50 NEWSWEEK.COM FEBRUARY 12, 2021
forward,Š shouted one man. As a hand-
ful of men retreated from the front
with watering eyes, they were admon-
ished for leaving by the crowd.
“şWhy are you leaving"Š
“şWe got tear gassedŠ
“şSo what"Š
“şTheyŠre shooting us with paintballs.Š
“şThatŠs what weŠre here for.
ItŠs gonna be bullets before too
long, so hold the frigginŠ line.Š
“Two meters away from the men
playing war, families were taking sel-
ɿes. )or some, it was an exciting day
out, democracy in action, a story to tell
their friends. )or others, it was the ɿrst
shot of a long-brewing civil war.”
9:15 PM: +ouse Minority /eader Kevin
McCarthy speaks on the +ouse ʀoor
“I rise to address what hap-
pened in this Chamber today and
where do we go from here.
“The violence, destruction, and cha-
os we saw earlier was unacceptable,
undemocratic, and un-American. It was
the saddest day I have ever had serv-
ing as a Member of this institution.
“The Capitol was in chaos. Police ofɿcers
were attacked. uns were drawn on this
very ʀoor. A woman tragically lost her life.
“No one wins when this building and
what it stands for are destroyed. America,
and this institution, is better than that.
“We saw the worst of America this
afternoon. <et, in the midst of violence
and fear, we also saw the best of America.
It starts with our law enforcementŜthe
Capitol Police, the National uard, the
)BI, and the Secret ServiceŜwho faced
the most difɿcult challenges but did
their duty with conɿdence and strength.
Many of them are injured right now.
“.../ooking back on the past few hours, it
is clear this Congress will not be the same
after today, and I hope it will be the better.
I hope not just this institution, but I hope
every American pauses for that moment and
thinks among themselves that we can dis-
agree with one another but not dislike each
other we can respect the voices of others.
“...nobody has a right to become a
mob. And we all should stand united
in condemning the mob together...
“By returning here to complete the
work we were sent to do, we are prov-
ing that our democracy cannot be
disrupted by criminal behavior...
“/et me be very clear Mobs donŠt
rule America. /aws rule America. It
was true when our cities were burn-
ing this summer, and it is true now.
“When Americans go to bed tonight, their
lasting memory should not be a Congress
overrun by rioters. It must be a resolute
Congress conducting healthy debate.
“We may disagree on a lot in America,
but tonight we should show the world that
we will respectfully, but thoroughly, carry
out the most basic duties of democracy.”9:17 PM: The Carter Center releas-
es a statement from former President- immy Carter. “We join our fellow
citi]ens in praying for a peaceful res-
olution so our nation can heal...”
9:21 PM: Billy +ouse of Bloomberg
tweets “So, help me out. +ave Capitol
Police spokespeople provided the public
any details of todayŠs eventsŜnumber
of arrests, those injured or worse, num-
bers of ofɿcers hurt" A description of
what happened" Maybe I missed it.”9:22 PM: Christal +ayes of USA To-
day tweets “IŠm inside the Capitol...The
aftermath of Trump rioters storming the
building is jarring *lass everywhere, dust
blankets the ground, broken benches
turned on their side, used medical kit with
an I 9 A(' machine that was used on a
woman who was sTuee]ed in the chaos.”9:33 PM: Perry Stein of The Washington
Post tweets “Big difference from a few
hours ago in front of Capitol. -ust a do]en
or so Trump supporters left in front here.
2 fɿcers have mostly left or backed away.”9:34 PM: Marissa -. /ang of The Wash-
ington Post tweets a video from the west
side of the Capitol “...a handful of Trump
supporters linger and continue to heckle
them and declare victory. Plenty of those
who left did so promising, şweŠll be backŠ”10:16 PM: -ill Colvin of the AP tweets from
the White +ouse “It is Tuieter than IŠve ever
heard it outside the White +ouse tonight.
Without cars and foot trafɿc, I could hear
the hum of generators on the driveway.”10:20 PM: Aaron Ruper of 9 ox tweets
“+oly shit. >Rep.@ Matt *aet] just said,
“some of the people who breached theCapitol today were not Trump support-
ers, they were masTuerading as Trump
supporters and in fact were members
of the violent terrorist group antifa.”10:29 PM: Manu Raju of CNN tweets
“Weary senators are sitting down Tuietly
and having dinner in the ornate /B- room
off the ʀoor. ItŠs rare both parties dine
together. And remnants from the riots
The ʀoors are slippery and gray because
the rioters grabbed the ɿre extinguish-
ers and sprayed them in the building.”10:36 PM: Richard (ngel of NBC News
tweets “Police seemed very chummy
with the protesters who also seemed
to know exactly where to go.”
Susan )errechio of the Washington
Examiner tweets in response “Protest-
ers told me same AN' Cap Police have
a long, long history of handling protest-
ers in a friendly manner without much
resistance. This caught them off guard.
Protests are common on Capitol *rounds.
Storming the building is unprecedented.”
“I think the Police were cool with
the protesters at ɿrst and it suddenly
went far beyond what they were ex-
pecting. In the summer, they were more
on defense during those protests and
had the cops lined up in greater num-
bers. This caught them off guard.”
“I wouldnŠt say protesters knew where to
go, though. A lot of them wandered in and
were steered into the Rotunda, or as one
protester told me, “The big round room.”At 10:48 PM, )errechio adds “Many of
them WA/K(' RI*+T IN. They were not
stopped by police...There were a mix of
people in the Capitol and a lot of con-
fusion. They felt they had the right to
be there and bunch of them got violent
when they were not allowed access.”At 11:58 PM, )errechio tweets again,
adding “There are many doors to get into
the Capitol. People were walking in different
doors and police were allowing them inside.
The front east steps are N(9(R used by
the public and that is where the protest-
ers who broke past the police headed.”10:49 PM: Major Bowser and 'C police
ofɿcials hold a live public safety update.
She says “'espite having ]ero representa-
tion, having no votes, in the same CongressSPECIAL REPORT