Ocasio-Cortez leads lawmakers recalling Capitol siege

WASHINGTON, DC: Lawmakers stood before the House late on Thursday (Feb 4) to tell their personal, often stunning accounts of the siege of the US Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, preserving for the record their own memories of the most violent domestic attack on Congress in the nation’s history.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led colleagues in the hourlong session days before the former president's impeachment trial, saying their stories need to be told at a time when some in Congress and the nation are trying to minimise the damage of Jan 6 and “move on".

“Sadly, this is all too often what we hear from survivors of trauma,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who was criticised by detractors this week after sharing her own harrowing story of hiding that day, fearing for her life.

She said, “Twenty-nine days ago, our nation’s Capitol was attacked. That is the big story. And in that big story lie thousands of individual accounts, just as valid and important as the other.”

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One by one, the Democratic lawmakers — no Republicans participated — in sharing their remembrances: Seeing the hundreds of rioters massing outside the Capitol and hearing the taunts, screams and glass breaking. 

And then “the feeling”, as Representative Dean Phillips put it, “of being trapped".

The lawmakers had been tallying the Electoral College vote certifying Joe Biden's election victory when President Donald Trump, who had refused to concede, encouraged a rally crowd of supporters at the White House to head to the Capitol and “fight like hell” for him.

Phillips said that, as he heard the screams, he realised a pencil was about all he had for defense. He thought about moving over to the Republican side of the House chamber “so we could blend in”. He and others believed the rioters would “spare us if they simply mistook us for Republicans".

Then, he said, he realised something — for his colleagues who are not white like he is, “blending in was not an option".

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Five people died, including a protester, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by police inside the Capitol, and US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was mortally injured confronting the mob. Three other people died of medical emergencies.

Representative Cori Bush called on colleagues to understand that white nationalists were involved in the riot and are a serious domestic threat; Representative Rashida Tlaib broke down in tears.

Representative Adriano Espaillat, said that, as representatives in Congress, the attack against the Capitol was an attack on their constituents.

“We are their voices here,” he said. “We must not sweep this under the rug.”