Pro-Trump Extremists Storm US Capitol, Delay Election Certification
The NPR Politics Podcast
NPR
4.5 • 24.9K Ratings
🗓️ 7 January 2021
⏱️ 16 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Before the insurrection disrupted their work, more than fifty Republican lawmakers were also attempting to block the transition of power — by objecting to the certification of Electoral College votes. It is unclear if they will persist in those objections once Congress resumes its work later Wednesday.
This episode: political correspondent Scott Detrow, White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez, and congressional correspondent Susan Davis.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the NPR politics podcast. I'm Scott Detro, I cover the Biden transition. |
| 0:03.9 | I'm Franco Rodonia as I cover the White House. And I'm Susan Davis, I cover Congress. |
| 0:11.5 | It's 6.21 pm on Wednesday, January 6th, and there's a curfew in effect here in Washington, |
| 0:18.0 | DC. And that's because of this. As Congress was counting the electoral colleges votes today, |
| 0:23.1 | pro Trump extremists stormed the building. They smashed windows, they forced their way into the |
| 0:33.8 | hallways, into lawmakers offices, onto the Senate and House floor. There was gunfire inside. |
| 0:39.0 | At this point, we do not know the extent of violence. There is a lot to talk about, but Sue, |
| 0:44.7 | as the day unfolded, one thing I was thinking about was the first time I was in the Capitol, |
| 0:49.7 | you were giving me a tour and you pointed to the stairwell where there are burn marks from |
| 0:54.0 | British soldiers during the War of 1812. And it is not an exaggeration that what happened today |
| 1:00.2 | is comparable to that. No, and I believe a Capitol historian told CNN today that that was the |
| 1:05.6 | last time the Capitol was breached the War of 1812. I mean, it was just breathtaking to me to watch |
| 1:11.5 | what happened today, not just the scaling up of the Capitol, but seeing these extremists |
| 1:17.1 | on the floor of the Senate, sitting where the president, pro Tem, or the presiding officer sits |
| 1:22.4 | in the galleries, causing destruction, sitting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. I mean, |
| 1:28.1 | one, just the stunning security breach and the failure there to secure the building. |
| 1:33.2 | But the disruption to this sort of sacred constitutional process of asserting and affirming |
| 1:39.8 | the election results. I mean, personally, I can say it was just heartbreaking. It was really |
| 1:43.6 | heartbreaking to watch all of this unfold today and seeing those gas masks that are kept in boxes |
| 1:50.1 | in the Senate and House chamber that have been there since after 9-11, seeing them used was another |
| 1:54.6 | moment that just really knocked me off my feet. Franco, let's remind everyone that before this |
| 2:01.2 | all began, President Trump gave a speech to a group of protesters gathered on the national mall |
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