- Democratic indictments continued to state their case during Trump’s second indictment.
- Accusation managers shared previously unseen security footage of the uprising.
- After the videos, senators from across the aisle offered emotional reactions to the scene.
- Visit the Insider Business Department for more stories.
During the second day of former President Donald Trump’s second indictment, on January 6, Democratic indictments shared a crowd of previously unseen video footage from inside the Capitol.
Yesterday, the Senate voted that the indictment is constitutional, and on Wednesday, Democrats went on to state their case that Trump incited an uprising against the U.S. government.
The videos shown Wednesday included footage of body cameras of police officers assaulted inside and outside the Capitol, and footage from the security room inside the building. One video saw Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman running toward Senator Mitt Romney and distracting him in a hallway away from the threatening crowd.
The indictment manager, Jamie Raskin, today made the case that Trump ordered rioters to storm the Capitol. “He told them to fight like hell, and they brought us hell,” Raskin said. Other lawmakers offered emotional responses to the videos and between sessions or showed their emotions while serving as judges for the trial.
Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma
After watching a video of Capitol Hodges police breaking a door between rioters told reporters, “It’s painful to see … Who in God’s name thinks, ‘I’m going to show I’m right by hitting the Capitol’? Who would do that?” Sens.Dick Durbin and Kirsten Gillibrand apparently looked away when Hodges was crushed in the video.
Andrew Desiderio, a Politico reporter, said that Lankford was ‘incredibly shaken’ and appears to be in tears, with Senator Steve Daines of Montana comforting him and holding his arm. Lankford also allegedly looked down and shook his head after watching a video of Ashli Babbitt being shot outside the living room.
New York Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer
One of the videos, linked to a graphic representation of the locations of senators and rioters, showed Schumer getting close to the mob’s path before turning away with their help.
“I do not think many of us feel like eating,” Schumer told NBC News during the trial’s lunch break.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah
Sen. Mitt Romney was one of the senators who admitted on Wednesday that he was not aware of how close the mob was to him before seeing the security footage.
Asked about Officer Goodman, Romney said, “I look forward to thanking him when I see him next time,” adding that he was very happy. Romney also said the video presentation was “overwhelmingly disturbing and emotional.”
Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
Sen Graham calls the presentation and footage ‘hypocritical’. He expressed anger over the footage, saying the Capitol police had the right to use deadly force on rioters.
“I got angry. I mean, these police officers have every right to use lethal force. They should have used it,” he told reporters on Capitol Hill. “The people in charge of the Capitol have failed the country.”
Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska
Sen. Lisa Murkowski said accusation managers “made a strong case”.
“We lived it once and it was terrible. And now we live with a more comprehensive timeline. I’m angry. I’m upset. I’m sad,” Murkowski said. told reporters outside the Senate halls. “I do not see how Donald Trump can be re-elected to the presidency.”
Read more: Meet the little known power player with the ‘hardest job’ on Capitol Hill. She forms Trump’s indictment and Joe Biden’s agenda.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
Collins told reporters about the atmosphere on the Senate floor, saying, “It was extremely quiet – you could have heard a pin drop.”
Sen Elizabeth Elizabeth van Massachussetts
Emily Cochrane, a reporter for the New York Times, said Elizabeth Warren grabbed her armrest with her right hand, and later began fiddling with her fingers while watching videos early in the day.
Sen. Warren later told pool reporters: ‘It was so hard to see people who were scared to death, people who were hurt, by people who were threatened. And then to try to make eye contact with Republicans who just wanted to look down. “
Sen. Bill Cassidy of Iowa
During a video showing the attack on the living room, Sen Cassidy allegedly hung his head, according to Lisa Desjardins, a reporter for PBS NewsHour. Cassidy later shook his head while listening to the police sound, and according to Eliza Collins at the Wall Street Journal, Cassidy frequently put his hands in a prayer motion while watching later videos.
Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio
Sen. Rob Portman was also moved after looking at the footage, and told pole reporters he felt he was “reliving a horrible day, a horrible day.” ‘
Portman added that he went to join staff members after realizing that the danger to many of them was blocked in rooms.
“It’s, it’s not easy. I talked to some leadership staff, and they were, you know, in their offices, and people knocked on the doors. And it was a lot more frightening,” Portman said.