First Person Accounts of Breach of Capitol on 6 January, 2021

 

Image at the Capitol, west side, scaffolding, before protestors entered Capitol, about, 1:05 p.m.

Outside of the Capitol on the afternoon of 6 January, 2021, after the news had come the Capitol had been entered by protestors, this correspondent was able to interview four people, in two separate pairs, who claimed to have been through the Capitol. There were multiple other people present.

This correspondent did not see them entering or leaving the capitol. Here are links to the recordings, and transcripts of the accounts. They are in two segments.  

It gives a better understanding of the mindset of people who went into the Capitol on 6 January. 

 

This pair had been approached by another correspondent who asked them if she could get a statement.  This was close to the Capitol, on the Southwest. Here is the transcript:

Other reporter:

We are outside the Capitol.

Sorry I am having trouble with my phone now.

Weingarten: 

An audio recorder.

Initial Protestor: 

This was not an organized official plan to take over. Our original plan was to simply protest in front of the building, but when police decided to tear gas and shoot rubber bullets at individuals who were simply protesting, we decided it was time for us to act.

We stormed the building, we got inside, and we simply shouted: 

This is our house.  

We're here to simply show that if individuals think they can take our rights, we can take them back.  We are American citizens and we will fight for what is right. 

We stand here, not because of party, but because of our morals. We stand here because we share similar morals and we won't  let those morals be taken away. 

I don't use this to attack people on purpose, I use it for self defense. And I was here at this monumental moment, to prove to our government, presently, that they cannot control the citizens. The citizens control them.

Weingarten: 

Did you see any destruction inside, at all. 

Other protestor: 

The front door, I would say,  Like, to get in, they broke the glass and everything, and inside a couple of cubes, where you can sit, they were like flipping stuff. But most of the statues and everything, nothing was touched. 

Weingarten:

Now, you went in from this side, the West side.

Protestors;

Yeah, we went in from the back side.

Weingarten: 

Yes. This is the West side.  The other side is the East side. There are other groups that went in from two entrances on the East side. I did not see them go in, but they said they had gotten in.

Initial Protestor: 

There was a group of maybe 40, Maybe, a small group who went in, we went through the entire building, and then we came out the East side, then we let everyone else in. 

And from there, and from there, I'm not sure, but then there, there is like, a ton of people in there, but, you know, I heard a woman had gotten shot, and its true, she had gotten taken out of the building, in an ambulance, bleeding the entire time. I'm not sure of the case of why. But, it should of have never happened.

 Weingarten: 

Was she inside the building or outside?

Woman: 

 Inside

Initial Protestor: 

Inside. 

Weingarten:  

When she was shot? 

Initial Protestor: 

 Because she was in part of that group. 

Woman: 

Did you see any senators or any representatives?

Initial Protestor:

No. They all hid. There was nobody in that group there.

Weingarten:

 I think they have underground evacuation.

Initial Protestor:

That too.

Woman: 

There was report they were sitting in the basement.

 Initial Protestor:

While we were in the building there was an announcement  that there was a shutdown at six o'clock, due to this event. And, as a result, I believe a lot of the individuals who were in that building had evacuated.  I believe, to my knowledge.

Other protestor:

We broke into the senate too, and we sat down, and we did our, our chants. Everybody was formally... we all sat.  And eventually I heard people were sitting in the Speaker's chair. When we went, we didn't do that. 

People .. laughter.

Woman protestor:

That's awesome...right... good job, good job!

 Initial Protestor:

People from outside...people... it was a wonderful opportunity for us to see it and to do it, specifically, peacefully.

Weingarten:

I have a report that Nancy Pelosi's portrait, picture, whatever, was taken down and smashed.

Woman protestor: 

Oh that's good! I have seen a unintelligible ...

Initial Protestor:

If, if an individual did that it would be a separate group who did that. 

Weingarten: 

Oh, okay, I just heard that from people on the east side. 

Initial Protestor:

I understand.

 Other protestor:

I never saw anything like that.

We do not condone destruction, violence in any form. They need to be tried in justice under our Constitution. 

Initial Protestor:

We love our system. We love our system. We don't like the people running it right now. 

Others: Yes! Laughter

Reporter: 

So how did you guys leave? 

 Initial Protestor:

We simply went through the exit.

When we let everyone in, we left. Because, at that point,  I felt like I did my job, and I was done. I didn't need to stay there.

 

On the east side, this correspondent approached two men who said they had just been in the Capitol. 

They were asked if they would give an account of what happened. They were in the right place at the right time, but this correspondent did not see them enter or leave the Capitol.

Weingarten: 

        That's good. 

This gentleman just went through the building from the other, the  West side, through to the East side. We are on the East side now, we can see the Supreme Court right behind, and in front of us is the Capitol. 

So, we are on the east side.

What did you see as you went through the building?

First protestor:

We held off for a while, and eventually something happened we started rushing them and then before you really knew it, unintelligible, we went through the whole building, every room. 

Weingarten: 

Did you see any doors destroyed, anything like that? 

First protestor:

Not too much destruction, other than they took Nancy Pelosi's picture off the wall and smashed it and ripped it into shreds.

Weingarten: 

Wow. 

Second protestor:

Yea, we went in there and unintelligible.

We stopped them from... 

First protestor:

There were a lot of people stopping people from doing destructive acts.

Second protestor: 

When they first got pushed back, we all brought them aside so they didn't get hurt. 

First protestor:

A couple of people also were protecting the police. No one wants the police hurt. As far as we are concerned, they're American citizens, just like we are.

Weingarten: Yea, exactly

 First protestor:

There job is to protect this building.  And, uh, sorry, 

Second protestor:

We really stopped a lot of people from breaking things. 

Weingarten:

That's good, but I think my recorder is going bad. 

First protestor:

Well you will remember our words. 

Second protestor: 

You will remember our words.

Weingarten: 

Uh, yeah, I mean,  I can hope so, but my memory is not good, guys.

I got a spare.

Second protestor: 

There are people in the windows,  there are people in the windows, as you can see, they are in the building, they are in the building.

Weingarten: 

Maybe I should go up there to see what is going on. It would be interesting.

Come on. I put in fresh batteries.

Third protestor:

If I was you, you might try to go up there, but I wouldn't try to go back in the building.  I think, I think you won't be able to get back in. They have held their ground now. 

First protestor:

I think we proved our point. Proved our point.

Weingarten: 

What do you mean, held their ground? What did they do?

Third protestor: 

The cops, I don't think I they are letting anyone in anymore.  

Weingarten: 

Anyone getting arrested?

First protestor:

They let us freely walk out. But I don't think they were letting anyone back in.

Third protestor:

Twenty-four, twenty-five guys got arrested.

Weingarten: 

Did they? 

Third protestor:

Yeah.

First protestor: 

Will, look at the people. That cop that was up on the pedestal, and he was watching us, and he was targeting people, and they rushed in and got the people.

That guy that was throwing things at the cops?  I stopped him. He is probably lucky because I stopped him. They were taking the people like that. 

Weingarten:

Right, right. 

First protestor:

I mean, we're here to protest.

And you know what? Did you notice that?  The guy that was throwing that sh!t?

 Second protestor:

 In black cloth?

 First protestor:

100%. He had a black bicycle helmet, with a black vest, black shirt, pants. That guy was f*cking Antifa.

Second protestor:

More than likely.  He was trying to make it look. He was probably doing that for the cameras.

First protestor:

No, what he is doing, is the same thing they always do. They throw rocks, and they try to cause damage, then it looks like the Trump people did it.

Weingarten: 

You tried to stop them. 

You stopped some people from throwing stuff, they tore down the picture of Nancy Pelosi and they shredded it up. But they didn't do much other damage, the police let them go out, they arrested a few people that they selected as targets,who were being violent or whatever,  causing destruction.

First protestor: 

Trying to hit the policeman. 

Third protestor:

They were teargassing the first few on line. So we just kept pushing.

First protestor: 

Another key point is, there were a lot of Trump protestors in the building that were protecting the police and the property.

Weingarten: 

Right.

First protestor: 

We didn't want to cause damage. We just wanted to make our voice heard. 

Fourth protestor: 

My brother heard  a report on the news, that there were actually Antifa members, got in there, and there were guns drawn. 

First protestor: 

We saw, one of the guys who were out there throwing sh!t, he was breaking up iron grates, breaking up metal grates, you know that they have along the plants, those metal grates, you know they are like this thick.  He was breaking them up, and throwing them directly at the cops, all at the back side of the building. 

I got right in his face. I'll do it to you. 

I go right in his face, and I told him. We don't want to see you throwing sh!t. No one wants to see you throwing sh!t. We're not throwing sh!t. 

Fourth protestor: 

My brother said that actually it might have been Antifa members dressed up in MAGA hats to make our side look bad. 

Second protestor: 

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it could be. he had a hat on. It was a red hat. 

Protestor:

Yeah, Yeah they could do that, yeah, breaking stuff and doing property.

Fourth protestor:

I mean, we're not destructive.

First protestor: 

Not just us. Not just us! There was a lot of people in there stopping everyone from doing things ...

Fourth protestor: They said guns were drawn. Guns were drawn.

Second protestor: 

Yeah, they were banging on the desks. 

Like: What are you doing? Banging on the desk? 

Unknown: probably trying to bust the desks up, you know. 

Fourth protestor: 

My brother, a news report said guns were drawn in there. 

Second protestor: 

That never happened, idiot. I haven't dealt with it.

Fourth protestor:

That was a news report. 

Unknown: Yeah, well the news...chuckle

First protestor: 

Yeah Fake news. CNN told you that? 

Fourth protestor:   AB...

Unknown:  Yeah! laugh

They're wrong again! ABC...

Weingarten: 

Thank you very much

Fourth protestor:

That's what my brother told me from Akron, Ohio. 

Unknown: 

Akron. Hold that up. Oh my God. 

 

Capitol Police retake control of Capitol, 3:05 p.m.  6 January, 2021, east side
 

Many are making comparisons of the way protestors were treated in Madison, Wisconsin, when they took over the State Capitol in 2011.  A left-wing publication, the Isthmus.com, published this:

 The impulse to enter came from the immense symbolism of the Capitol itself. There was an intense compulsion, sometimes even below the level of rational reflection, to be inside self-government. Taking possession of that house of the people, even if only temporarily and symbolically, was a way of trying to make the ideal of self-government real.

The major difference is that Madison, Wisconsin, is a far left city filled with students and government bureaucrats.

Those occupying the Wisconsin Capitol were on the far left.

Washington, D.C. is a far left town filled with bureaucrats.

Those who breached the Capitol were conservatives, libertarians, and others. There may have been some Antifa. It is not as if they wore uniforms and the police checked the identification of those who entered. 

It was a chaotic situation at the Capitol during half an hour where protestors roamed about inside the Capitol and an unarmed woman protestor was shot and killed by a reportedly plain clothes Capitol policeman. He was in a suit.

Link to video 

 

Dean Weingarten