A reporter's memories from inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6: Building tension, then chaos

WASHINGTON — "Hold the line!" shouted Paul Irving, the top U.S. House security official, into his cellphone while striding down a U.S. Capitol corridor, with me by chance trailing him.

"And make sure we secure the building!" he said.

My job as a news reporter covering Congress had taken me inside the Capitol for more than 20 years, and at the time I was working for Bloomberg News. This day, Jan. 6, 2021, was always anticipated to become one of the most chaotic and historic. Republicans in both the House and the Senate planned to object to the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory over sitting President Donald Trump.

Law enforcement and government intelligence officials had for days been alerting that there would be demonstrations around the Capitol, accompanied by guidance for lawmakers to keep their movements to underground tunnels.

Arriving at the Capitol complex that Wednesday morning, I made my way through clusters — not yet huge mobs — of pro-Trump protesters already gathered in outside areas. Some toted Trump flags, others American flags.

Inside the building, I made my usual rounds. Over the next couple of hours, the crowds outside kept growing but seemed to be mostly a curiosity for the lawmakers and others I initially spoke to. But it was a slow sizzle.

By early afternoon, the hallway foot traffic had decreased. Capitol police officers were beginning to gather at a main door to the Capitol Rotunda, the central domed structure that connects the House and Senate.

Perimeter broken

Things were turning grave and escalating quickly.

Officers ordered me to get out of the Rotunda area. Then, in a nearby hallway, I spotted Irving — the top House security official as the House sergeant at arms — who would resign the next day because of the Capitol breach.

It seemed like a good idea to follow Irving as his ear remained pressed into his phone.

A police radio transmission warned "lots of people" had broken past a perimeter that had been set up outside the Capitol. That’s when Irving exclaimed, "Hold the line!" into the phone. That, of course, didn’t happen.

Looking out a window, protesters could be seen from inside the Capitol climbing the stairs of the Rotunda to the Rotunda’s main doorway area. Police inside, now clad in riot gear, were being reinforced, as more officers ran to the Rotunda.

I did not know that security officials had by then ordered reporters and photographers to remain in their areas, known as press galleries, with a similar lockdown in place for other offices. I was still in a hallway when two officers grabbed me, recognized me and asked me what I was doing still walking around.

They escorted me to the House chamber, shortly after 2 p.m. I protested. They didn’t care.

I found myself sheltered in the chamber's mezzanine with about a dozen other reporters. There were some lawmakers to our left and more on the House floor. Our instructions were to stay in place, but be ready to evacuate. All doors were locked.

Within minutes, word came that Vice President Mike Pence was leaving the Senate chamber, where lawmakers also had been debating.

"Everyone, sit down, stay calm," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s floor director, Keith Stern, announced in the House chamber. House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern told colleagues to stay put for more instructions.

"We now have individuals who are in the Capitol Rotunda area!" suddenly updated another official.

Then another troubling development: Word that some sort of gas had been released into the Capitol Rotunda and that lawmakers and reporters needed to grab oxygen hoods stored underneath their seats.

A loud pounding began on the main chamber door, best known as the doorway through which presidents enter before big speeches to Congress. Window panes on the door were smashed. Plainclothes officers dragged a piece of furniture to barricade that entrance.

Officers also drew their firearms, causing some of the protesters outside to realize they were looking down the barrel of guns. One of these officers later told me it was the first time he’d drawn his weapon inside the Capitol.

From the upstairs chamber mezzanine, I saw lawmakers sitting to my left crouching behind the seats during all of this, holding hands, some praying, some believing the demonstrators were coming for them.

Looking down onto the House floor, I saw other lawmakers, including Democrat Ruben Gallego, of Arizona, a Marine veteran and now a U.S. senator, help direct colleagues and others on using gas masks and securing the door. I also saw other lawmakers, including Republicans, appearing to chastise the rioters through the broken glass.

"Call your friend! Call Trump!" Rep. Steve Cohen, a Tennessee Democrat, shouted to Republicans in the room, at one point.

'Shots fired'

Then a louder sound went off from a first-floor area, just behind and off the chamber floor known as the Speaker’s Gallery, causing confusion and some panic. From police radios, "shots fired, shots fired" could be heard.

We learned later that it was Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd killing rioter Ashli Babbitt as she sought to climb through the broken window of a door to gain access to the lobby directly outside the chamber.

Security officials quickly evacuated lawmakers and others off the House floor, through another exit and to an underground tunnel leading to a secure office building. Then, around 2:40 p.m., lawmakers on the mezzanine also were ushered out a side door and down a staircase to that tunnel, with reporters behind them.

Individuals spread-eagle on the floor could be seen outside on the House chamber, under the control of officers in riot gear and apparent semiautomatic weapons. Less than a half hour had passed since I had first been escorted to the chamber.

For about five hours afterward, until after 8 p.m., reporters were kept from returning to the chamber. But the congressional leadership was determined that the certification of Biden's election not be postponed by the attack.

It finally ended around 3:40 a.m. the next day when Pence announced the certification of Biden's election. And I went home.