How the attack on the U.S. Capitol happened, from planning to siege to arrests – “The lack of security at the Capitol was not an accident”
By Cam Wolf
8 January 2021
(GQ) – Wednesday’s attack on the US Capitol is already one of the most unforgettable events in American history. The Capitol building was last breached when British forces invaded during the War of 1812. 209 years later, a mob of insurrectionists attacked the building at the behest of none other than the sitting, but on-the-way-out, US President Donald Trump.
Trump called the mob to the Capitol building to thwart the certification of Biden’s election victory through tweets dating back to late December. What followed was a nearly unprecedented attack on Senators, members of Congress, Capitol police, and journalists attempting to document the scene. Details continue to emerge in press reports and on social media. In an attempt to corral the events of this day, GQ presents this summary of the events leading up to the attack, what happened on January 6th, and the fallout since.
The Call to Action
Despite Washington Police Chief Robert Contee’s claim that “There was no intelligence that suggests that there would be a breach of the US Capitol,” explicit planning took place in the weeks leading up to January 6th on social media, Trumpist message boards, and sites like 4Chan.
Organizers across different groups—including Stop the Steal, TheDonald message board, MyMilitia.com, and a Facebook group called Red State Secession—were spurred by a Trump tweet on December 23rd that directed his supporters to attend a “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” “Once Trump said be there,” Arieh Kovler, a political consultant who studies alt-right activity online, told GQ, “they interpreted that as a call to action, as their marching orders.”
Planning started that day, when Leaders of a Stop the Steal group wrote in a text to supporters, “We came up with the idea to occupy just outside the CAPITOL on Jan 6th,” according to PBS. They even called the event the “Wild Protest” and created a dedicated website for it, WildProtest.com, that’s since been taken down. Calls to action grew increasingly violent. On the Oath Keepers forum, where former and current pro-Trump military personnel congregate, members attested they were “ready to die for my country once again” in any effort to stop the certification. […]
The Siege
The advance on the Capitol started at roughly 1:15pm EST, according to a report from Buzzfeed News. “This is [the] exact moment the siege of the Capitol building began as the two men in front ripped down a preliminary barrier & rushed officers who were behind a 2nd barrier,” reporter Elijah Schaffer tweeted with a video. “They then encouraged others to follow their lead. Officers appeared to be taken completely off guard.” Once past the barricades, many of the insurrectionists made their way to the Capitol’s west side, where setup had begun for Biden’s inauguration.
Videos from the scene show Capitol police at worst unprepared and at best overwhelmed by the sheer size of the crowd. Journalist Marcus DiPaola posted a video on TikTok of what he describes as Capitol Police being overtaken by the mob. “The rioters moved up the steps of the capitol pretty quickly, capitol police tried to hold them back but they didn’t have riot shields and really got pushed around,” DiPaola told NewsWeek. Other alarming videos seem to show Capitol police being chased around inside the building. Another shows officers simply letting rioters run off into the crowd after feeble attempts to snare them. One damning livestream captured a cop taking a selfie with one of the rioters.
Once inside the barricades set up around the Capitol, rioters didn’t have a much more difficult time getting into the actual building. The Trump supporters invaded the Capitol from multiple points: There are videos and images of the rioters scaling walls, smashing windows, and breaking down doors to get into and advance through the building. One clearly overwhelmed officer slouched in a corner while rioters streamed past him.
Ransacking the Capitol
After entering the Capitol building, rioters seemed unsure of what to do next—or at least content to loiter, grab selfies, and trash offices. One man, later identified as Adam Johnson from Florida, stole Pelosi’s lectern and was caught on camera smiling. Other Trump supporters took turns standing at the dais in the Senate chamber.
Nancy Pelosi’s office was a popular destination, as well. The white nationalist known as Baked Alaska livestreamed from inside the Congresswoman’s office. One man, Richard Bigo Barnett, entered her office, put his feet on his desk, and stole a letter addressed to her. He later told the New York Times that he “wrote her a nasty note,” too. (Barnett was arrested and charged with “entering and remaining on restricting grounds, violent entry, and theft of public property” in Arkansas Friday.) Offices were ransacked, glass was broken, litter was left throughout the building, and wooden furniture was destroyed. Some pro-Trump rioters smeared feces on the walls.
If the rioters seemed rudderless, it’s likely because they were. Many believed they were following Trump’s orders to seize the Capitol Wednesday and were awaiting further instruction. “He calls people to descend on DC for what, 9 hours, then instructs them to go home?” one posted on TheDonald wrote in the aftermath, according to Buzzfeed News. “People have lost time, money, family, potentially careers and even their lives over this… and a ‘Thanks for coming, go home now’ is what people are instructed to do?” Mayhem ensued when no further guidance arrived. Some supporters are cursing Trump for leaving them high and dry in the aftermath. “Fuck Donald Trump,” one person wrote on TheDonald. “This fucking piece of shit dragged us into DC for what? To leave us holding the bag?” [more]
How the Attack on the Capitol Happened, From Planning to Siege to Arrests
“It was no accident” – Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal on surviving the siege
By Rebecca Traister
8 January 2021
(The Cut) – On Wednesday, January 6, Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic congresswoman from Washington State, was sitting in the gallery above the House chamber, watching the proceedings to count the Electoral College vote and certify the result of the presidential election, when armed right-wing rioters breached the Capitol Building and began to make their way inside, toward the lawmakers and administrative, custodial, and food-service staff working inside. Jayapal, a longtime immigration activist who worked to negotiate Seattle’s $15 minimum wage before being elected to Washington’s state senate in 2015, then to the U.S. Congress in 2017, heads the House Progressive Caucus. We spoke about Wednesday’s siege, about the particular vulnerability of Black and brown women to violent incursion, and about how her party must now move forward, both in response to the attack and as the governing party moving into a new administration.
Rebecca Traister: What was your experience on Wednesday like?
Pramila Jayapal: There were a number of congresswomen up there in the gallery: Val Demings, Abigail Spanberger, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Sheila Jackson Lee, Terri Sewell … And before anything had really happened — we noticed that there were very few women on the floor. […]
As we sat there, my husband texted me, “There’s a big mob of protesters. Are you sure you’re safe there, do you want to come back to the office?” And I said “No, this is the U.S. Capitol Building; the Speaker’s here; this is probably the most secure place to be.”
Then we started getting alerts on our phone that security had been breached. And we began hearing the noises, perhaps even before people on the floor could hear them. We could hear the insurrectionists coming in. Then we saw the Speaker and the leadership being taken off the floor; there was a brief suspension of proceedings, but by then we were seeing all the social-media posts of what was happening outside. And the noise was getting louder and louder. […]
I’m quarantining now because I am convinced that where we ended up, in the secured room — where there were over 100 people and many were Republicans not wearing masks — was a superspreader event. […]
They came with guns. They were armed. They were clothed in bulletproof vests; they were shooting towards the chamber in the Capitol. They desecrated the Capitol, broke into offices, the office of the parliamentarian. Had the Electoral College certification votes been there, they would’ve taken them. No question.
RT: This all happened within months of the failed plan to kidnap and kill Gretchen Whitmer, and some of the rioters on Wednesday were there with zip-ties.
PJ: Yes. And they had talked about hostages. This was all done in the open! They’ve been planning this in the open, and Donald Trump has been encouraging this in the open for days. Actually, he’s been encouraging it pretty much for his whole presidency.
The lack of security at the Capitol is not an accident. It is very clear to me that there were breaches of our law-enforcement agencies. The fact that there were no barriers, that they were essentially allowed in. And again, the discrepancy of what would have happened if these had been peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters … Believe me, they would not have been anywhere near that building. And there would have been a lot of arrests. [more]
‘It Was No Accident’ Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal on surviving the siege.
