CHAPTER 5: Capitol Breach
2:00 PM: According to WUSA9, the CBS-affiliated television station in Washington: “It was around 2:00 p.m. when the gates on the east and west sides of the Capitol were breached. On the east side, there were about 10 U.S. Capitol Police officers that kept the chanting crowd at bay at the bottom of the steps. For four minutes, that’s where they stayed, until they were joined by more U.S. Capitol Police officers, some in full riot gear.”
“Two minutes later, the insurrectionists overtook the Capitol Police forcing them to turn around and retreat toward the doors of the Capitol. Seconds later, one insurgent stood at the top of the Capitol stairs waving a Trump flag. For them, it was a sign that they had seized control of the steps.”
There were some U.S. Capitol Police officers near those stairs, but they stood aside, as pro-Trump rioters snapped selfies and continued to cheer.”
2:00 PM: The Pentagon says that at around 2 PM, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser requested “more assistance.” It claims that Acting Secretary Christopher Miller immediately called up 1,100 members of the DC Guard.”
Not so immediately. There would be another two hours of deliberations before D.C. National Guard actually arrived, and many internal discussions about the mission of the Guard: first, that it would only support the D.C. Police, until Miller and others relented in providing direct support to the U.S. Capitol Police and then authorizing Guardsmen to be armed and use force if necessary.
2:02 PM: Igor Bobic of Huffington Post tweets: “Press gallery staff alerting reporters to the plan in the event that protesters get into the Capitol….”
2:03 PM: Perry Stein of The Washington Post tweets: “EMTs just rolled out a man in serious distress. Unclear if connected to protests or medical emergency. Other protesters cleaning eyes from what they said is tear gas from police.”
Slate’s Jim Newell tweets
