When Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, AP had nine photographers on the scene. They shot hundreds of photos that were transmitted within minutes, giving the world front-row seats to the unfolding chaos.
January 5, 2022 GMTWASHINGTON — When supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, The Associated Press had nine photographers inside and outside the building.
Those sentiments echoed early in the morning as people started to arrive in Washington for what quickly became a massive rally. A man walked around with a blowhorn saying that after the rally near the Washington Monument, they should head over to the Capitol and stop electoral vote count that would give Joe Biden the presidency.
The sights and sounds really struck me, and at the moment I thought, “This is it! The civil war is starting now.”For about 45 minutes, I photographed protesters and authorities scuffling back-and-forth. One protester put his hands on my camera lens and threatened me for looking his way. Another man, wearing fingerless gloves, dared cops to a fistfight. A man wearing a “Make America Great Again” blue beanie cap was shot with a rubber bullet that pierced his left cheek.
“Compared to the photographers assigned to cover the rally at the White House and the march to the Capitol outside all day, I thought Jan. 6 was going to be a short, comfortable day for me. Congress started their joint session to certify the presidential election at about 1 p.m. Suddenly, the crowd pushed forward as the hopelessly outnumbered police line broke apart and people poured up the stairs toward the doors. From my vantage point, I couldn’t see what was happening below me, but I could hear cheering and glass breaking, followed by a huge explosion and smoke rising, which I could only guess came from a flash-bang grenade used in a vain attempt to disperse the crowd. People took up every space on the landing outside the doors.
The scene below us on the House floor was tense. A member of security yelled to everyone in the room to take out gas masks underneath our chairs and to put them on. They started telling members of Congress on the House floor to evacuate the building, and they were picking up any furniture or object that wasn’t attached to the ground — benches, signs and tables — and stacking them at the main center door to the chamber.
As the room emptied out, Scotty didn’t budge, sitting all alone with his camera pointed at the standoff at the center door, shooting photos of the people trying to break in.
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