Shocking footage released on Sunday offers a new look at the deadly uprising at the Capitol, following the intruders as they search for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers, sit in Vice President Mike Pence’s chair and search the documents from legislators.
The nearly 13 edited minutes of footage were created by war correspondent Luke Mogelson and published Sunday by The New Yorker, for which Mogelson is a contributing writer.
The video begins with scenes of hordes of pro-Trump rioters overwhelming US Capitol police and streaming into the seat of American democracy through doors and shattered windows.
“You’re in the minority!” a rioter can tell a small contingent of police officers trying to keep the line in a Capitol corridor. “There are a million of us out there, and we’re listening to Trump, your boss!”
The contingent of rioters supported the overwhelmed officers down a corridor due to the sheer size of their group and up a flight of stairs, with an intruder yelling goodbye, “We love you! Take it easy!”
A group of dozens chanted, “Treason! Treason! Treason!” as they walked the halls, the video shows.
“Knock Knock!” a man teased when the doors of the Senate Gallery were thrown open, causing rioters to pour in. “Were here!”
Members of that group may wonder where Congressional lawmakers are, who had sought to certify the results of Joe Biden’s election victory when the riot broke out after a rally in which Trump encouraged his supporters to “ fight terribly ” against the process. .
“Where are they?” a man shouted at the sight of the deserted Senate floor.
“Where’s Nancy?” was another phone call.
As rioters dressed in combat gear made their way to the Senate floor, a debate erupted over the optics of the takeover.
The feud centered around an intruder who took a seat in the seat reserved for Senate President, Pence – who was accused by Trump of not doing enough to fight the election results and was one of those forced to evacuate at the time. the riot struck.
“Hey, get out of that chair!” Larry Brock, a retired Air Force Zippered Lieutenant Colonel from Texas, can hear you narrate the unidentified man who occupies Pence’s seat.
“No, this is our chair!” a third man called back.
“It’s not our chair,” Brock replied. “I love you, you are brothers, but we cannot be disrespectful.”
A rioter further challenged Brock, citing a conspiracy theory that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump.
“They can steal an election, but we can’t sit in their seats?” the man asked.
“No, we won’t accept that either!” Brock insisted. Look, it’s a PR war. … We are better than that. “
While the group bickered, others searched through lawmakers’ desks, apparently looking for documents to back up their claim that the election was rigged.
A handful of intruders came across papers describing what someone identified as Republican Senator Ted Cruz’s “objection to Arizona election results.”
The discovery left some confused as to what the papers allegedly showed.
‘His objection! He would sell us all this time! “hit a man.
“Wait, no, that’s a good thing!” agreed another huddled around the document.
Cruz, one of Trump’s most loyal supporters in Congress, was one of those who questioned the legitimacy of Biden’s victory in Arizona and turned in a failed protest even in the hours following the riot.
Two others flipped through a folder, apparently also looking for evidence or otherwise incriminating material, the video shows.
“There must be something here we can use against these bastards,” one man muttered haphazardly through the pages.
“[Republican Missouri Sen. Josh] Hawley, Cruz. I think Cruz would like us to do this, ”another man said. “I think we are good.”
Above them in the gallery “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley – wearing a horned helmet and red, white and blue face paint – sang unintelligible, rhythmically stamping his feet and the pole of an American flag.
In a later segment, Chansley – aka Jake Angeli – made his way to the Senate floor, followed closely by a lone cop, the video shows.
“You are f-king patriots,” Angeli said to the group. Look at this man. He’s covered in blood. God bless you.”
The man Angeli was referring to, who was lying on the floor with a tiny blood stain on his T-shirt, said he was “shot in the face with some sort of plastic bullet,” but declined an offer of medical attention.
As Angeli climbed onto the stage and prepared to sit in Pence’s seat, the cop did his best to disperse the crowd.
“Is there any chance I can get you to leave the Senate Wing?” he asked.
The bloody man on the floor replied, “We will. I made sure they don’t respect the place. “
However, Angeli decided to live at home.
“I’m going to sit in this chair because Mike Pence is a traitor,” he said.
While the officer watched, Angeli asked another rioter to use his phone to take a picture of him sitting in Pence’s chair.
Once Angeli got his photo, the cop took another crack.
“Now that you’ve done that, can I please get you guys to walk out of this room?” he asked.
The group seemed to comply, but not before Angeli scribbled a message on a piece of paper in front of Pence’s chair: “It’s only a matter of time.[,] justice is coming! “
However, in a later segment, Angeli and others were back onstage and used a megaphone to shout a “prayer.”
“Thank you Heavenly Father for the inspiration these policemen took to let us into the building, to enable us to exercise our rights, to send a message to all the tyrants, the communists and the globalists, ”said Angeli.
In the hall outside the Senate Chamber, the police did what they could to lead rioters out of the building.
“We support you, okay?” an uproar was heard against an officer. “We know you’re doing your job.”
Back outside the Capitol, however, it was a different scene when another contingent of rioters collided with agents trying to restore order.
Fk the blue! F – k the blue! ”Some in the crowd chanted, the video shows, in clear reference to the police.
Five people died in the chaos, including a Capitol policeman who was sprayed with pepper spray and hit with a fire extinguisher.
Dozens of people have been arrested and charged so far, although authorities have said this number is expected to grow to hundreds.