But the biggest revelation from his testimony was his account of how some men in military gear with radios approached his colleague before things even kicked off: He spoke with a haunting elegance about nearly being crushed to death against a Capitol door. He spoke of being attacked by people waving Thin Blue Line police flags, a stunning showcase of what the Blue Lives Matter crowd is really about. Maybe the adrenaline rushing through him in the moment caused him to record such specific, visceral memories of the sights and smells to which he was subjected. Next was Officer Daniel Hodges, who offered an almost literary narrative of events. Pierce, you can join Esquire Select here. All because they cannot imagine a world where they are not completely beholden to a deranged narcissist-the same one who fueled this national disgrace-for their continuing power and influence.įor unlimited access to Esquire's political coverage, including an exclusive weekly newsletter from Charles P. All because they think it will pay political dividends somehow. These officers fought and nearly died to protect them and, after a few days and weeks of acknowledging what had just happened in reality, have now shifted towards downplaying, denying, or attempting to scramble up the full accounting of what happened that day. The abject cowardice and complicity of nearly the entire Republican caucus outside Liz Cheney and a few others is almost difficult to comprehend. Those were activated on his skin when he took a shower, and he barely slept that night. When he finally returned home at the end of the day, he pushed his wife away when she tried to hug him because his uniform was covered in toxic chemicals sprayed by his assailants. Sergeant Aquilino Gonell described the scene as a "medieval battle" in which they were besieged by people yelling, "Trump sent us." He recalled thinking that this is how he was going to die. One by one, four members of the Capitol Police who fought to defend the building, and the members of Congress in the process of certifying the election results inside, told their stories from that day. "It's time to start fucking using them."Īnd then the officers testified. "They've got the gallows set up outside the Capitol Building," someone said over Zello. "OK guys," said another later on, "apparently the tip of the spear has entered the Capitol Building." Towards the end of the video, there were some explicit threats of violence against public officials, and not just Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence. "Hey brother, we're boots on the ground here, we're moving on the Capitol now," one suspect said. And there were also clips from the rioters' radio channels on Zello that made a strong case that for some section of the crowd, there was nothing spontaneous about what happened. There were clips that showed the savagery of the hand-to-hand combat, but there were also audio clips of officers frantically signaling over their radios how perilous the situation had become. The footage that played on Tuesday to kick off the first hearing of the House commission tasked with investigating those events was no exception. Every new video from the Capitol attack on January 6 offers new horrors.
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