Dramatic new footage reveals Mike Pence being rushed to safety with his wife, daughter and the nuclear football when MAGA mob stormed the Senate chamber - as Dems say Trump's followers wanted to lynch the VP
Dramatic footage from the Capitol on January 6th showed Secret Service agents rushing Vice President Mike Pence out of his hiding place near the Senate chamber while Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to be taken from the complex entirely as the MAGA rioters threatened to kill them.
In the footage, taken from a security camera from inside the Capitol, a group of agents, one of whom carried the football with the nuclear codes, led the Pence family from where they had been taken after being removed from the Senate chamber.
Pence, his wife Karen and daughter Charlotte followed the agents down the stairs and were moved to another location in the Capitol.
'You can see Vice President Pence and his family quickly moved downstairs. Then, as Pence was being evacuated, rioters started to spread throughout the Capitol,’ Democratic Rep. Stacey Plaskett said during the impeachment managers presentation.
Plaskett played several never-before-seen security camera footage from the January 6th riot as part of Democrats' case for the impeachment of Donald Trump. She then showed the pro-Trump supporters yelling 'Kill Mike Pence.'
At a later moment in the trial, Rep. Joaquin Castro, noted how 'some of these insurgents were heard saying that they hope to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him as a traitors.'
A makeshift gallows had been erected outside the Capitol Building. Castro asked senators to look at that image for a moment.
'It harkens back to our nation's worst history of lynching,' the Texas Democrat said.
New footage also included the moment the MAGA mob busted into the Capitol Building, with Plaskett pointing out the first man who entered the Capitol was wearing 'full tactical body armor and carrying a baseball bat.'
'Others are carrying riot shields. Among this group are members of the Proud Boys,' she noted.
New footage shows Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman running and getting Sen. Mitt Romney out of harm's way before distracting the MAGA mob away from the Senate chamber.
The footage, not yet seen publicly, shows Goodman running toward the Senate and its famous Ohio Clock. He then gestures to Romney, who does an immediate 180-degree turn, having been walking toward the House where another larger mob had already gathered.
'I did not know that was Officer Goodman but I look forward to thanking him when I next see him,' Romney said after the clip played. 'I was very fortunate indeed that Officer Goodman was there they get me in the right direction.'
Overall, Romney said of the playback: 'It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. That was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional.'
The footage showed rioters searching for Pelosi in and around her office, with Plaskett revealing that Pelosi had been pulled entirely from the building for her own safety.
'The vice president, the speaker of the House, the first and second in line to the presidency, were performing their constitutional duties, presiding over the election certification and they were put in danger because President Trump put his own desires, his own need for power over his duty to the Constitution and our democratic process,' Plaskett said.
Plaskett also highlighted that Richard Barnett, the rioter who was photographed seated at Pelosi's desk, had been carrying a 950,000 volt stun gun, a weapon the FBI had since identified.
Dramatic new footage showed Vice President Mike Pence, his wife and his daughter being removed to safety as MAGA mob crowds spread throughout the building
Impeachment manager, Rep. Joaquin Castro, spoke of the gallows that had been erected outside the Capitol Building, nothing that 'Some of these insurgents were heard saying that they hope to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him as a traitors'
House Democrats showed new footage of the MAGA mob breaking into the Capitol during Wednesday's Senate impeachment trial
Democratic House impeachment managers showed the break-in from two angles
New footage shows a close call now Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (right) had, almost running into the MAGA mob
Rep. Eric Swalwell played some footage from the officers' perspective including a clip from a bodycam as the MAGA mob tries to break in
Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, one of the House impeachment managers, showed the senators just how close they came to being attacked by the pro-Trump mob that day.
The senators, who are sitting as jurors in Trump's impeachment trial, saw, for the first time, security camera footage that showed their escape from the Senate chamber, as U.S. Capitol Police officers created a line of defense to hold the mob back long enough for the lawmakers to be ushered to safety.
'You were just 58 steps away from where the mob,' Swalwell told the senators.
The footage showed a hallway with senators running past the camera. In the background, police officers can be seen, holding the crowd away.
The senators sat in silence as the video presentation played, their eyes glued to the TV screens.
'You know how close you came to the mob. Some of you, I understand, could hear them. But most of the public does not know how close these rioters came to you. As you were moving through that hallway, I paced it off. You were just 58 steps away from where the mob was amassing and where police were rushing to stop them. They were yelling. In this security video, you can see how the police created a line and blocked the hallway with their bodies to prevent rioters from reaching you and your staff,' he said.
He then played it for them again.
'Because this is security footage that you've not seen before, I want to play it again. At the top of the screen, the other end of that hallway, where the mob has amassed, and the officers are rushing to protect you,' Swalwell told the senators.
He then showed never-before-seen footage of Senate Democratic Leader having a near miss with the rioters.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's security detail escorted the senator up a ramp and down one of the hallways. The fixed security camera shows Schumer and his detail walking toward the camera and out of view. A few seconds later, the senator and his team are seen running back from where they came.
'They came within just yards of the rioters, and had to turn around,' Swalwell said. 'You see Leader Schumer walking up a ramp. Going up the ramp with his detail, he will soon go out of view. Seconds later, they return, and run back down the hallway. Officers immediately shut the door and use their bodies to keep them safe.'
Schumer called the clips 'gut wrenching' during Wednesday's dinner break. '
'I don't think many of us feel like eating dinner,' the New York Democrat noted.
'As for me, my situation, I just want to give tremendous credit to the Capitol Police officers who were in my detail, like the rest of the Capitol Police officers they are utterly amazing and great and we love them,' the Senate majority leader added.
He then showed the senators the footage of rioters on the Senate floor.
'We're here,' one yells. 'Where the f**k are they?,' another yells of the lawmakers.
'They invaded and desecrated the Senate floor,' Swalwell said. 'These vandals shouted, and rifled through the desks in this room. They took pictures of documents and of themselves. Celebrating that they had taken over the floor and stopped the counting of electoral college votes.'
Swalwell noted that while it wasn't part of his video presentation, he credited Senate staff with grabbing and protecting the Electoral College votes the mob was after.
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