Fortunately, there were quick-thinking reporters and photographers inside the Capitol who showed the world what happened next.
The tweets and dispatches described incredible scenes – an armed confrontation, vandalism, terrorist threats – and the photographs and videos made it plausible.
Frank Thorp of NBC News shared one of the most startling videos of riot police circling the Senate chamber after being evacuated. He posted a twenty-two-second clip on Twitter and spoke to anchor Lester Holt on the phone.
“They just ruminate, looking around the desks,” Thorp said. “There’s a guy sitting there in the upper gallery. He asked, ‘Who are you with? Who are you with? “and it was time for me to go.”
Thorp’s music video visually confirmed that the Congress halls were occupied by rioters.
Alongside the House, AP photojournalists Getty and other news services witnessed a barricade situation.
Andrew Harnik’s set of photographs fell out of hand, as did the caption: “U.S. Capitol police with guns lying next to a barricaded door as protesters try to break into the U.S. Capitol room on Wednesday, January 6, 2021 in Washington. “
The scenes were not shown live on television because the chambers of the House and Senate chambers are controlled by the legislature, not by C-SPAN or any other media.
Thus, members of the media filled the void. Some posted staccato messages on social media to alert the public of the rapidly deteriorating situation inside the iconic building.
“Capitol police run to every door in the House gallery and block it,” HuffPost’s Matt Fuller wrote at 2:18 p.m.
At 2:36, he tweeted, “Now we have people knocking on doors now.”
2:39: “Members evacuate the House of Commons.”
2:43: “Cannons thrown into the chamber.”
Fuller posted the video of the confrontation. At 3:04, he said, “We’re in a new place that hasn’t given us instructions not to reveal. They’re cleaning up the Capitol.”
Back next to the Senate, Fuller HuffPost colleague Igor Bobic shared photos of protesters walking door to door looking for lawmakers.
“They’re in the room,” he tweeted at 2:47. “One is on the podium shouting,‘ Trump won this election! ” This is madness “.
Bobic took a photograph showing a photojournalist taking a quiet picture of the chaos in the gallery, documenting the moment of the story.
As police tried to regain control, some journalists crowded into safe rooms with lawmakers and employees.
“We’re still in a secret place inside the Capitol,” Jazmine Ulloa of the Boston Globe wrote at 5:07 p.m. “There’s still no word on when we’ll be allowed to leave, but we’ve been handed small trays for dinner (chicken, Brussels sprouts and polenta), so it doesn’t look like it’s going to be soon.”
Bobic thanked his friends and Twitter followers for checking his well-being. “I’m sure,” he tweeted, “and hidden.”
Later in the afternoon, CNN producer Kristin Wilson turned on her smartphone camera as she walked down the aisles with U.S. Capitol police officers.
The rioters at the gates of the Capitol could be heard singing to the police: “Join us, join us, join us.”
Wilson said he saw smoke grenades and smelled gunpowder in the hallways.
CNN’s Lauren Fox wrote that “it’s horrible to see your workplace, a place you love to cover.”
On one of the doors of the Capitol, the words “MURDER THE MEDIA” were written in gold paint.
Outside the building, Washington Post journalist Katie Mettler said she witnessed “an alarming scene with” when “a group of TV reporters were surrounded and kicked out of their cameras, which a crowd of supporters of President Trump destroyed. “
Some of the television production equipment appeared to be destroyed by the riots.
Fox News producer Jason Donner, who covers Capitol Hill, tweeted, “What’s happening at the Capitol today is disgusting and Republicans will have a lot to answer for. The press body I’m proud to work on will also hold them accountable because that is what to do in a democracy in the largest nation in the world. “
Fuller, of HuffPost, wrote that he was ready to “go back to the House” and continue to cover the electoral certification process.
“I’ll be back to my gallery stool right away,” he wrote. “I’ll open my little laptop. And we’ll be able to continue for as long as it takes.”