Even Trump’s Senate Wingmen Are Shocked by Capitol Riot Videos

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GettyThe footage was silent. It didn’t need sound.The pictures were clear enough. The glass from a window on the first floor of the Senate is shattered. A police officer briefly responds, before quickly retreating, realizing how outnumbered he is. The mob pours into the U.S. Capitol.A Capitol Police officer named Eugene Goodman sprints to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), who was unwittingly walking toward a mob, and tells him to turn around. He stops cold and turns back inside.Terrified members of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s staff hurry into a conference room just minutes before the hallways are filled with insurrectionists in tactical gear, several of whom stopped to try to break down the door to where they were hiding under the table, with furniture barricading the door.This internal security footage detailing the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 had never been seen publicly before, until it was played on the floor of the Senate during the second day of former President Trump’s impeachment trial. The images showed in new detail how the American seat of government was violently subdued that day—and showed the chilling truth of how much worse it all could have been.The footage confirmed that if not for heroic acts by law enforcement, the confusion of the crowd, and in some cases sheer luck, the Vice President of the United States, the Speaker of the House, dozens of members of Congress and their staffs would have been at the mercy of a mob with members explicitly trying to kill them.For the first time, former Vice President Mike Pence and his family were shown on video hustling away from the Senate, steps away from a mob that chanted for his hanging. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the Democratic leader, was shown running through the basement of the Capitol with his security detail, only to quickly retreat, steps away from the mob.Over the course of an hour and a half on Wednesday, the Senate chamber fell utterly silent as the Democratic impeachment managers recreated that harrowing d