California lawmakers flee, hunker down as chaos overtakes Capitol
WASHINGTON — As rioters seeking to install President Trump in a second term contrary to November’s election results breached the Capitol building, California’s lawmakers were spread throughout the complex.
They were told to draw the curtains and stay away from the windows. They were urged to remove the lapel pins that identify them as members of Congress. They could hear unidentified explosions and the din of a mob outside.
“I’m sickened. This is not our country,” said Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, who was in his office, frantically trying to find out what was going on as “constant sirens” blared outside.
When the pro-Trump mob broke through police lines and breached the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, were quickly escorted off the House floor to safety. Democratic Reps. Eric Swalwell of Dublin, Scott Peters of San Diego, Jimmy Gomez of Los Angeles and Pete Aguilar of Redlands (San Bernardino County) were all in the House chamber, and were soon evacuated with other lawmakers, staffers and media workers.
Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, had to flee his office and found shelter elsewhere in the Capitol with a handful of colleagues. Huffman hunkered down alone in a sprawling office building.
The chaotic and tense scene unfolded quickly but lasted hours. Lawmakers got news from their phones and TV as they waited, unsure when they could resume the business that brought the rioters out in force: the certification of Trump’s election loss and President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
The day started uneventfully, with a few protesters near the Capitol but most rallying near the White House. The House and Senate began a joint session to certify results and then broke into their respective chambers to debate an objection to a state Biden carried, Arizona. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, Pelosi had ordered each party to have no more than 11 members present on the floor, though Republicans were flouting the rules.
“We were cautioned that there was going to be disruptions, so they asked us to come onto campus early so we wouldn’t be detained or prevented from getting onto the Hill to cast our vote,” Thompson said in an interview.
“I came in this morning at 9 and had a Zoom meeting and was making phone calls and doing work in my office,” Thompson said. “And then they came through and evacuated my office building because they found some sort of explosive device.” It was not immediately clear whether that device was real or a fake.
Thompson was soon allowed to return, but then Capitol Police went around telling everyone to evacuate again — this time because pro-Trump rioters had breached the office building.
As the offices were cleared, the House and Senate at first continued their proceedings. But, suddenly, it became clear that rioters had also entered the Capitol building. Leaders were escorted off the floor, and remaining lawmakers were told to hunker down and get gas masks. Capitol Police drew their weapons for an armed standoff at the doors to the House chamber.
“They said, ‘Get a mask, be ready,’ ” Peters told reporters in the Capitol. “Then (they) started to get us to snake around the back of the gallery, under the rails and stuff, so we did that for a while. And when they stopped us ... they made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault, it looked like. They had a piece of furniture up against the door, the door, the entry to the floor from the Rotunda, and they had guns pulled.”
Peters said officers told lawmakers to remove their pins that identify them as members of Congress.
Then, lawmakers were evacuated. Gomez told reporters on the Hill that it was frightening to be stuck in the gallery above the House floor with reporters, not knowing where to go.
By: Tal Kopan
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
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