‘They tried out to crack in



a group of people standing on top of a ramp


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Jamie Stiehm is a US political columnist who was in the Capitol making in Washington DC when it was stormed by pro-Trump rioters. This is what she observed from the press gallery in the Dwelling of Associates.

I experienced informed my sister before: “Something bad is likely to transpire these days. I really don’t know what, but a little something poor will transpire.”

Outside the house the Capitol, I encountered a group of incredibly boisterous supporters of President Donald Trump, all waving flags and pledging their allegiance to him. There was a feeling that hassle was brewing.

I went within to the Dwelling of Representatives and up into the press gallery, wherever we were being assigned seats, looking down at the instead sombre accumulating. Speaker Nancy Pelosi was keeping the gavel, and retaining people to their 5-moment statements.

As we went into the next hour, all of a unexpected we read breaking glass. The air started acquiring fogged. An announcement from the Capitol Law enforcement stated, “An person has breached the developing”. So everybody looked all over and then it was enterprise as common. But right after that, the bulletins saved coming. And they were being finding extra and a lot more urgent.

They declared that the burglars experienced breached the rotunda, which is beneath the famed marble dome. The sacred household of democracy was underneath fireplace.



a close up of a woman wearing glasses and smiling at the camera: Jamie Stiehm is a US political columnist


© BBC
Jamie Stiehm is a US political columnist

Quite a few of us are hardened journalists – I have found my share of violence covering homicides in Baltimore – but this was quite unpredictable. The police didn’t seem to know what was going on. They were not coordinated. They locked the chamber doorways but at the exact same time, they explained to us we would have to evacuate. So there was a perception of stress.

I was scared. I’ll notify you that. And I’ve spoken to other journalists who claimed they had been a tiny ashamed of by themselves for experience frightened.

There was a feeling of “nobody’s in charge here, the Capitol Police have dropped manage of the building, nearly anything can materialize”.

If you imagine back again to the September 11 assaults in 2001, there was just one aircraft that went down and failed to hit its goal. That focus on was the Capitol. There were echoes of that. I made a call to my loved ones, just to let them know that I was here and it was a unsafe problem.

There was a shot. We could see there was a standoff in our chamber. Five adult men were holding guns at the door. It was a terrifying sight. Adult males had been seeking by way of a broken glass window and looked like they could shoot at any second.

Fortunately there was no gunfire within the chamber. But for a while there, it felt like it would be a actual probability. Because matters were being going downhill extremely fast.

We experienced to crawl under railings to get out of the way. I was not dressed to do that. A great deal of women were dressed up, putting on heals, for the reason that they experienced arrive for a formal ritual.



a group of people sitting at a table


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I sheltered in the Household cafeteria alongside some others. I’m continue to shaking now.

I have seen a great deal as a journalist, but this was something much more. This was the collective public sphere being undermined, assaulted, degraded. And I believe this was why the Speaker required to return and keep the gavel once again and go on.

Afterwards I experienced to make your mind up no matter whether I was going to go back to the chamber as well. I resolved l in all probability would, since the message that is sending is: “You can incite a mob, but we are heading to go on”. I imagine that is a quite crucial political concept.

  • As instructed to Jessica Lussenhop. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.