A divided anniversary: Jan. 6 in the eyes of those who were there
On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, after pipe bombs were found on the outskirts of the U.S. Capitol complex, congressional staffer Anthony DeAngelo got word that a nearby office building had been evacuated and the building right next door was being evacuated, too. From a fourth-floor window, he could see police barricading the roads nearby.
He turned to his boss, Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey. Did he want to make a run for it?
“No, I came here to vote today,” said Representative Kim, a Democrat who, along with the rest of Congress, was meeting that day to certify the states’ electoral votes.
Outside, Virginia state Rep. Dave LaRock was navigating through the throngs of Trump supporters who had come to hear the president speak at a Save America rally and then trekked up to the Capitol to register their deep distrust of the election results.
“I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” President Donald Trump had told the crowd, in a speech that also emphasized the importance of “fighting” for political victories and against a “corrupt” election. “We fight like hell – and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” he said.
As Mr. LaRock walked around the Capitol, he began hearing that something had gone “very, very wrong.” People had broken into the Capitol. Someone had been shot. He saw smoke wafting through the air – probably tear gas, he surmised, but he didn’t stick around long enough to find out.
Inside the House chamber, Rep. Bennie Thompson’s phone rang. It was his wife. “What’s going on?” she asked. “What do you mean?” asked the Mississippi Democrat, who had entered the Capitol through underground tunnels and hadn’t seen the huge crowds amassing outside.
“They have broken into the Capitol!” she told him.
As hundreds of protesters poured into the building through shattered windows and doors, rioters and their own riot shields. Others stood on the steps of the Capitol “hang Mike Pence,” who as vice president had been overseeing the vote certification before being whisked off the Senate floor.
