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[indistinct clamor on video]
[indistinct shouting on video]
[indistinct shouting and clamor]
[angry man] Let's go, D. Hodges!
I'm walking here!
[Daniel] Ow!
Cut it out, cut it out!
[♪]
DANIEL [Daniel] When I first learned about that video
that went around on the internet
about our defense in the tunnel,
I hit play, and I watched what happened,
and I hit pause, and I wrote down what happened.
And I kept doing that until I reached the end.
[indistinct shouting on video]
[crying on video]
[Daniel] I was embarrassed.
No one wants their 15 minutes of fame to be crying out for help,
you know, especially if your job is a police officer.
But ultimately, I'm glad that it got out and got around,
because it's important to get the truth out
about what happened.
[♪]
I almost feel like somebody else took these photos.
But it was me.
I will always think about what happened that day.
I will always have these photos to tell these stories.
I'm trying to capture images showing you one of the most
important times in American history.
And I can't wait for the day where I think that my son
will be interested so I can explain to him what happened,
that I was there at the Capitol building.
I was scared for my fucking life, and you know,
I thought about you.
[Erica] There's no way I can forget.
When footage of that day was replayed,
and even today is replayed, I change the channel.
And I still don't like to watch it. I just, I can't.
I didn't want to think about it anymore.
I really, I tried really hard, as best I could,
to block that day out.
[indistinct radio chatter]
I didn't really share immediately with, like, family
what really went down, um, but I've thought about
January 6th a lot, you know and trying to wrap
my head around really what happened that day.
[Chief Contee] When I look back and I think back,
the gravity of everything that that happened,
this is history. People be talking about this for years.
And here I sit dead center,
four days on the job...
four days and the weight of the world on your shoulders.
I want everyone to know,
there was a huge price to pay
for our democracy on that day.
[Daniel] Sure, where do you want me to go?
[man] Right back in the... [inaudible]
[Daniel] I was there, I knew what happened,
I was there all day, and it's rare that you get
the opportunity to put your finger on the scale of history.
And influence things in a way
that brings the truth to light.
[♪]
[pencil screeching]
[Rep. Jamie Raskin] My dad said democracy needs the ground to stand on,
and that ground is the truth.
So, we gotta tell the truth.
If we can handle it.
The greatest strength of democracy is that
it comes from the people.
The weakness of democracy is that it has so many enemies,
other pretenders to the throne.
They always describe Donald Trump
as a larger-than-life figure.
I'm appreciating that people are not larger than life,
people are just the right size for a democracy
where everybody gets one vote,
one voice, and we need everybody to participate.
[indistinct chatter]
[Chairman Thompson] Good afternoon. When I think about the most basic way
to explain the importance of elections in the United States,
there's a phrase that always comes to mind.
It may sound straightforward, but it's meaningful...
[Rep. Raskin] Sometimes the truth is like a second chance,
and I believe that.
[footsteps]
[clears throat]
You ready?
[♪]
[distant police siren]
[indistinct speech]
[pedestrian] Morning, morning.
[cheering]
[street seller] Ten bucks, ten bucks. Hats and shirts.
[Chief Contee] I'm a native son.
This is the city that raised me, and, you know,
as crazy as this sounds, I felt like everything
that I had gone through here in this city prepared me
to be the chief of police that I was on that day.
[♪]
[Chief Contee] I officially took over the job as chief of police
on January the 2nd, so 4 days before January the 6th.
Whether that was destiny or whether it was just you know,
I drew the short straw, I don't know.
- Whose streets? - Our streets.
[Chief Contee] It conjures up memories of what happened on that day,
kind of hits you in the gut.
The officers are here below, I mean look at these people
that are standing overhead, right,
and we're not knowing who's armed in the crowd.
We had already recovered firearms and so forth, so...
I mean, there's just a huge sense of vulnerability.
People were running for their lives that day,
and it didn't matter, it didn't matter what side
of the fence you were on, Republican or Democrat,
it didn't matter.
And for people to pretend like nothing happened...
it really, really angers me.
[car whooshing]
[street seller] Hats and shirts, ten bucks!
That day, I rode into work and there were a lot of people
already out at like 6:30, 7:00 in the morning,
converging on downtown.
[cars whooshing, honking in the back]
MPD's role, it's unique in our city.
There are different entities that work together in order
to provide safety and security in our city.
You have the United States Secret Service
who has responsibility for the White House itself.
You have the United States Capitol Police
that are responsible for the Capitol,
and the Metropolitan Police Department
is responsible for all of the rest of the city
where people eat, live, work everyday in our city.
Go Trump!
USA, USA!
Come and get your Trump hats.
Here it is folks!
Good morning, everyone.
[Chief Contee] With all the rhetoric that was happening
leading up to January 6th, we expected something big.
Certainly, there was a lot of internet chatter and you know,
intelligence information going back and forth that said
a whole bunch of different things.
We had requested support from other law enforcement agencies,
and we requested the services of the National Guard
from the Secretary of the Army to assist us in managing traffic
so that police officers would not be tied up
dealing with traffic control.
But there was a lot of back and forth
and a lot of discussion about optics.
And even once they got approval, I was told the National Guard
could not move East of 9th Street without the approval
of the Secretary of the Army.
And quite frankly, I was a little shocked.
We would need approval at that level of government to move
personnel, you know, a few blocks over from where they are.
I mean that is, that's like, like huge, right?
That never happens.
[♪]
[Mel] I'd been documenting protests and marches for over a year
at that point, it seems like.
I started going to Trump rallies
because Trump is a part of the story.
As a photographer, what was very significant to me
are the people and the people that were there to attend
the rally.
[♪]
[Mel] Part of the reason I do what I do when it comes
to these protests is document, you know, the both sides.
I mean, here's this young Black wearing a fucking
Make America Great Again red cap.
I couldn't believe it.
What the fuck are you doing? What are you doing here?
Why, ugh. [indistinct speech]
Why am I here? Man, I'm here for President Trump.
I'm here put that energy in a bucket, man, like...
You start talking to these MAGA people, and you just become
fascinated with their values
and their thought process
and why they believe what they believe.
[protestor] ...understand and know that this is a cause
must also understand that it is a righteous cause.
[indistinct crowd chatter]
[Mel] This is where I knew, and I was like, "Ah, shit,
we got the Confederate flag out this bad boy?"
Fucking crazy.
It's the first time I've ever seen a Confederate flag in person.
I've never seen one in my life right before my eyes.
No.
This is the first time, Washington, DC,
January 6th, 2021.
[indistinct crowd chatter]
I thought, you might need to definitely more than usual,
keep your head on a swivel.
[♪]
[Daniel] I follow the news. I'm aware of the political climate
in this country and how divisive things
have been in recent times.
So, I'd absolutely understand when communities of color feel
feel like they've been mistreated by law enforcement
because there is absolutely a history of that in this country.
And, I'm not ignorant of the past.
I am not ignorant of the present.
[♪]
[Daniel] With that said, in 2020, we would work 18 hours a day
with no days off for like a month at least,
and from a law enforcement perspective,
that was the backdrop for January 6th.
[indistinct speech]
[Daniel] That day, we're posted along Constitution Avenue.
The thing that really stood out were those who were wearing
ballistic vests, helmets, goggles, fire gloves,
backpacks packed full of who knows what,
that was concerning obviously but that in it of itself isn't
something that we can stop people for.
[MPD] Keep it going, come on, keep the march going.
You've got a great march going here, come on.
[Daniel] At one point, some people with tact gear came up
to one of my colleagues
and said, "Is this all the police officers you have?"
And my colleague looked down at him, and was just confused,
like, uh, didn't know how to respond.
And then the guy also said, "Do you really think you could stop us?
So that was rather ominous.
[Chief Contee] So, I'm checking out the landscape of the city.
- Whose streets? - Our streets!
[Chief Contee] I'm in the car, and there were a group of individuals
marching in formation, which is what caught my attention.
They were walking towards the US Capitol.
And I took a picture of that.
[crowd] [chanting] Where's Antifa?
[Chief Contee] Some of them were wearing orange skull caps,
and they had, like, these ballistic vests on.
Obviously, I'm thinking about, you know, some type of training,
prior law enforcement, potentially military, potentially.
I'm thinking about all those things.
And I reached out to our Homeland Security Chief
and I said, "Hey, I just noticed this.
We need to make sure that we're communicating with Capitol,
that this is coming their way."
[crowd] [chanting] Fuck Antifa!
[crowd clamoring]
[Mel] I said let me go see how many people are really
at this damn thing.
Got all the way up, went up this riser and then it was like,
holy shit.
This is thousands of people.
Thousands.
When I saw that, I was like, goddamn.
There's definitely going to be some agitators
amongst a crowd of this size.
[crowd] [chanting] Trump! Trump! Trump!
Whooooo!
[cheering]
[President Trump] The media will not show the magnitude of this crowd.
These people are not going to take it any longer.
They're not going to take it any longer.
I just really want to see what they do.
I just want to see how they cover it.
I've never seen anything like it.
It'd be really great if we...
- [Erica's mother] Take this now? - [Erica] Yep.
See ya, Mom!
[Erica's mother] Bye-bye, have a good day.
[Erica] You too.
[♪]
[Erica] That day, I was so excited
for this certification of these votes.
I had never experienced that, and so I drove to work
really excited, I got all dressed up.
I've always worked in spaces that are meant to advocate
or uplift the Black community.
And when Donald Trump became president, it was,
it was a challenging time, to say the least.
Um, so it felt like it was a new day, you know?
Joe Biden campaigned on a message of unity,
and it was something that we had not heard in a few years,
so I was really, really, really excited
to see what the future held.
[indistinct speech in distance]
[Rep. Raskin] I remember driving down North Capitol Street,
passing Lincoln's cottage and the Rock Creek Cemetery,
which is acres of tombstones.
My whole life, I've thought a lot about Abraham Lincoln.
That day, I thought about Lincoln
losing his son in 1862
near the beginning of the Civil War,
and not being able to properly grieve for his son
and being pulled immediately into all of
the military planning and everything.
[Rep. Raskin] I want to thank all of you for coming
and sharing our grief.
Sharing our joy also, about the life of Tommy.
I've lost something so fundamental,
so elemental in my life I am not sure at times
that I even recognize the world.
Uh, my son Tommy had taken his life on December 31st, 2020,
um, after...
um...
a long seesaw battle with depression.
[♪]
[indistinct chatter]
This was obviously an overwhelming trauma
and catastrophe in the life of our family.
We had his graveside service, on January 5th.
The next day, January 6th...
was the day constitutionally assigned for
Congress to meet in joint session
to receive the Electoral College votes.
The Speaker called to ask if I could come in,
and I told her that I could come
because the Democrats had an extremely narrow majority,
and of course I was miserable
and I was grieving, but the truth is that I knew that Tommy
would be in my heart, he would be in my chest.
I felt him there from the beginning,
and I knew that he would want me to be hanging tough.
That became a governing logic for me
in everything that was to come.
[♪]
[Rep. Raskin] Our youngest daughter, Tabitha, decided to come with me,
and so did my son-in-law, Hank,
who's married to our daughter Hannah.
We looked out the window and we could see these streams
of protestors coming towards the Capitol.
I just had never seen that before.
[crowd] [chanting] Where's Antifa?
[indistinct clamor]
[Chief Contee] My assumption was that the Capitol police were well prepared,
much like the Metropolitan Police Department.
What I saw that was concerning to me
is that there were not very many
Capitol police officers there at the, at the bike rack.
And this was really the first point where they
had to confront some of the protestors.
[clamoring]
And I'm not exactly sure strategically
why they were deployed that way.
[crowd] [chanting] USA. USA. USA. USA.
[crowd clamoring]
[man] They breached the area here.
Holy shit, guys.
Holy shit, holy shit.
[man] Let's go!!
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
[Chief Contee] If that had been defended differently, you know--
I can Monday-morning quarterback it, but you know,
what if there were enough people there
when that initial group came there?
You know, would things have been different?
[Rep. Raskin] We looked out the window and Tabitha said,
"Are the police gonna be able to stop all these people?"
And I said, "Yeah, it'll be safe, it's the Capitol."
[indistinct shouting]
[Erica] We saw the protestors were getting closer to the building,
but I didn't take it seriously because I thought the Capitol
was one of the safest buildings in the world.
[protestor] This is our house!
[Erica] We had been hearing chatter of a potential protest,
but that wasn't out of the ordinary,
so I just figured, you know, that's what comes with the territory of the day.
[chanting] USA! USA!
[Rep. Raskin] I did feel more nervous about it,
but the Capitol police felt like they were ready, they were on top of it,
so I gave Tabitha and Hank a kiss goodbye,
I said, "I'll see you out at the floor," you know,
"I'll be able to look up at you in the gallery."
[reporter] Rhonda, we're also seeing Senators gather
and prepare to walk over to the House Chamber.
[Erica] We were preparing for there to be a convening
of the full body of Congress to certify these votes.
I was really excited just, just to be there.
And I remember House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn
doing his various press interviews and taking kind of a selfie
of myself with the Congressman, as I do.
[indistinct chatter]
[Erica] I was recording the Senators walking over
and posting it to Instagram, and I think I said something like,
"Let the certification begin," or something cheesy like that.
[chuckles]
[gavel bangs]
Madam Speaker, members of Congress,
pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of the United States...
On the House floor, they passed out the memo
from Vice President Pence
saying that he was not going
to assert unilateral powers
to reject Electoral College votes from the states.
That memo told you precisely
what Trump was trying to get him to do,
and he explained why he couldn't do it
and why it was not consistent with the Constitution.
So, I breathed a sigh of relief because that was good news.
After ascertainment has been had
that the certificates are authentic and correct in form,
the tellers will count and make a list of the votes...
[Erica] A lot of us went into the Congressman's office because
the Congressman was on the House floor
dealing with the certification by then.
Outside of the Congressmen's window,
we could see the protestors were getting closer,
and it just seemed like they were getting closer and closer.
[indistinct cheering]
[Erica] But even then, I was just like, "That's closer than usual,
but you know, Capitol police will be fine."
[indistinct crowd cheering]
[crowd] [chanting] Our house!
[chanting] USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA!
Let's go, let's go.
[clamoring]
[Chief Contee] While that first wave of people breached the West Side of the Capitol,
we get the call that we have a suspicious package,
one at the RNC, another suspicious package at the DNC.
And these things turned out to be, like, real pipe bombs.
[crowd] We the people! We the people!
[Chief Contee] And almost simultaneously,
we also get the call as the Metropolitan Police Department
to come in to assist with what's going on at the Capitol.
[♪]
And this is local law enforcement coming to the aid of the federal government.
We don't do that in the Metropolitan Police Department.
It's not our area of responsibility.
[♪]
[Christina Laury] We were broken up into three squads,
and I remember we're getting ready for the day,
and we're like it's just going to be a normal day,
you know they just needed more manpower just in case.
And within seconds, the radio goes off.
And everything just changed.
The mood that we were just in 30 seconds ago was, was gone.
[crowd] [chanting] USA! USA! USA! USA!
[Chief Contee] The scene was so chaotic on the West front of the Capitol
that the US Capitol police
requested the services of the National Guard.
[♪]
Every minute was precious, as far as I'm concerned.
We got what's happening at the Capitol.
We got pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC-- real pipe bombs.
We got members deployed there, and we still have this
large group of people that have not even stepped off
from the Ellipse to make their way towards the Capitol.
Right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol!
[crowd cheering]
[President Trump] The kind of pride and boldness that they need
to take back our country.
So, let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.
I want to thank you all,
God bless you and God bless America.
Thank you all for being here.
This is incredible. Thank you very much.
[crowd] Whooooo!
[chanting] 1776! 1776!
[Chief Contee] After the President finished his speech,
there was just like, you know,
wave after wave after wave of people,
who didn't even have a barricade to walk by at this point.
I mean, it's just a mob of people.
[indistinct crowd chatter]
[Mel] On the way to the Capitol building--
- Whose flag? - Our flag!
Whose streets? Our streets!
- Yeah! - God Bless America, baby!
MEL How you feeling, Nate?
[Nate] Oh, I'm feeling ready, bro. Readier than ever.
[woman] They're evacuating the building.
[man] Occupy the Capitol. Our building.
[woman] They're evacuating the building.
[man] Nobody else's building.
It's ours...
♪ ...marching on ♪
♪ Glory, glory hallelujah ♪
Then, once I got to the Capitol, the "oh shit" moment
really happened where you're like, fuck!
[crowd] We live for freedom!
Come see it.
Come see these people take this house back.
Come see it.
[Mel] This looks like some shit out of a crazy-ass movie set.
[protestor] This is democracy!
This is what you get with rule of the mob!
[Mel] I get up to this structure, and I just hear people saying,
"Everyone gotta get off, it's too many people,
this is gonna collapse."
[woman] Stop the steal!
[Mel] Where are people gonna go?
Are people actually gonna go in the fucking building?
Like what the hell is happening?
Where are the police?
[crowd] [chanting] We want Trump!
[man] We're at the gate, we're coming through
this motherfucker tonight.
We're at the door.
We're right here, we're coming in.
We're not stopping, goddamnit!
This is our house motherfuckers!
[crowd] [chanting] USA!
DC [MPD] 42, disregard Constitution.
[indistinct] ...will respond over there.
[Daniel] We received the order to go to the Capitol,
and we were putting on our gear when eventually our sergeant
said, "All right, that's enough, whatever you got on is gonna be it.
It's time to move."
So, we all got in the van and started driving.
[honking and siren wailing]
[Christina] I was racing faster than I've ever driven a police car
in my life to get down there.
[distant police siren]
[Christina] When we got out of the car, there were thousands
and thousands of people.
[clamoring]
[Christina] There was no orders at that point.
There was too much going on to have any type of orders,
and I did not think that we were going to be able
to get through the crowd.
I didn't think they would allow us to get through.
[clamoring]
[woman] This is our 1776.
We need to continue to storm this Capitol.
Do not let police through, they are traitors.
[indistinct crowd speech]
[crowd clamoring]
[Daniel] There were so many people.
They had us comically outnumbered.
One guy asked me, "Are you my brother?"
It took me a second to process what he was asking me.
"Do you actually think I want to overthrow the government with you?"
[clamoring]
If it was just the couple hundred that committed
the extreme acts of violence, we coulda handled that.
It's the thousands and thousands of people backing them up.
[clamoring]
[Daniel] It was the crowd that was the weapon.
[clamoring]
[Christina] I'm seeing objects being flown at us,
screaming at other officers to duck
because they're about to get hit with a brick.
[Daniel] They started attacking us.
One guy tried to grab my baton.
I was taking blows from all sides.
I felt something heavy come down into my head.
Eventually I went to the ground,
and the guy I was wrestling with kicked me in the chest.
The medical mask I was wearing at the time had actually
gotten pulled up over my eyes, so when I was on the ground
on all fours I was also blind, and I was afraid I was just
about to get dogpiled and destroyed.
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
I lost my radio, my baton,
uh, I can't remember now, but a few other pieces of equipment.
You couldn't defend yourself and your gear at the same time,
so you just had to let it go.
When I, thankfully got back up on my feet,
I led my platoon through the crowd
until we got to the terrace proper,
and we joined Capitol police and the rest of MPD there.
You couldn't get any closer to the Capitol at that point
without going inside, honestly.
So, I knew at that point that it was imperative
that we keep them out.
Fuck you!
You're a fucking scumbag! Scumbag!
You're all fucking scumbags!
You swore a fucking oath to this country!
That's me right there.
Once I got to the Capitol, as I walk down the steps
to the West Front, on this white marble
you're seeing police officers' gear, blood,
anything and everything that you can think of that would happen
in a fight, it was happening right there on the West Front.
[indistinct clamoring]
Well, fuck you guys! You can't call yourselves Americans!
You broke your fucking oath today!
1776, man!
[indistinct clamor continues]
[Christina] When we go through our training, we are required to get sprayed
with OC, which is pepper spray, so we know how we react,
we know how our body reacts.
It was not fun.
It lasts for about 45 minutes before you can see again,
you feel better again.
Bear mace--
compared to that, OC is, like, on level 10.
I was just blinded.
[MPD] You okay?
[Christina] I just can't open my eyes.
[MPD] Okay, need some more water?
[Christina] Oh, my God.
[MPD] I know. You're blinded, right?
They're throwing shit, so I'm just going to put this on top of your head.
Alright.
- [MPD] Just in case. - [Christina] Alright.
[MPD] I don't want you to get hit.
You're just hopeless and helpless at that point.
[indistinct speech]
- Can I get more water? - [MPD] Yeah.
[indistinct speech]
[crowd clamoring in the back]
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
[man] I'm representing our president.
He won this election.
This was stolen from us, and a million people
are standing in front of the Capitol, and we know it.
[Vice President Pence] Are there any objections to counting the certificate
of vote from the state of Arizona?
[Rep. Raskin] We began the counting of Electoral College votes,
and Arizona was the first one where there were objections.
[Vice President Pence] Is the objection in writing and signed by a Senator?
- Yes, it is. - It is.
[subdued applause]
[Rep. Raskin] Something like 50 or 60 Republicans got up to object.
And at that point, the joint session immediately breaks,
and the House and the Senate resolve into
our separate chambers to debate the challenges.
I look back up in the gallery to see that Tabitha and Hank were there.
And then it was my turn to get up,
my basic point was going to be that the election is over.
It's not our job to vote for the person we want to be President;
it's our job to certify the votes that have come in from the governors.
That's what the job is.
But before getting into it, I took a second
just to thank the Speaker and all of the Members
for their condolences.
The gentleman is recognized without objection for five minutes.
Madam Speaker, I wanna thank you first,
and-- and all my dear, beloved colleagues for your love
and tenderness, which my family
and I will never forget.
And then, there was this huge standing ovation...
[applause]
[♪]
[Rep. Raskin] It was jarring and disorienting for me
because I could kind of see
them looking at me,
or into me as
a person embodying tragedy at that point.
It was really a lovely, wonderful gesture,
but I'm not sure I totally understood it.
But then I started thinking, in my kind of sleepless,
disjointed way, "Well, maybe everyone's love of Tommy,
or sympathy for our family, would lead to an end
of all of this fighting over the election."
Maybe they would withdraw the Stop the Steal campaign,
and they would stop telling the Big Lie.
It was obviously a completely irrational thought,
but that's what passed through my mind right there,
because there was this huge outpouring of emotion
in this standing ovation.
[subdued applause]
[Rep. Raskin] And then it was over, and then I launched into my real speech.
Thank you again.
Abraham Lincoln, whose name is a comfort to us all,
said we've got the best government...
[Rep. Raskin] So still at that point, we had no reason to think
that there was medieval-style fighting breaking out outside.
We were ready in the way you'd be ready in a courtroom
or a classroom, but we weren't ready
in the way we should've been for what was about to take place.
[crowd clamoring]
[man] Take their guns! Take their guns!
[Chief Contee] Robert Glover, who's now the Commander
of our Special Operations Division,
I heard some things in his voice that I've never heard before.
[protestor] Pull them! Pull them this way!
[Christina] Commander Glover, you know,
he knew that we were losing ground,
and he had no problem letting us know,
"We're losing ground, we need to back up."
Because we were outnumbered.
We were outnumbered.
It was such a wide line of people going back for--
this is an exaggeration, but for miles--
you know, that's how it felt.
[protestor] What are you going to do when we defend our Constitution
with the Second Amendment?
What are you going to do then?
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
[MPD] All people must leave the area immediately.
If you don't follow this order, it may subject you to arrest.
[Mel] These police officers were completely overwhelmed by
the thousands of people that were next to me, behind me,
around me.
[Mel] There were definitely ex-military personnel.
Ex-police.
There were people that knew what they were doing,
knew how to lead people, and if I step back,
I can start hearing people say that, you know,
they are going in.
This is, you know, "We are going to go inside,
Donald Trump is meeting us here, and if you don't let us in,
we're going to fuck some shit up."
[man] Right now, the people in the Capitol are sheltering in place.
We have the Capitol.
[Chief Contee] There's just so much that's going on.
And from a command standpoint-- a Chief of Police standpoint--
I need to be in a position where I can command
what's happening for the entire city,
and the mayor needs to know
exactly what's going on at that point.
And I told her that I would meet her at our command center.
[indistinct speech]
[indistinct crowd speech]
[Chief Contee] Now I have a view of what's happening at the Capitol.
I have a view of what's happening at the Ellipse,
I have a view of what's happening at Freedom Plaza.
I was sending everything that I had
because our democracy was under attack.
What we really needed to see were National Guardsmen
at the US Capitol.
At that point, we had a phone call
that was convened by myself,
by the Mayor of the District of Columbia,
several representatives of the DC National Guard,
the US Capitol Police Chief, where he essentially was
pleading for assistance from the National Guard.
I just simply said, "Wait a minute.
What I hear is the Chief of the Capitol Police
asking for additional resources from the National Guard
to be deployed to the US Capitol.
Chief, is that what you're saying?'
This is on a bridge call.
He said, "That is exactly what I'm saying."
Chief Sund said that.
In response to that, whoever on the other side,
from the representatives from the Defense Department,
the discussion then switched to talking about optics,
and boots on the ground, and what that would look like,
which, you know, in a crisis situation,
I don't care what it looks like. It looks like help to me.
[crowd clamoring]
[Chief Contee] So, I asked all who were on this call,
"Are you saying that you're not going to deploy personnel?"
"No, we're not saying that, what we are saying is that
optics, and this and that and so forth."
It was very disturbing.
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
This is a bad situation, we have to do the best we can
to defend this Capitol, to defend our democracy
with everything that we got.
[♪]
Apparently, the National Guard were blocks away.
That makes me mad, because I don't even know-
I don't even wanna know how many officers were there
that could have helped us...
I don't even wanna know, because that will just
blow me up.
As someone who served six years in the Virginia National Guard,
I was aware of the National Guard and how they could
possibly respond.
I also knew that they take time to respond.
I don't know why anyone would've delayed that.
[clamoring]
My officers didn't know that not only were they breaching
the West Side of the Capitol, the East Side of the Capitol
was also being breached.
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
[crowd] [chanting] USA! USA! USA!
So, they had essentially been surrounded.
It just kept getting crazier and crazier and crazier...
[crowd clamoring]
[protestor] We're taking it!
We're storming the House!
I was saying to people, "Where are we going? What are we doing?"
It was a lot of, we, we, we, we, we to comfort them,
you know?
And it's also a way to comfort myself to like, you know,
so I can feel safer to let you know that I am not a threat.
I have cameras, but not a threat.
[indistinct speech]
It's gonna be a stampede.
In my mind, I'm like, "I don't know if I'm being dramatic,
but this might turn into a stampede."
I don't know if we can control this or contain it.
[clamoring]
[♪]
[officer coughing]
[Erica] I remember watching as police officers were clearly exhausted.
It started to look abnormal.
And then there was like a beeping in the office.
[device beeping]
[Erica] I guess there's some sort of security device in the office
that I never knew existed.
Then we started getting directives from
our chief of staff, from the office manager.
She told me to wear flats,
and she told me to pack up my bags.
[indistinct speech]
[newscaster] Person outside has attempted to enter on the Senate side
of the building.
[Erica] We had a television in the office, we also had windows,
so we could see that they were clearly, you know,
closing in on us.
[indistinct shouting]
But despite the beeping, despite huddling
in the Congressman's office, nothing made it real
until those people actually got inside.
[clamoring]
[Rep. Raskin] I first got a text from a friend in California saying,
"Are you okay? Is everything alright?"
And I said, "Yes, what do you mean?"
And she said, "There's a breach in the Capitol.
There's violence outside."
And I looked around the room and I noticed that
lots of people were getting messages
and people were beginning to talk.
[indistinct chatter]
[clamoring]
[Rep. Raskin] Within a couple of minutes, Speaker Pelosi's security detail
escorted her off of the floor.
[crowd clamoring , cheering]
[device beeping]
[Rep. Raskin] Some people on our side of the aisle began to scream,
"This is because of you, this is what you wanted."
[indistinct speech]
[Rep. Raskin] I immediately looked back up into the gallery.
Tabitha and Hank were no longer there.
[♪]
[indistinct speech in the back]
Oh, Nancy!
Where are you, Nancy?
[Erica] Our office was right above Nancy Pelosi's office,
the Speaker of the House.
Three of my colleagues went out, and our staff assistant
said she came face to face with one of the insurrectionists.
We were in the room, and she was banging on the door,
and she said, "They're inside.
They're inside. Let me in!"
They were extremely rattled.
And they said that we needed to stay here.
Like we cannot leave.
That was, I think the turning point for me.
[♪]
[Rep. Raskin] I called Julie, my Chief of Staff,
and she said they were back in Steny's office.
They had locked the door.
She said they had pushed all the furniture up against the door.
The kids were hiding under,
uh, a desk.
And I learned later that Julie had taken the-- the fire pick
outta the fireplace and was wielding it as-- as a weapon.
And I told her to protect them with her life.
[crowd clamoring]
[protestor] This is our fucking house.
Our house.
[Erica] I heard the elevator open,
and I heard them come up the stairwell,
and so we decided to stay in place,
turn the lights out and to just be as quiet as possible
and to barricade the doors.
I had to assume the worst.
I had to assume these people were armed.
You kind of go into survival mode,
like I remember essentially casing the office, like,
"What can I use as a weapon?"
I remember feeling like
whatever is in here that is heavy is what I'll have to use,
you know, if it comes to that.
[helicopter whirring]
[crowd clamoring]
[crowd] [chanting] We want Trump! We want Trump!
[clamoring]
[man] Fuck you, you fuckin' tyrants!
Whenever I see footage from that day, it makes my heart race.
You know, I can feel blood-- my blood pressure shoot up,
and it makes me angry.
[protestor] Lay down your weapons!
Those weapons belong to us!
That helmet, 4-5-1-8, belongs to me!
Give me my helmet! Give me my helmet!
Now, Hodges!
D. Hodges, lay down your weapons!
4-5-1-8, give me my helmet!
I want my helmet!
Gimme my helmet!
That helmet belongs to me!
I paid for that helmet!
I paid for that vest!
I paid for your salary!
Traitor!
[man] You're a bunch of sheep, sheep!
[Daniel] There was just sensory overload of threats that,
I'm scanning the crowd rather than paying attention to
what people are shouting at me because I'm constantly looking
for, uh, someone who's about to bring out a gun or a knife
or something because I know that they have them on them.
And I just have to hope that if I see that I can react before they do.
[crowd cheering]
[Daniel] At one point I look over my shoulder and I see the officers
trying to hold them back and failing
because their numbers are overwhelming.
[shouting indistinctly]
At that point, I see the line break, essentially.
[man] You better run, cops!
[crowd chanting]
[Daniel] Each officer just engages in a pitched battle
with whatever's in front of them.
People swinging things at our heads-- sticks, metal poles.
One Sergeant was hit with a cattle prod.
There was a sledgehammer.
I had someone try to gouge my eye out.
These people like to believe that they support blue lives,
but someone came up to me while I was surrounded and said,
"Things are gonna get real bad.
We need to get you out of here. What can I do to help?"
And I said, "Go home."
And he said, "Not gonna happen."
And at that point, there's not much left to say.
[crowd clamoring]
[MPD] Let's go, MPD double time inside.
Let's go. Let's go, MPD.
Stop fucking looking at them, let's go!
Get inside. Goddamn, let's get inside!
[screams]
[Christina] To be honest, I don't even remember getting inside the Capitol.
We were funneled into the Capitol at some point.
[indistinct shouting]
[Christina] I don't know anything about this building.
I remember running up to Capitol officers, and there was
only a couple of 'em. I would say, "How do I get here and here?"
"I don't know. I don't work in this building."
[crowd] [chanting] Our house! Whose house?
[Erica] There were two sets of doors in the Congressman's office,
so my colleagues on the other side of the office
barricaded one set, we barricaded the other set.
Um, and you know, there was just a lot of, you know,
I had a coworker who's a really good friend of mine,
and she was, you know, very, very pregnant.
So, you know, she couldn't do it.
Um, and we had photographers in the room.
Some of them were taking pictures instead of helping.
And I remember being really, really annoyed with them
at the time, 'cause I was like, you know,
"This is not the time for your Pulitzer.
Like, this is life or death."
And I mean, in hindsight, I guess it's,
it's good that it was documented.
But in the moment, we are possibly, you know,
fighting for our lives.
We don't know what's on the other side of that door.
[clamoring]
[knocking and banging the doors]
[Erica] I vividly remember hearing someone say,
"They're hiding from us," and like kind of laughing.
It felt as if they were like taunting us, like, you know,
"Hello, anybody in here?"
And they were just banging, banging, banging on the door.
And every time they would bang on the door...
[cries]
Um, you think you're over it, and then you're not.
Um, I just remember every time they banged on the door,
um, you know,
we would all just run up and push the door--
I mean, push the-- the table against the door.
Um, and those were the most terrifying times.
[man] Hey guys, hey hey!
[crowd clamoring]
[crowd] [chanting] USA! USA! USA!
USA! USA! USA!
[protestor] We need people.
[indistinct shouting]
[Christina] At some point, I finally make it into the tunnel.
[clamoring]
[MPD] Push!
There was no order to go in there.
I didn't hear about any level of importance
because I didn't have my radio at that point.
It was just where the fight was, and I knew I needed to go to it.
[clamoring]
Now, myself, these officers that I'm with,
we're essentially trapped in the Capitol
because you have these thousands of people
that are now aggressively trying to get in.
[cheering]
It felt like a, for-real riot, like pushing back.
[Mel] Felt like it was organized
and people knew what they were doing.
You just don't go, you know, there with tactical gear on
and looking like you're military personnel
without knowing what you were doing.
[man] Supply lines coming through.
Keep in mind, we have the vice president
and other members of Congress in the building.
And if the building is surrounded
and a person or group of people access the tunnel,
it puts the leaders of our democracy in a very,
very, very bad situation.
[banging door]
[Erica] We were all just pushing the table against the door
with all our might.
How do we know that we're not running to the door
and they're not about to, like, shoot a bullet through.
We had literally no idea.
The news started to spread.
And I just remember getting message
after message after message asking, you know, if I was okay.
And I remember saying to each person, just please pray.
[Rep. Raskin] Meantime on the floor,
it was total chaos and bedlam by then.
There was this extraordinary pounding,
barreling sound coming at the center door
of the House of Representatives.
[indistinct shouting]
[woman] Everybody stay down.
[clamoring]
[banging desks]
[Rep. Raskin] I'll never forget that sound. It was really haunting.
Just the sound of basically a mob,
trying to barrel its way in, smashing up against the door.
And people began to run towards the door.
Then some Capitol officers came in with their guns
and told all of us to get back.
And they stood by the door with their guns drawn.
Everybody was imagining that somebody was gonna come in
with an AR 15, that there would be a mass shooting
and that it would be focused on
the Democratic side of the aisle
and the Democratic galleries.
So, they were telling us all to take off our pins.
These are the little pins that get us into the buildings.
And they're telling us, take your pins off.
It makes you recognizable.
And then the Democrats were saying,
get off of the Democratic side of the aisle.
[crowd] [chanting] USA. USA. USA. USA.
[protestor] [shouting] USA. USA.
Meantime, we were all being shepherded towards the front.
And we got up to the Speaker's lobby and we went to the right.
To the left is where there were a handful of officers.
And then the mob was on the other side of the doors there.
- [indistinct shouting] - [banging door]
[protestor] Let me in!
[clamoring]
That's, um...
that's where one of the protesters got killed.
[protestor] Break that down!
Break it down. Break that!
Let's go.
- [indistinct shouting] - [clamoring]
[gunshots]
[protestor] That sound like a fucking gun shot.
Oh, shit.
Oh, my God, a woman has been shot.
[♪]
[protestor] Where's she hit?
[officer] Back Up. Back up.
[man] Yo medic, where's she hit?
We can't save her.
Get the fuck back. We can't save her!
[officer] You guys gotta calm down.
[protestor] We got blood on the floor.
There's blood on the floor of our fucking...
[♪]
[MPD] [over radio] Report of one shot in the Capitol.
Report of a shooting in the Capitol,
trying to ascertain information now.
Capitol command of recon, report of one shot.
Capitol command of recon, is this gonna be
an active shooter event, or is this just one shot?
I need more information.
This will be a report of one shot.
Unknown about the victim or the location.
[Chief Contee] We just didn't know.
We were trying to get confirmation.
Is anyone shot in the Capitol?
Were those shots fired? Were they some type of incendiary device?
We don't know. Was it just a distraction
to kind of get us in a different area?
We did not know.
And I think that was probably the scariest thing, not knowing.
[crowd] [chanting] We the people! We the people!
[Mel] This is...
It makes you seek answers. So, what do I do?
Of course, I'm talking to people.
I interview people right then, right on the steps.
You know, right there.
Yeah... look at 'em.
And you know, I met this woman, we were probably 10 feet away
from, you know, where people were trying to get in.
She sounded so fucking nice and so sweet.
And she was so polite.
- You okay, baby? - [Mel] Yeah. I'm good.
- I'm prepared to die. - [Mel] Huh?
- Yes, I'm prepared to die. - [Mel] Wait a second.
For my country, and my children and my grandchildren, all day.
[Mel] You're saying you're prepared to die today?
Yes, I love America.
And I was like, what?
You prepared to die?
I could not fucking believe
what the fuck I was seeing and hearing.
I felt embarrassed, you know,
for all of us, you know,
for all of America, you know, to hear what I was hearing,
to see what I was seeing, to document what I was documenting.
[clamoring]
[woman] Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!
We were all scared.
[cheering]
The manpower we had inside the tunnel that day,
which seemed like a lot, wasn't enough.
It was about maybe four or five-ish people could fit in there wide.
And it was a few dozen officers in there
trying to hold back the crowd outside.
[clamoring]
[indistinct shouting]
[Daniel] You could see officers who were
getting injured at the front, falling out, coming to the back.
The boiler room in the Capitol became our decon room.
There were so many officers that had their hands on their knees
because they couldn't see because they're shut down
from the chemicals that were just used against them.
And as those officers fell back, we would move forward
and continue moving forward
until it was your turn at the front, essentially.
[Christina] It felt like war.
[crowd chanting]
[indistinct shouting]
[Mel] I'm seeing scenes unfold
all around me.
This is our country!
Yeah!
[cheering]
[Mel] I'm seeing anxiety.
I'm seeing sadness.
I'm seeing pain.
[crowd screaming, shouting]
You know...
twice when I was there, you know,
I felt the emotion to cry.
And quite frankly, probably I didn't stop myself.
Some shit distracted me from that emotion.
It's like, Oh, shit, there's a hockey stick.
Oh, shit, where the fuck did they get a ladder from?
Oh, shit, what is this tubing?
Where the hell did that come from?
The guy's head is all red from pepper spray
and looks like he can't breathe.
Oh, shit, I'm getting soaked up by the gas,
and I can't fucking breathe,
and this shit hurts my eyes.
And why are people keep returning
back to the front lines to do it over and over again?
What is, what are they thinking?
[clamoring]
[♪]
[Daniel] I knew that this had to be the biggest news story
in the world right now,
the United States Capitol being under siege.
So, someone had to be trying to get us help somewhere.
I was thinking, you know,
I hope I can hold on until reinforcements gets here.
[shouting]
[crowd] Our house! Our house!
[Rep. Raskin] We went down some stairwells,
and they tried to keep us together,
and we were running for safety.
All that shit...!
At that point, I was most concerned for Tabitha,
Hank, and Julie and wanting to make sure
that they would get outta that room, which was still where the mob was.
[crowd] [chanting] USA! USA! USA!
[Rep. Raskin] And I just kept doing the same thing over and over again,
calling the Capitol police, calling Julie.
I was obviously profoundly concerned for them.
I just wanted to make sure they were in touch
so they knew who to open the door for and who not to.
[loud shouting]
[indistinct chatter]
These people had made it clear that they wanted
to kill certain members of Congress.
And even if they got one person,
that would change the balance of power.
So, you know,
I was definitely motivated to--
to win the fight.
[clamoring]
[Daniel] I found myself at the front of the line in the tunnel...
and I braced myself against the doorframe
so that any backward force I experienced
wasn't pushed on the officers behind me,
but rather against the frame of the building itself.
[clamoring]
[Daniel] Unfortunately, it backfired on me.
My arms were trapped.
I was essentially standing up straight,
unable to defend myself and at their mercy.
[screaming and shouting]
[Daniel] The man to my front, I remember
him just screaming at me
and, like, spit or some kind of foam
coming out of his mouth.
It sounds, like, made up, but that's what I remember.
[groaning, yelling]
He also was able to wrestle away my baton
and beat me in the head with it.
I could taste blood coming out of my mouth.
[siren wailing]
[shouting]
[crowd] [chanting] Heave ho! Heave ho!
[Daniel] I could feel just starting to lose all of my perception,
and I was worried that I would fall out there
and become a liability to my colleagues and then, you know,
eventually be dragged out and killed.
Um...
I remember someone just chanting, "Fight for Trump.
Fight for Trump. Fight for Trump."
Thankfully, the other officers behind me heard me
and were able to create enough space to get me out of there.
Everyone who worked that day was injured.
Everyone was attacked.
Sometimes at great personal cost.
[Christina] The difference between your typical angry riot
versus this was, this was...
it was personal.
And they were not stopping.
I wanna go home, and I want every single officer that's here to go home.
And my job right now,
their job right now is to figure out a way to make that happen.
They fought like hell, for hours.
That's not training that police officers normally get.
Maybe the military, they're trained for war,
fighting for hours, days, months on end.
The fight that these officers had in them,
even when they were injured, to see them injured
and then get back into the fight.
[♪]
[Daniel] The fight wasn't over yet, and the fight needed everybody
that was able. And I'm not dead yet.
[laughs] Uh, I was still, uh, still in the fight.
[crowd] [chanting] Freedom, freedom, freedom.
[crowd clamoring]
[Mel] It was like complete chaos all around me.
I'm seeing one of the darkest days
in modern history.
I was scared for my fucking life,
but all I can think about is
making sure that I document
what's going on to the best of my abilities.
[indistinct shouting]
[♪]
Back up.
[grunting]
[sighs]
[Mel] When I captured this image
and saw the police officer that I now know
to be Michael Fanone,
get pulled down
from where he was trying to stop the mob
of MAGA people from getting inside...
[scoffs]
[♪]
I'm like reliving it in my brain right now.
Like, I have all of the frames just going in my head.
The look on this man's face was,
"I am about to fucking die."
You don't see police officers look like that very often.
Police officers are stoic, proud, in control.
This officer was not in control of a motherfucking thing.
If they wanted to kill him, they would've killed him.
The man pleaded for his life, told people he has kids.
Well, I'm thinking like, holy shit, this man is about to die.
And here I am about to capture this shit.
[♪]
It's kind of crazy 'cause if I had to put, you know,
a dollar on it, I would say everyone there is, "Blue Lives Matter,
Blue Lives Matter."
They didn't fucking matter that day.
I felt for him.
I have a son.
I thought about what it would feel like for him
if some shit happened to me.
You know, that's another human being.
Are there times that I don't feel bad for cops?
Fucking right.
Derek Chauvin could kiss my black ass, straight up.
That could be fucking me. That coulda been any of us.
Like, I'm pissed off right now, just by talking about, you know,
the, what happened to George Floyd.
And what's happened to many,
many other people that have died
in the hands of police.
You know, it's,
I feel like if you weren't angry about what happened...
[sighs]
...to George Floyd on that fucking day,
you're not a fucking human.
You lack everything that it takes to be a human being.
If that shit didn't piss you the fuck off.
[♪]
[Mel] America has been rearing its ugly fucking head
for many fucking years over and over and over again.
And I'm documenting it all.
All I can do is get these photos out
and show the world you know, what I saw.
This is real-life America.
So, yeah, I felt for him, I felt for...
...us. I felt for Americans.
I felt for, you know, this world,
this is what it's come to.
[MPD] Pull. Pull. Pull.
[indistinct speech]
I came for fucking war, man.
We have a national, international, crisis
unfolding right here in the nation's Capitol.
The gravity and the weight of that is huge.
Knowing that the eyes of the world
are literally watching our democracy crumble.
[cheering]
[Senator Biden] [on microphone] At this hour,
our democracy is under unprecedented assault,
unlike anything we've seen in modern times.
An assault in the citadel of Liberty, the Capitol itself.
An assault on the people's representatives
and the Capitol Hill police sworn to protect them.
[President Trump] [on video] We had an election that was stolen from us.
It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it.
But we can't play into the hands of these people.
We have to have peace.
So go home.
We love you.
You're very special.
You've seen what happens, you see the way others
are treated that are so bad and so evil.
[cheering, clamoring]
"I can't breathe! I can't breathe! I can't breathe!"
[clamoring, indistinct speech]
'Cause...
[indistinct shouting]
[♪]
[crowd cheering, clamoring]
[indistinct shouting]
[indistinct chatter on radio]
[Mel] How could anyone be proud of what they were doing?
Even if you don't agree with the election,
how could you be proud of that?
You've tried to storm the fucking
United States Capitol building--
not try to storm-- you did, you got in.
And people died.
When I began to see the magnitude of the violence
that was taking place, I just grew more and more,
I don't wanna say hysterical, but more and more agitated
about Tabitha and Hank not being with us.
I was aware of not wanting to create surplus fear
and anxiety on their part, but I was pretty angry.
[crowd] [chanting] USA. USA. USA.
[Erica] We just sat there in silence.
I remember thinking a lot about my mom.
[sighs]
You know, I think,
well, you know,
my mom lives with me, she has Alzheimers.
And I didn't necessarily want to get in contact with her
because I didn't want her to worry,
I just wanted to be there.
You know?
I think that's what I thought about the most.
At the end of the day, I'm kind of all she has.
So...
[crowd] Stop the steal, stop the steal, stop the steal.
[crowd] [chanting] USA. USA. USA.
[siren wailing]
[Chief Contee] We reached out far and wide as we could
to get people here to support us.
So, whether the National Guard showed up, didn't showed up,
whatever the case may be, there were police officers
that we were calling on from all around this area to assist.
[siren chirping]
[indistinct radio chatter]
[protestor] [on speaker] We love you, President Trump.
- [banging windows] - Traitors!
Traitors!
- [explosion] - My God. Oh, my fucking God.
[fires smoke]
[clamoring]
When I saw that manpower coming with the munitions
that we needed to handle the-- this crowd, that was...
"Okay, we're gonna get through this."
[explosion, clamor]
[Chief Contee] Normally, it's the federal government
that's coming to the aid of local law enforcement,
local jurisdictions.
That day, local jurisdictions
came to support the federal government.
Some of them are MPD officers,
some of 'em are Virginia State Police.
You start seeing them push the crowd back.
[indistinct speech, clamoring]
[smoke grenades blast]
[coughing]
[Chief Contee] They're coming down the West Front of the Capitol.
I, I remember having a sense of like,
like, we taking it back.
[Erica] We kept hearing those knocks.
One time, it was just such a violent shaking of the door.
And that's when they, they just kicked it in...
and their guns drawn.
That was by far the scariest moment of my life
'cause I did not know who kicked the door in,
and I saw all those guns.
And we just had our hands up, and we had our hands up for a long time.
You know, it's not a good feeling having to walk around
the halls of Congress with your hands up past insurrectionists
who actually should have their hands up.
You know, that's not a good feeling.
I will never forget,
in front of Congressman Steny Hoyer's office,
there was a poster of John Lewis that referenced, you know,
getting in good trouble,
and the poster was ripped to shreds.
[♪]
I just remember how hateful that was,
to come in and rip up the poster the way they did
and to just desecrate the Capitol the way they did.
And I remember also walking past
one of the insurrectionists that they had handcuffed.
And I just remember looking at him, and he laughed.
You know, it was... it was funny to him.
It was unnerving.
[Rep. Raskin] Finally, Tabitha and Hank and Julie
were brought over to us by the officers,
and it was tearful.
I was racked with a lot of guilt.
I got someone who works with me on my staff to drive them home.
Before they left, I gave them a big hug, and it was again,
really emotional. And I... said I was sorry.
And I said to Tabitha, "The next time you come back
to the Capitol, it's not gonna be like this."
And then she said, "I don't want to come back to the Capitol."
And it just... it just rocked me.
[♪]
[Mel] I turned the ISO up on my camera,
and I had this dark photo of this flag waving
and smoke, this tear gas is coming down,
and there's hardly any more people at the top.
It just was weirdly over.
[indistinct shouting]
[man] [on video] So, earlier there was a lot of people out here,
and I guess it's thinned out a little bit.
Oh, so somebody got a souvenir.
Jesus.
You know, I walked two blocks,
called a Uber.
I just remember looking at who my driver was gonna be,
and I was so relieved that this driver was a Black man...
because I really honestly couldn't deal
with any more white folks that day.
I couldn't, I was just over it.
I needed that at that moment.
I needed someone that I could relate to,
that was on the same wavelength as me,
that was the same... that was a brother.
Like, I needed to tell that Black man,
like, what I just went through.
Then I went up to the room
and, um, almost started crying.
I almost started, and I stopped myself
and I was like, "Alright, well, I got fucking work to do.
Let's not go through this emotional shit right now.
You gotta fucking just focus
and get this job done."
[indistinct speech]
And I'm thinking about my boy who's over there.
You know, it's like I'm trying to fucking make it home
and get the fuck up out of here so I can see my son.
[indistinct remarks]
[♪]
[Daniel] Eventually, the fatigue of the day caught up with me,
and when I saw that I could take a break,
I went back inside and sat down.
I found out later on I had a large contusion underneath my hair.
Then I had a headache for about two weeks.
So, I likely had a concussion.
If I had taken another blow like that,
especially in the same place, that very easily could have
caused serious brain damage or been fatal.
[♪]
[Rep. Raskin] Our cops ended up with broken jaws, broken necks,
broken arms, legs, fingers.
One officer lost three fingers.
People had traumatic brain injury,
dozens and dozens ending up with Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome.
It was just hard to believe that this was going on in America.
And it was going on, you know, downstairs from where we were,
and Donald Trump wasn't doing anything to stop it.
And the National Guard was just absent...
and we were dumbfounded.
[reporter] Congressman Raskin is joining us now.
Congressman, obviously you can't share everything with us,
but what have you learned about what comes next?
[Rep. Raskin] [on telephone] I don't know, but I'll tell you this but every single member
that I've spoken to is absolutely determined to have us complete
the counting of the Electoral College votes,
and, uh, American constitutional democracy will prevail.
[siren wailing]
[♪]
- [birds chirping] - [wind blowing]
[Rep. Raskin] Nobody ever said it would be easy.
But healing begins with the truth.
I mean, there was an effort almost instantly to bury
and rewrite the history of what happened on January 6th.
You don't almost knock over the government of the United States
by accident.
It's not an impulse move.
This was an organized attack on the government.
if you allow for there to be confusion,
propaganda and disinformation about it.
Then that's very dangerous because it conditions
the society to accept it
and licenses political violence in the future.
[♪]
[Christina] It was a traumatic experience,
probably the most traumatic event that I've dealt with.
But, for me, it's more of losing trust in people.
You're talking about thousands and thousands of people
that were willing to hurt us to get what they want...
but then the next day, probably go back to
respecting law enforcement, right?
How does that work? How does that make sense?
How am I supposed to respect that and trust you?
It was embarrassing, to see what I was seeing,
you know, to be an American.
The type of things
that happened that day, you know,
theoretically are not supposed to happen
in this country.
We're America, the greatest country in the world.
My photos are showing you things that you already know.
It's not really exposing anything,
it's just showing you what's real.
Hopefully, you know, the photos help make life better for...
Like, hopefully, my son doesn't have to have a movement.
Be a part of a movement like what I've been a part of,
or what my parents have been a part of in the '60s.
But chances are, he will be
because that's the way the world works, you know.
The world is not perfect
and it can be fucked up sometimes.
[Rep. Raskin] A violent insurrection to overturn the election
is not an abstract thing, as we've heard.
Hundreds of people were bloodied,
injured, and wounded in the process,
including more than 150 police officers,
some of them sitting in this room today.
[Daniel] It's a dark day for America.
The Confederate flag was inside the United States Capitol,
the flag of traitors, and I say that as someone
born below the Mason-Dixon line, who loves the South.
White supremacists rummaging
through the belongings of our elected leaders.
[♪]
It's hard to imagine how that could be victory, right?
But power was transferred that day peacefully.
The terrorists, very fortunate that they got to go home,
but more of them are getting arrested every day.
And, um, victory doesn't always look like
what we want it to look like, but we did win.
We won that day.
[indistinct speech]
[Erica] When you go through something like that, you don't really think
about the impact it had on you
until you decide to talk about it again,
and then a lot of that fear and terror
and pain comes back.
But, you know, I don't know that there's
a whole lot of use in being angry.
I think that anger should be channeled
into the work that we should continue to do.
That's why I stayed that night.
Being there, you know, in the face of terrorism
and showing them that, you know,
despite your attack on democracy, democracy prevailed.
[Chief Contee] This is not the end of the book.
It's not the last chapter of the book.
So, while I have an appreciation for being
part of this historically significant event...
I take comfort in knowing that it's not the last chapter.
I think about what's ahead.
How strong we are.
After enduring all of these things yet here I stand,
our country.
After going through all the things that we go through,
democracy still moves forward.
And our last chapter is still yet to be written.
[indistinct speech]
[Rep. Raskin] But this is not the problem of one party,
it is the problem of the whole country now.
American democracy, Mr. Chairman,
is a precious inheritance,
something rare in the history of the world.
So, justice is part of what we're doing,
but I would say paramount is the truth.
We want to set out
a complete, detailed historical record
of what happened and why.
And we've come a long way,
but obviously the progress
can be lost also in the wink of an eye.
In a world of insurgent authoritarianism,
of racism and antisemitism, let's all hang tough for
American democracy.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield back.
So, eternal vigilance, that's the price of our liberty.
That's the price of our democracy.
We've all got to stay on the case.
It's something we take care of together.
[♪]