New videos released by the House impeachment managers in former President Donald Trump’s Senate trial showed previously unreported moments when senators came dangerous close to encountering rioters during the January 6 Capitol siege, The Washington Post reports.
Videos played during the trial showed that Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Mitt Romney, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, and others were rushed to safety after rioters breached the building.
Romney:
One video showed Capitol Hill Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who drew accolades for diverting a mob of rioters away from the Senate chamber, encounter Romney in the Senate hallway.
Goodman sprinted down the hall and directed Romney to safety, where he quickly ran with an aide as rioters closed in.
Pence:
Another video shows Pence being evacuated with his family from the Senate chamber as rioters came within 100 feet of his location.
Two minutes after Pence was evacuated, which Trump apparently learned about during a call to Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville asking him to block the certification of electoral votes, the president attacked Pence on Twitter.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” he tweeted. “USA demands the truth!”
Schumer:
Another video shows Schumer and his aides evacuate the Senate floor moments before security runs to lock the doors.
“You know how close you came to the mob. Some of you, I understand, could hear them,” Rep. Eric Swalwell told senators on Wednesday. “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.”
