Pentagon, lambasted for heavy response in the past, on sideline during Capitol melee
Paul Sonne, Dan Lamothe, Missy Ryan and Alex Horton, The Washington Post
Jan. 6, 2021
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President Trump supporters scaled the walls at the Capitol during a massive protest on Jan. 6, 2021.Washington Post photo by Michael Robinson Chavez
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon scrambled to deploy more than a thousand National Guard forces to help protect the Capitol on Wednesday after they had remained on the sidelines during a limited early deployment while rioters stormed Congress.
The absence of authorized military personnel while chaos upended the certification of the presidential election was a stark contrast to the military s role in protests over racial violence in June, when National Guard helicopters flew perilously low over crowds of protesters, front-line forces massed near the city, and Pentagon leaders were criticized for appearing to support President Donald Trump s heavy-han
Published: 1/7/2021 11:59:42 AM
Annie Kuster was on the balcony of the House when the Capitol building was breached Wednesday. Everything afterward happened quickly.
The New Hampshire Democratic congresswoman watched as security services whisked away House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn down below. She looked on as Capitol Hill police began locking down the House chambers, door by door.
Then a police officer handed her a gas mask.
“We heard that the crowd of protesters was in the Rotunda,” she said in an interview with the
Monitor Wednesday evening, speaking of the atrium just outside the House and Senate chambers. “Which was not far from where we were.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Neguse had just finished speaking on the House floor in defense of President-elect Joe Biden’s win on Nov. 3 when the Democrat from Lafayette noticed something was wrong.
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"Tonight, Congress will continue the business of certifying the electoral college votes," Congressman Jim Clyburn, Democrat of South Carolina, tweeted.