"Ma'am, we've got to go." Pelosi Staffer Keith Stern on the Breach of the Capitol

[Dennis Donovan]

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/01/18/as-told-to-the-pelosi-staffer-keith-stern-on-the-breach-of-the-capitol

When one of the sergeant-at-arms staffers on the floor of the House of Representatives said that people were starting to move toward the Capitol, we didn’t think much of it. We’ve had plenty of protests. But then you started seeing more worry. You could feel the energy. It wasn’t the tone, it was the face. Next they said, “They’ve breached a wall, but everything’s fine.” Then there was another breach over here, a breach over there. It just kept cascading. That was when we started hearing, “Do we have to bring the Speaker down from the rostrum?”

-snip-

As the notices came in, I found my old boss, Congressman Jim McGovern, from Massachusetts. I said, “Hey, we might need you up in the chair, just hold tight.” He’s the chairman of the Rules Committee. He knows that sometimes the Speaker just needs a break.

All of a sudden, it hit. They say, “We need to bring the Speaker down.” I asked to not do this so fast that it’s chaotic. Let’s make it look normal. She was not expecting to come down. I said, “Ma’am, we’ve got to go.” We put Mr. McGovern up, she went out the doors, and she was out of my sight. The Majority Leader, the Majority Whip, and the Minority Whip, they were pulled out, too. That was when it really hit people.

-snip-

Capitol police said, “They’re coming. They’re inside the building.” They told us to pull out escape hoods—the gas masks. They started pointing: “Lock that door, lock that door!” We helped the police move a couple of old, credenza-type bookshelves into place in front of the doors. We become a hermetically sealed room. You’re not supposed to be able to get in. Well, at some point you start hearing: Bang! A couple of members were there. They were going to protect our colleagues, protect our friends, and protect the chamber.

Capitol police decided we’re evacuating. They opened one of the doors into the Speaker’s lobby and started pushing people out. But up in the gallery there’s no easy way out. It’s literally like an obstacle course. I’m pointing and yelling, “Go, go, go! That way! Get through!” The banging on the front door is intensifying. It sounded violent. All of a sudden you hear a crack. It sounded like a gunshot. The police had their guns out. And I just sprinted out of the chamber.

-/snip-

[Indykatie]

1. This is a Riveting Must Read Piece - Thanks for Posting it. EOM.

[Bradshaw3]

2. What these poor people went through is just tragic

I've heard and read so many stories from them about how terrified they were, with some saying goodbye to family members. Of course my sympathy doesn't apply to the asshole repubs who were trying to overturn the election.