly before the anniversary of the storming. The most indelible sound was the loud clap of a shot that echoed across the vast space. “I’ve heard a lot of gunshots in my life and it was very clear what it was,” said Crow. “I knew things were seriously escalating.”

The shot was fired by Capitol Policeman Michael Byrd – killing Ashli ​​Babbitt, a Trump supporter from California who tried to crawl through the broken window of a door that leads to the chamber. Both the Justice Department and the police are investigating the incident and declined to bring charges against Byrd.

The MPs in the stands did not know who had shot and why and feared the worst: “I think we all, including me, had the pictures of a mass shooting in front of our eyes,” said MP Peter Welch, describing the dramatic situation. “It was terrifying at the moment.”

Rep. Mike Quigley told the AP that he noticed that the shot had been fired at the back of the Chamber and not in front of the main doors on the opposite side where they could see rioters trying to break through. At that moment he realized why they couldn’t leave the room – they were surrounded. “It was only gradually that you realized the gravity of the situation,” said Quigley.

His Democratic party colleague Dan Kildee described the dramatic situation of the politicians via Twitter during the uprising: “I am in the plenary chamber. We have been instructed to lie down on the floor and put on our gas masks. The security forces in the chamber and the police in the The Capitol have their guns drawn as protesters pound on the front door of the Chamber. This is not a protest. This is an attack on America. “

“If we die today, others will certify the ballot papers”

Representative Val Demings was also one of those who was stuck in the stands. Demings told the news agency that she tried to stay calm, drawing on what she had learned during her time as the Orlando police chief. But she also felt powerless because, unlike back then, she had neither a pistol nor any of the other weapons with her.

When the police announced that there was a “breakthrough” in the building, they shuddered, said Demings. “That’s probably the word I’ll remember more than any other for the rest of my life. I knew it meant the police couldn’t hold their lines. And as a former police officer, I know they too would have done anything in their power to hold these lines and protect us. “

Demings said she said to a colleague who was taking shelter with her in the stands: “Don’t forget that we are on the right side of history. If we all die today, another group will come and certify the ballot papers . “

Fortunately, things didn’t get that far: after the Capitol Police had made sure that the upper area of ​​the building had been cleared, they evacuated the trapped MPs through a tangle of stairs and corridors. And on the night when the uprising was over, Congress convened again and confirmed Biden’s election victory before sunrise.

Affected people join together in chat groups

In the days following the storm on the Capitol, many of the parliamentarians trapped in the gallery tried to contact one another via an SMS chain, writes the Associated Press. This quickly turned into therapeutic group sessions in which they tried to understand the events.

MP Pramila Jayapal helped organize the first virtual meeting of the “gallery group,” as it was called. “In the end it was a three-hour zoom,” Jaypal reported in an AP interview. “It was very personal. People said a lot about what they went through. There were a lot of tears. There was a lot of anger. Many asked themselves, how can this be? How can we live in America and such something happened in our Capitol? “

Many of the group members then went into therapy. Some had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, compounded by political tension in Congress and the rise in death threats. Others said the growing tendency among parts of their Republican counterparts and the general public to downplay or ignore the violence had traumatized them more than the attack itself. In all of this, the “gallery group” had been a refuge.

“I think she saved my mental health,” MP Norma Torres told the news agency. “Every time someone posted something, we all seemed to be awake, no matter what time of day or night, and we were all reacting to each other. That was really impressive.”

Some of the Democrats who took refuge in the stands plan to meet at the Capitol on the occasion of the anniversary to remember their own experiences, to honor those who have protected them – and to reflect on how close the country is to a coup escaped. “We were the last in the room,” said MP Mikie Sherrill, a former helicopter pilot with the US Navy AP. “I think we saw the whole thing in a different way than any other member of Parliament.

Sources: Associated Press, “Politico”, “Buzzfeed”, Dan Kildee on Twitter