‘Could’ve been much, much worse’
Revelations show Capitol rioters planned for more
WASHINGTON – As the nation watched a violent mob of rioters break through a line of police on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, thousands more behind them erupted into cheers, chanting “USA! USA!” and brandishing flags that bore the name of the U.S. president as they pierced the very heart of American democracy.
Rioters, some dressed in military fatigues and Trump regalia, began scaling the historic walls of the Capitol, one of the most fortified buildings in the world, while others shattered windows and gleefully shouted as they pushed their way through the hallowed halls. Some members of the mob inside and outside the Capitol doors shouted “Hang Mike Pence, Hang Mike Pence” at one point in videos shared online. Earlier in the day, a gallows with a noose had been erected on the Mall in front of the Capitol. One rioter was spotted carrying plastic zipties typically used for restraint.
Wednesday’s violent assault, which forced lawmakers into hiding fearing for their lives, left five people dead and dozens more injured, shook the nation and illuminated just how far supporters of President Donald Trump were willing to go to vent their anger over the president’s false claims of a stolen election.
The incursion appeared spontaneous, happening minutes after Trump whipped up a crowd of supporters at a nearby rally at the White House. But a closer look at footage of the siege, eyewitness accounts and revelations about the plot to overrun Congress show the already nightmare scenario had the ingredients of a far more nefarious – and deadlier – attack.
Todd Belt, professor of political management at George Washington University, said the rioters went on a mission to “Stop the Steal,” a tagline used by supporters of the president who genuinely believed the election was a fraud and that their plan would lead to action.
“You have people showing up with Molotov cocktails,” he said. “That’s not something you bring just in case you need it … there were some people who fully planned to go all of the way through with this.”
“There could have been (more) people dead, and the capitol could have been burnt to the ground. It could have been much, much worse.”
The relative ease with which the rioters were able to force their way inside included attacks on police officers with “metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants” and other weapons, according to U.S. Capitol Police.
In the wake of the attack, lawmakers and staffers recounted sheltering for hours and fearing for their lives while unhinged mobs ransacked their offices. Members of the media shared accounts of being overtaken by extremists who stole or destroyed their equipment. Rioters scrawled “Murder the media” on one of the exterior doors to the building.
House Majority Whip James Clyburn, D-S.C., has called for an investigation. Although Clyburn told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning that he was whisked away by the Capitol Police and never “really felt any personal danger,” he’s alarmed that the insurrectionists found their way to an unmarked office he uses rather than his official office.
“They didn’t go where my name was, they went where I usually hang out,” Clyburn told Tapper. “That to me indicates that something untoward may have been going on.”
In some cases, it was quick thinking by the outnumbered Capitol police that prevented rioters from reaching lawmakers inside the chambers.
Photos and videos circulating social media show an officer inside the Capitol building who was able to divert a mob of angry rioters away from a wide-open entrance to the U.S. Senate floor.
While being chased up a flight of stairs, the African American officer notices the open door, first tries to stand guard and block it and then seems to realize that he’s alone – and greatly outnumbered by the violent throng coming after him.
Even though the officer was armed with a baton that he could have used for protection, video shows him gently push the arm of the first rioter charging through the pack, a man named Doug Jensen, a QAnon conspiracy theorist from Des Moines who was later arrested by the FBI on five federal charges.
Instead of finding the open Senate chambers, Jensen chases the officer, who leads him in the opposite direction. The whole mob follows them away from the Senate floor. The video has been viewed millions of times.
For those who study extremist groups, Wednesday’s riot came as no surprise.
Days before the planned pro-Trump rally in Washington, D.C., agitators on far-right social media sites like Parler and messageboards were calling for extreme action in the nation’s capital.
“I don’t know if the police just thought the people who claimed they were patriots would be respectful, but their plans were well-known,” said Mary McCord, legal director at the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
The tension only ratcheted up after Enrique Tarrio, leader of the extremist organization the Proud Boys was arrested on Monday, Jan. 4, two days before the planned rally. While the Proud Boys had previously expressed support for police officers, by Tuesday Proud Boys and other extremist groups were already clashing with police on the streets of Washington, D.C.
The day before Wednesday’s rally, extremism reporter Tess Owen warned that previously pro-police groups had turned on law enforcement, citing evidence such as a post on Parler stating: “Time to burn down dc police precinct.”
A criminal defense attorney from Georgia who was among the rioters to siege Capitol Hill warned of a civil war in his social media posts in the months leading up the attack.
McCall Calhoun, who bragged about being one of the first through the doors, wrote on the pro-Trump social media site Parler that “as part of the anti-communist counter revolution we’ve got to get serious about stopping them by force of arms.”
Following the events at the Capitol, he said: “They learned that today when we stormed the Capitol and took it. The word is we’re all coming back armed for war.”
In an interview with the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Calhoun defended his statements as rhetoric and not actual warnings of violence.