Capitol rioters planned for more
WASHINGTON – As the nation watched a 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 Trump’s name as they pierced the very heart of American democracy.
Rioters 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 on camera carrying plastic zip-ties 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 spontane
ous, 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.
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.”
Steps from disaster
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 footage 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.
Many details about the police response, including why the rioters were seemingly able to access the Capitol building with relative ease, are still emerging.
Guns and explosive devices
Edward Maguire, a professor of criminology at Arizona State University and associate director of the school’s Center for Violence Prevention and Community Safety, pointed to the mix in the crowd. He said that while many were there to protest peacefully and got carried away, it was also clear that a subset of the rioters were there with a mission for violence.
He noted the various militia groups and the military-style precision in their movements.
“As tragic as it was, we could be dealing with even worse,” Maguire said. “You had people who were clearly trained, and then you had other people walking around with semi-automatics who didn’t know what they were doing.”
As Christopher Alberts of Maryland was arrested leaving the Capitol wearing a bulletproof vest, officers found a 9 mm handgun with two filled high-capacity magazines. The arrest affidavit stated he told officers it was for own personal protection and not to harm anyone.
Others had material nearby for making bombs. While investigating explosives found at the nearby Republican and Democratic headquarters, canine units discovered the truck Lonnie Coffman had driven in from Alabama. A search of his truck bed revealed an M4 carbine with loaded magazines, 11 Mason jars filled with liquid and topped with a golf tee, cloth rags and lighters, all the makings for Molotov cocktails.
When Coffman returned to his truck, with a handgun in his pocket, U.S. Capitol Police special agent Lawrence Anyaso wrote in the arrest affidavit, he told them the jars were filled with melted styrofoam and gasoline, according to the arrest affidavit, a combination one officer said causes flammable liquids to stick to when detonated, having the same effect as napalm.
‘Tell Pelosi we’re coming for her’
In one video clip, a crowd shouts “USA, USA” as they throw flag poles, crutches and other items at officers as a rioter appears to drag an officer down the steps.
Another video, by Jayden X, shows a gray-haired woman at the front of a crowd confronting a group of Capitol Police officers. Her pony-tail shaking, she screams: “Tell (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi we’re coming for her.”
Some protesters wore bulletproof vests or military-style gear, patches and tattoos, including insignia for right wing militia groups. Some carried loaded handguns and extra ammunition.
“Do you want your house back,” one bulletproof vest-clad rioter shouted as he faced a crowd that included several others in vests and helmets. “Then take it.”