On this day five years ago, hundreds of rioters stormed the U-S Capitol in an attempt to prevent congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election. Law enforcement officials have called the day – “The largest single-day mass assault of law enforcement officers in our nation’s history.”
Prairie Public Reporter Todd McDonald has this look back at one of America’s darkest days…
Senator Kevin Cramer was in the chambers at the time of the uprising. He recounted the events the following day in a Zoom conference with North Dakota reporters. Cramer started the press event by apologizing to reporters for not returning calls or text messages during the attack…
“I tried to at least let people know that we were safe, but also very deliberate about not communicating much. And the reason for that is; because we were obviously in a secure location. While people in the Capitol knew where we were – or at least near the Capitol knew where we were – I didn’t want to be the person that accidentally slipped and let ‘em know, let people know where we were because location mattered.”
Cramer says things slowly started shifting from normal. First, Vice President Mike Pence was removed from the Chambers. And then things escalated…
“…One of the Sergeants of Arms took the microphone, and that is unusual. And he said, ‘Please stay in place. Senators stay in your seat. We are assessinga situation. There’s some activity, a breach in the building. Just stay where you are until further notice.’ So we did, and people began chatting, and talking. Again, not overly alarmed until Capitol Police came in and the Sgt. At Arms announced… ‘We’re going to vacate. We have to vacate. We have to do it quickly.”
Cramer says it was during the evacuation the reality of what was happening struck him…
“…At that point we were sort of saying, ‘must be a bomb threat or something like that.’ Because, you know, you can deal with that -- Something sort of abstract -- until an officer said, ‘Move quicker, people. They’re right behind us.” And at that moment, that is when it went; OK, this is real. They are right behind us makes it sound like they are in pursuit of us. That was the first real, clear indication the urgency wasn’t just paranoia, it wasn’t just good planning, it was serious.”
Again, that was Senator Kevin Cramer’s accounting of the January 6 insurrection during a press conference January 7,2021.
More than 140 peace officers were injured that day. When President Trump began his second term in office he would pardon more than 400 people that had been prosecuted for their involvement in the attack.