WASHINGTON—On Jan. 6, supporters of President Donald Trump gathered in the nation’s capital for a demonstration, called the “Save America March.”
The plan was to hold a rally in The President’s Park just south of the White House and then march to the Capitol building to demand that Congress and Vice President Mike Pence reject electoral votes for former Vice President Joe Biden from states where election results were marred by irregularities, allegations of fraud, and unconstitutional voting rule changes.
By the end of the day, the Capitol went through several rounds of lockdown after a sizable group of protesters broke inside. Four people died in or around the Capitol, including Ashli Babbitt, a woman who was shot dead by a Capitol Police officer. Three others died due to medical emergencies, authorities said. One man died of a heart attack and another of a stroke, and one woman was crushed by the crowd, several media reported.
A Capitol Police officer, Brian Sicknick, died the next day. He “was injured while physically engaging with protesters ... returned to his division office and collapsed,” Capitol Police said in a statement.
At least 57 officers were injured and 68 people were arrested by the next day, authorities said, while announcing that the chief of Capitol Police had resigned. At least a dozen more arrests have since been announced.
The dramatic and unprecedented events shook the nation; lawmakers and officials across the board denounced the violence. Trump repeatedly called for peace, but was later shut down by social media companies. His aide put out a statement in which the president committed to a peaceful transfer of power after Congress certified Biden as the next president.
“To those who engaged in acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay,” he said. “We have just been through an intense election and emotions are high. But now, tempers must be cooled and calm restored.”
Here’s how events unfolded on Jan. 6, based on information collected from video clips, live video streams, and accounts collected from people on the ground by The Epoch Times.
The day started like many other recent Trump rallies. His supporters began to gather in the early hours of the morning, growing into a crowd of at least tens of thousands. A lineup of conservative personalities gave speeches, some focusing on demands for rejecting the current election results, while others focused more on the future of the Republican Party.
“Republicans are constantly fighting like a boxer with his hands tied behind his back,“ Trump said to the crowd. ”It’s like a boxer. And we want to be so nice, we want to be so respectful of everybody, including bad people. And we’re going to have to fight much harder. And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us. And if he doesn’t, that would be a sad day for our county. Because you’re sworn to uphold our Constitution.
“Now, it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you ... we’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.
“We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated—lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.
Breach of the Capitol
Before Trump had finished his speech, many people had set off on the mile-long walk to the Capitol. Some said they needed to be there in time for the electoral vote count, which started at 1 p.m.Hundreds of people, carrying Trump flags and wearing MAGA (Make America Great Again) hats and other Trump gear, had already gathered around noon near 1st Street, where police set up a fence about 500 feet from the Capitol. Some people wore helmets and other protective gear. Most stood around or chanted slogans.
As more people approached, several rioters in the front started to yank the fence and quickly pushed it over, pinning one female officer underneath. Two protesters immediately came to her rescue and helped pull her up and walked her to her colleagues. One rioter climbed over the fence and was immediately grabbed by two officers. Two rioters tried to pull the first one back, but another officer rushed in and punched one of the rioters. It appears none of the three rioters were wearing any Trump gear.
Meanwhile, a stream of people poured over the downed fence. The perimeter was broken.
“Break the law! Hey, we’re breaking the law. We’re breaking the law! [Expletive] them! [Expletive] the police!” she shouts. Only a handful of people cross the fence. The videographer uses the hole in the fence to go in and heads to the northwest part of the perimeter, capturing the moment when the crowd breaks through.
Two more layers of the portable fence were placed on the pathway and in front of the first few Capitol steps, but the police weren’t guarding them at this point and people quickly dismantled or knocked them over. Police tried to form a line in front of another short fence near a second layer of steps, but as the crowd grew, the officers withdrew behind it. It took less than two minutes for the crowd to knock that barrier over. A few scuffles broke out and police used pepper spray.
The officers formed another line and a group of riot police arrived to fortify it.
One man slipped through, but was quickly knocked to the ground and apprehended by police; one officer proceeded to punch him into submission. Two more men got through and also were knocked to the ground.
Meanwhile, the police line near the northern staircase began to collapse, allowing a crowd to push through and pour into the space between the two staircases. Fights broke out between some rioters and the police. While some people were pulling rioters away from the police, the aggression continued. One officer was knocked down from behind; a rioter threw a fire extinguisher at a group of riot police, hitting an officer into the back of his helmet.
Videos from the scene taken by people who arrived with the main group of protesters from the rally show a group of rioters already clashing with police at the west Capitol entrance, above the steps, while a large group of protesters watches. At that point, it appears, hundreds have already made it inside the building and some can be seen through one of the windows.
The video shows a large group of protesters did move to the other side of the building. There was no sign of the event, however, according to one of the protesters on site who later spoke to The Epoch Times.
Instead, a large group of protesters was walking to the central east side Capitol entrance. Smaller groups of protesters were also seen on the upper levels near the left and right secondary entrances on the east side of the building.
Police set up temporary fencing and formed a line behind it, about 250 feet from the east entrance. As the crowd grew, those in the front started to yank the fence and scuffle with police. The perimeter collapsed shortly after 2 p.m.
The protester said he was on the front lines as the crowd approached the steps leading to the central entrance. Only a handful of officers were there, and looked completely unprepared for the situation, he said. The crowd started to push its way up the stairs.
It appeared to the protester that some of the people around him and even some of the officers weren’t taking the situation very seriously, although one female officer was visibly upset and began to cry. She grabbed the protester’s hand, he said, but it appeared to him that she didn’t apply much force to stop him.
He took hold of her hand in return, quipping, “Are we going to dance here?”
The crowd swarmed up the stairs until the police line broke and people approached the door. Some were banging on the door, before it was opened; it’s not clear how, the protester said. Photos taken by the protester indicate the door had a magnetic lock, which could be forced open if the door handle was pulled strongly enough.
“I was kind of cattled in with the rest of the crowd,” the protester said.
One video shows people trying to keep the door open, while officers both inside and outside try to close it. One officer is pushed and collapses to the ground. Several people help him get back on his feet and usher him away.
At one point, Jones is seen at the steps of one of the east entrances, urging people to come down.
As Powell picks a few shards of glass from the windowsill, one man is heard saying, “Why don’t you guys open up the rest of it?”, apparently talking about the partly broken window.
“Because I think that’s probably illegal,” Powell is heard responding. The man makes another comment that is hard to understand. Powell said he was the same man who then came by and tore out another pane from the window. A man with an American flag pushes him aside as he approaches the window, apparently to stop others from going in.
“Do not go in there,” Powell says. “No,” the man replies. The man who tore out the pane shoves the other man back before saying something to him and shoving him again.
Overall, it appeared that several hundred people entered the building through different entrances and broken windows; the police needed several hours to clear them out.
Many of the Trump supporters in the main crowd outside the Capitol were unaware of what was going on inside, according to Ed Martin, president of the Eagle Forum Education and Legal Defense Fund and one of the event’s organizers.
“I walked toward the Capitol. I got there a little bit later,” he told The Epoch Times. “All I saw was people protesting and actually kind of celebrating. There was a lot of joy and a lot of encouragement. The people that did terrible things and violence and all, I don’t know who they were. I don’t like that. That’s not something that I wanted to see. It makes everyone look bad.”
Intruders
Among those who entered the building, there appears to have been several distinct behavior patterns.One group seemed to just be wandering about without any apparent purpose.
Another group was walking through the corridors looking for lawmakers, whom they sought to confront with their concerns or demands. These groups appeared splintered and disorganized, with each smaller group seemingly led by several aggressive individuals willing to kick down doors and smash window panes in the process. There were some people trying to hold these people back in confrontations with police, but nobody was stopping them from trying to break through closed doors, some footage indicates.
The interviewed protester said he took the opportunity to get inside to find and talk to one of his representatives. Some others voiced similar intentions, he said.
A number of individuals appeared eager to fight with the police; they repeatedly provoked and scuffled with the officers at multiple locations, various videos indicate.
While some people had posted online about plans to storm the Capitol and disrupt the vote certification, it isn’t clear if those were the same people who entered the building.
The people who stormed the building didn’t appear to be carrying firearms, although at least one was carrying what looked like a Taser. Some people also built gallows near the Capitol Reflecting Pool. The interviewed protester said that while some people were yelling things about killing people, the crowd shouted them down.
Police Conduct
The Capitol Police has been criticized for failing to prevent people from entering the building. Unidentified people familiar with the situation told The Associated Press that the police rejected several offers of help, while Steven Sund, the chief of the Capitol Police who has resigned effective Jan. 16, says House and Senate security officials rejected or slow-walked multiple requests by the agency to call in the National Guard to assist.One video clip circulated online shows several police officers allowing a crowd of protesters to breach a fence with minimal resistance; the video appears to be from a perimeter farther away from the Capitol.
“You can’t go inside,” one of the officers says. Another appears to be shaking his head in disbelief.
At 2:26 p.m., he said, he joined a conference call to the Pentagon and asked for additional backup. He was denied. Pentagon officials said the National Guard isn’t suited for an immediate deployment and couldn’t be engaged in law enforcement actions. The troops eventually reached the Capitol after 5:40 p.m., the report said.
The behavior of the police inside the Capitol varied widely.
Videos from the House chamber show doors barricaded with furniture and officers guarding doors with guns drawn. In the Senate chamber area, it appears somebody used a fire extinguisher to try to stop the intruders.
Lawmakers and staff were eventually evacuated through underground tunnels.
The interviewed protester said that upon entering, he and about a dozen others tried to go down a corridor from the Capitol Rotunda, but were almost immediately stopped by a group of police in riot gear. The officers first used pepper spray with no effect and then another irritant and tear gas, which quickly forced the trespassers back.
Eventually, a larger group of riot police came in from inside the building and cleared the area.
An actual storming of the Capitol by the United States’ own citizens, however, is unprecedented. A group of intruders had never before caused an interruption of the joint session of Congress that certifies the president.
Antifa-Style Tactics Used, Involvement Unconfirmed
Videos indicate that some of the protesters acted as provocateurs and agitators, whipping up ire and urging people to push through the police, according to Michael Yon, a war correspondent with extensive experience covering violent protests, who was on site.Yon described the actions of some individuals as “a mixture of agents provocateur and direct action attacks under cover of protest.”
He told The Epoch Times he identified at least three small groups of individuals engaged in behavior that aligns with that of Antifa cells.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) spoke of an advance warning that Antifa might infiltrate the protest.
An NTD cameraman captured the moment when a crowd of protesters spotted a man trying to break a window at the west side entrance with a club. The crowd started booing the man. Another man in a red Trump hat grabbed the man from behind and pulled him away from the window, to cheers from the crowd, which then started to chant, “[expletive] Antifa.”
Three men standing around the one who was banging on the window immediately came to his rescue. That aligns with Antifa operations, in which several individuals provide cover for the one engaged in illegal activity, Yon said.
One of the people inside the building was John Sullivan, an opponent of Trump and a self-professed supporter of violent revolution. He said on Twitter that he was only there to report the events and tried to “blend in,” although a video that he published online shows him egging on intruders and convincing police officers to let them through during several impasses.
He told The Epoch Times he was referring to plans for storming the Capitol he saw on “undergrounds chats and things like that.” He posted information about the plans on his social media, but didn’t inform the law enforcement. “I’m not a snitch,” he said in a phone call.
Photos of some intruders from inside the Capitol were circulated online with the claim that three of the men pictured are Antifa adherents, which appears to be incorrect.
Some protesters started to manhandle an AP photographer outside the building, mistaking him for an Antifa follower as he was dressed in all black with a gas mask on, which aligns with an Antifa tactic called “black bloc.” The crowd let him go after he produced his press pass.
Woman Shot
A tragic moment took place at about 2:24 p.m. One graphic video shows a group of protesters in a corridor being approached by several officers wearing tactical gear and armed with rifles. The officers are interacting with a man in a black suit with a pin on his lapel and a black mask covering a respirator on his face. Some of the protesters were standing in front of a door marked “Speaker’s Lobby,” which is located in the south wing behind the House chamber. Glass panels in the door and on both sides of it are broken or missing.A young woman wearing a Trump flag on her back is seen climbing into an empty frame on the right side of the door. A single gunshot is heard. The woman falls back out of the empty frame. With blood on her mouth, she seems to try to get up, but unsuccessfully. The officers and the protesters both realize what has happened and try to stop the bleeding and get the woman out. She was transported to a hospital in critical condition.
Several hours later, a police spokeswoman said the woman had died. She was identified as Ashli Babbitt, a U.S. Air Force veteran. The shooting is under investigation.
“Bro, I’ve seen people out there get hurt. I don’t want to see you get hurt. ... Please, let us make a path. Just let us make a path. I want you to go home,” he says.
The officers seem to talk to each other briefly and then walk away.
“Go. Go. Let’s go. Get this [expletive],” Sullivan shouts.
Three rioters proceed to break the door’s window panes with kicks, a flag pole, and a helmet.
“Yo! There’s a gun! There’s a gun! There’s a gun!” Sullivan shouts, while his video shows a man in a white shirt and dark suit and mask behind the door. The man is aiming a handgun in the direction of the empty frame for about nine seconds. As soon as Babbitt climbs in, he fires a single shot.
“We had stormed into the chambers inside and there was a young lady who rushed to the windows and a number of police and Secret Service were saying, ‘Get back, get down, get out of the way.’ She didn’t heed the call and as we kind of raised up to grab people, pull them back, they shot her in her neck, and she fell back on me and started saying she was ‘fine, it’s cool’ and then she started kind of like moving weird, and blood was coming out of her mouth and neck and nose, and I don’t know if she’s alive or dead anymore.”
That protester identified himself as Thomas Baraniy from New Jersey. He said he and others entered the building after climbing the scaffolding and were eventually ushered out of the building by riot police.
He said he wasn’t injured, but noted that it might have been him who was shot if the woman hadn’t been the first to try to climb in.
The police managed to clear the protesters and rioters out of the building by about 5 p.m., and the Senate session resumed shortly after 8 p.m. In the early hours on Jan. 7, Congress certified Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
