Last year, hundreds of people stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. while Congress worked to certify the 2020 Electoral College vote count.
By Bill Strande, KARE — Jan 6, 2022
WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Elected leaders from Minnesota are observing the one year anniversary and condemning the actions of protesters at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.
Members of the Minnesota delegation who were in the Capitol that day said it is still difficult to process the notion that fellow Americans breached the seat of US government with the intention to block the peaceful transition of power.
“The sergeant-at-arms took the microphone and stopped the proceedings, told us all to take cover, that rioters were in Capitol, in the Rotunda, tear gas had been used, that they were coming our way, to take cover behind chairs, and to put on our smoke hoods,” Rep. Dean Phillips, the 3rd District Democrat, recalled.
“I found it remarkable how unifying the feeling was inside the safe room with the Democrats and Republicans who’d just experienced this together. There was no denying what had just happened. Unfortunately, we’ve seen an erosion and dissipation on the other side of the aisle to do what’s right.”
Sen. Tina Smith also lamented the loss of the urgency and unity people felt that day as they took cover, at the direction of Capitol Police officers.
“A member of the Capitol Police threw open the door right next to my desk on the Senate floor told us to move and to get out of there, and we ran through the hallways and downstairs,” Sen. Smith recalled.
“It was really terrifying, and it was hard to process in the midst of everything that was going on, a violent attack on the US Capitol by people who wanted to stop the certification of our election.”
Thursday morning, Governor Tim Walz called the attack “an assault on our democracy” in a tweet and echoed President Biden’s sentiments that the country needs to ensure a similar attack never happens again.
In a speech on the Senate Floor Thursday, Sen. Amy Klobuchar recalled that in the heat of the moment, as people were being told to flee the Senate Chamber, a staff member was alert enough to save the electoral college ballots.
“I remember the word of one staff member, Lee, who yelled out, ‘Take the boxes! Take the boxes!’ She was talking about the mahogany boxes that contained the electoral ballots because we knew they would be destroyed if they were left behind.”
Sen. Klobuchar shared a clip from an interview with Stephen Colbert on Twitter, where she described her experience on Jan. 6.
Rep. Angie Craig, the 2nd District Democrat, was walking back to the Rayburn Office Building for an appointment that day when she received an alert on her cell phone.
“I got an alert on my phone I should seek shelter as quickly as possible, turn off all my lights in my office, that I should make no noise and any staffer should remain until further directions,” Rep. Craig told KARE.
For the next few hours she sat quietly in her darkened office, watching nightmarish scenes play out in social media posts on her phone.
“So many of my colleagues across the aisle the spoke out that day, but since they’ve backed away from acknowledging what happened. A group of people literally breached the US Capitol — Americans — entered the Capitol, attacked Capitol Police, and looked for members of Congress to harm.”