Where was Mike Pence hiding during Capitol riots? Dramatic footage shows pro-Trumpers yelling 'kill Mike Pence'
House impeachment managers on Wednesday, February 10, used graphic video and audio clips, some of which they said had not been released publicly before, to recreate the moments when a pro-Trump mob stormed into the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In the released videos, Secret Service agents can be seen rushing former vice president Mike Pence out of his hiding place near the Senate chamber while Speaker Nancy Pelosi had to be taken out from the Capitol as MAGA rioters threatened to kill them.
Stacey Plaskett, a Democrat delegate representing the U.S. Virgin Islands, presented the frightening footage and sound as she illustrated the danger former Pence and members of Congress faced as they confirmed President Joe Biden’s electoral win. It came when the House impeachment managers presented their case that former president Donald Trump incited an insurrection against the government, in front of the lawmakers who both lived through the attack and will decide whether to convict the former president for causing it. “President Trump put a target on their backs, and his mob went into the Capitol to hunt them down,” Plaskett said in closing her presentation.
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The video footage revealed the initial moments when the Trumpers start to break through barricades and approach the Capitol, while a few scattered cops threw punches but failed to hold them back. In the previously released radio logs, the police can be heard calling for reinforcements amid “multiple law enforcement injuries". One officer reported that the rioters were “throwing metal poles at us". Another says, “They’re starting to throw explosives” or “fireworks material". “This is now effectively a riot,” an officer said at 1.49 pm ET on January 6.
In a security footage obtained from inside the building, rioters can be seen streaming through a door and windows as a lone officer responds. After the Senate calls a recess at 2.13 pm ET, Pence and senators can be seen leaving the chamber. Security footage shows former Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman, who later directed rioters away from the Senate chamber, passing GOP Senator Mitt Romney of Utah in a hallway and urging him to rush in the opposite direction of the mob.
More security footage shows Pence, his wife Karen and daughter Charlotte following the agents down the stairs and being moved to another location in the Capitol. In other videos rioters can be seen seeking Pelosi, D-Calif, asking, “Where are you, Nancy? We’re looking for you.” A Pelosi staff member while hiding, whispers into a phone: “They’re pounding on the doors and trying to find her.” She then showed the pro-Trump supporters yelling "Kill Mike Pence".
At a later moment in the trial, Rep Joaquin Castro noted how "some of these insurgents were heard saying that they hope to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him by hanging him as a traitors". A subsequent presentation from Rep Eric Swalwell, D-Calif, recreated how close the mob came to getting hold of members of the House. Security footage showed lawmakers fleeing from the House chamber and walking through hallways in gas masks.