Consider This from NPR - Inside the Jan. 6 Capitol riot: Part 1 of 2

Episode Date: January 4, 2026

In this NPR investigation, we take a close look at the brutal violence that took place on Jan. 6, 2021, the investigation that followed, and the campaign Trump has waged to whitewash it.For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.Email us at [e-mail] episode was produced by Monika Evstatieva, with audio engineering by Robert Rodriguez.It was edited by Barrie Hardymon.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

A warning, this podcast includes explicit language, depictions of violence, and references suicide. It's around 2.30 p.m. on January 6th, 2021. Dozens of police officers are surrounded by a violent mob, thousands more behind them. They need to retreat, inside, now. They need to retreat. Some are bleeding from the fighting outside. A few collapse just trying to climb a flight of stairs. Go, go!

I got you. Capitol, lock these doors. Let's go. Everybody inside. They get inside behind a couple glass doors in a police line. Alarms are blaring. But they have a moment to breathe. Some cops are on the floor of a hallway. One holds up his bloody fingers.

I want to get it wrapped up. I need fucking help. Several have this dazed look, a thousand-yard stare. Others can barely keep their eyes open. This cop has been hit with pepper spray, or maybe bear spray, which is even worse. Other officers pour bottles of water over his eyes, trying to calm him down. Many of them will later say they are worried they're about to be killed. But they do not have time to rest.

The mob has assembled just outside those two glasses. doors and they're pounding them. One officer says, if they've reached those doors, it's all over. They've reached those doors. Let's go, all me! Always! Let's go, NPD! Nice things out. We are not losing the U.S. Capitol today. You hear me. You hear me. Body cams are rolling. Rioters keep hitting the doors. Film it. Film it. Film it. It's federal crime. What's happening will be evidence later. He's got a weapon in his hand. But now, glass shatters.

The mob has breached the doors. Hold the line! Hold the line! Do not it? Hold the line. Consider this. What really unfolded five years ago on January 6th, and how has the Trump administration tried to erase the evidence from that day and rewrite the history of what happened?

From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow. It's It's considered this from NPR. For five years, correspondent Tom Driesback on NPR's investigations team, tracked every single case, reviewed thousands of videos submitted in court. Talked to police officers, investigators, members of Congress, and even rioters. Here's their story. You might think you already know what happened on January 6th, 2021.

The riot of Trump supporters took place on live TV. Then there was Trump's impeachment, hearings in Congress. But if that was all you saw, you only caught the beginning of the story, a small snapshot that did not show just how extreme and vicious the violence was. In the end, prosecutors brought charges against more than 1,500 people. It took years for evidence to come out. And so right now, we actually know so much more about that day than ever before. And at exactly the same time, the Trump administration is actively trying to rewrite that history.

So this is January 6th. These are the hostages. Approximately 1,500 for a pardon. Yes. Full pardon. Trump pardoned nearly every single rioter, even the ones who beat cops. He said, They were the real victims.

I pardoned J6 people who were assaulted by our government. That's who assaulted. His administration purged the government of prosecutors who worked on January 6th. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department fired at least three federal prosecutors who worked on cases against January 6th riot. They even began to disappear public information about that day. NPR and other media organizations had to go to court to make sure video evidence was preserved, and we are still fighting for all of it. And on today's show, we will tell you

how the evidence we've gathered and preserved contradicts everything Trump now says about the riot. We'll tell you just how brutal it was. The violence was so severe it ended police officers' careers, left them with lifelong injuries. Two took their own lives in the days after, and their deaths were classified as in the line of duty. We'll explain why the police were so overwhelmed.

Why did they make so few arrests? And was the riot spontaneous? or was it a planned attack? Everything you'll hear today will come from evidence presented in court or interviews with people who were there, a rioter who ended up chugging wine inside a capital office, a congressman who unknowingly witnessed the beginning of a seditious conspiracy, and a cop on what was going through his mind,

as rioters said they backed the blue and knocked him unconscious. Then, in our next episode, we'll take you inside the FBI interrogation rooms as prosecutors tried to create a definitive history and a new administration sought to erase it. To understand how we got to January 6th, you have to remember how things felt the whole year before because it was a year overwhelmed by illness, isolation, anger, and violence, where the stakes of everyday decisions could be life or death.

The outbreak spreading across the U.S. First, there was COVID. More than 1,300 new cases in just the last 24 hours. This mysterious new illness was killing people all around the country. Millions lost their jobs or were locked down at home. Nearly 3.3 million filing unemployment claims in one week. That isolation sent a lot of people deeper into rabbit holes like QAnon. Then...

The shocking case of an unarmed African-American man who died after being... Police murdered George Floyd. leading to some of the largest protests in American history. Thousands of people have been marching to show solidarity with the demonstrations in the United States. Some cities saw riots and looting. Far-right extremist groups mobilized. And at one point, Trump was asked if he would condemn one of those groups, the violent street gang known as the Proud Boys.

After Trump said that, the Proud Boys suddenly had thousands of people asking them to join. and now they said they were standing by for Trump's orders. By now, you've probably remembered one other thing that happened that year, which I have not mentioned. The presidential election. The only way they can take this election away from us is if this is a rigged election. Later on election night 2020, before millions of votes were even counted. Frankly, we did win this election. Trump claimed victory.

In reality, he had a lot of. lost. And a few days later, Joe Biden was declared President-elect, backed by the courts and election officials across the country. Trump refused to concede. If we don't root out the fraud, the tremendous and horrible fraud that's taken place in our 2020 election, we don't have a country anymore. Several members of the Trump team admitted privately that the election was not stolen, but others wanted to fight, even talked about violence. When the government's head of cybersecurity said the election was safe and secure, one of Trump's lawyers, a man named Joe DeGeneva, said he should be killed.

That guy is a Class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered, taken out a donning shot. DeGeneva later claimed he was joking. In court, the Trump team lost dozens of cases, but they had one last plan for the day Congress was supposed to certify the election. Trump posted on Twitter, about January, overnight that he expects there to be a massive protest here in Washington on that date, saying be there will be wild.

We know just... Pro-Trump activists mobilized. And whatever you have to do to get to Washington, D.C. on January 6th. January 6th. And after a year of death and disruption from COVID, violence in the streets and conspiracies in the air, a lot of people packed up body armor and weapons. All right, guys, getting my loadout bag. I got the carbon fiber knuckles, matching hatchets, and a little bit of excitement.

There was not just one single motivation behind why people came to D.C. for January 6th, organized extremist groups like the Oathkeepers and Proud Boys said it was time to use. use force to keep Trump in power. They said it was like a second American revolution. Other extremists came to, followers of QAnon, white nationalists. And then there were the people who just loved Trump. When Trump asked people to come down January 6th, the protest, we didn't even talk about it. We knew we were going. Jason Riddle had been a Trump supporter for years, ever since the first Trump campaign. And his path to D.C. on January 6th was like a lot of other Trump fans. And Riddle's story shows how that love of Trump went way beyond politics. It was much deeper than that. It was about who they were. It became my identity. I wore Trump wigs and

costumes, sometimes for no reason I'd put the crap on and go bar hopping. It got me attention. He especially loved the rallies. He says he's probably been to 15. It's a pep rally combined with a circus once Trump gets there. There's always the I love you too. If you get a moment of silence and you yell out, I love you at him. He will yell, I love you too, back. I remember being so excited. There was that one moment I love you and I love you too. And then he goes back to his speech. It's, it's a, he's a showman. He knows and he gives it back. He gives that obsession back. And Riddle says there was another side of the rallies he loved, the drama. There was always the protesters, mad at you, and it was always this passion. And it was, it was, it was fun.

Being a Trump support is all about the reaction from everyone. else so that's that's the best part but riddle's personal life was a mess he had a career in the navy and army reserves that fell apart had trouble keeping jobs he was drinking too much by the end of 2020 he was living in new hampshire he'd been working for the postal service delivering mail he'd spend every day on the phone talking about trump and politics with a friend i lasted a year at the post office and drunkenly quit i was drinking while working i was drinking in the morning I just abandoned the truck full of mail. That was the end of December 2020.

He was jobless and drunk. But supporting Trump still gave him a sense of purpose. And something to look forward to, the next Trump rally on January 6th. So we hit the road to D.C. Every gas station were red hats because there's people from all over the country going. And I remember one gas station, the guy saw my hat and just going, you're going? When, yeah, he's like, it's going to be crazy. I mean, it was just like, he looked aggressive and just like, all right.

I mean, it was a beautiful day. I'd gotten there the night before, so I was up early, and I decided to take a walk. And I was kind of enjoying the spectacle. Peter Welch is about the least aggressive-looking person you can find. He's in his 70s from New England, wears glasses. And early in the morning, on January 6th, after getting to D.C., he just started talking to people while walking around. This was before all the speeches.

There were lots of signs, some chanting. But at first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I had conversations with people. How's it going? What do you think? And, you know, they thought the election was stolen. I bet I didn't get a sense of hostility. And on some occasions, they'd asked me who I was, and I would tell him.

You see, Welch was not a Trump supporter. He was a member of Congress, representing Vermont, a Democrat. And what would they say? Well, they'd be interested in it. But, you know, they had identified who their adversaries were. It was Mike Pence, obviously, and it was Nancy Pelosi. She, to them, personified the evil empire. Welch says he was not remotely worried about safety at the Capitol that day.

He'd been in Congress for more than a decade. He was used to protests, and he thought of the Capitol as safer than Fort Knox. And he says the electoral certification is a really special experience. There's not much to do, but just witness history. He just did not know what kind of history was being written that day. As he made a loop around the mall and headed back towards the Capitol, he noticed this big group of people, led by a guy dressed in black, with a bullhorn. There were people who were marching in formation that was organized and disciplined.

Our streets! Our streets! So that made me anxious a little bit. What Welch did not realize was that this group was the proud boys. They were intentionally not wearing their typical black and yellow outfits. And after Trump announced the protest, they started secretly planning for this day. Their leader even shared a document that involved occupying government buildings. And now they were starting to execute their plans in plain sight. Let's fucking march to this fucking city, this our goddamn city, and be loud and motherfucking proud boy, proud.

At the time, Welch did not know any of that. He went on to work at the Capitol, a little anxious, but still pretty sure that the day would go smoothly. And so he did not hear how the proud boy's conspiracy to stop the certification of the election was unfolding on the national mall. Let's take the fucking capital, one of them yelled. Take the fucking capital. Come on, tighten up. Let's not fucking yell that, all right? Someone with the group said quietly, don't yell it.

Yeah, do it. Do it. Unit 7, do you have cameras on, I guess, the group, the Proud Boys, coming up from the small area towards the Capitol? The Capitol Police saw the group of Proud Boys marching before Trump had even started speaking. But like Welch, the police did not know what the Proud Boys had in mind. Neither did Daniel Hodges. He was with the D.C. Police Department, the Civil Disturbance Unit. His whole job is to respond to big protests, and he'd been out on the streets since 7 that morning. I was personally standing out in front of the IRS building, and yeah, I thought the worst part of that day for me was going to be all the taxationist theft jokes.

His bosses in the police department had not really prepared him for serious violence, but Hodges started to see signs that something more might be coming. People dressed for the coal and dressed for the rally, but you'd also get people wearing helmets, earpieces, goggles, backpacks full of who knows what. look like they're ready for something other than a rally. Media will not show the magnitude of this crowd. Trump started his speech near the White House at about noon. He told the crowd that the stakes could not be higher. Depending on what happened inside the Capitol that day, they would either save democracy or the country would be destroyed.

And it all came down to the vice president, Mike Pence. And I hope Mike is going to do the right thing. I hope so. I hope so. because if Mike Pence does the right thing, we win the election. Before Trump started speaking, White House staff told him that people in the crowd had weapons. That's according to testimony to Congress. Trump still told the crowd they should march to the Capitol.

He said he would join them. We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. In a moment later, Trump added this. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Around this time, Jason Riddle got an Uber from his hotel to the Washington monument.

And when he got out, he couldn't even see Trump. There were too many people. But the sound of Trump's voice was echoing all across the mall. The feeling was very spiritual. It was something that I'll never feel again. And it was the biggest amount of Trump supporters you ever saw in your life. And then also I think there's also this, all that frustration from the COVID lockdowns was just, it was first time getting that many people together probably since COVID. He felt like this was something bigger than himself.

Before Trump even finished his speech, people started heading toward the Capitol building. We're all marching on the Capitol. Trump said he was joining us, too. We got Patriots as far as I can see. Riddle decided to follow those crowds. When I first started covering January 6th, five years ago, one of the biggest mysteries involved the Capitol police. Ever since 9-11, the government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on security.

So how could security at the Capitol, have been so overwhelmed. Part of the answer to that involves the most consequential 25 minutes of the whole day when it seemed like everything was happening all at once. And a lot of it happened at a place called, of all things, Peace Circle. While Trump was still giving his speech and Trump supporters like Riddle were walking, that big group of proud boys had marched around the Capitol building. They scoped out different entrances, and they ended up by peace.

circle. It's a monument to sailors who died in the Civil War. The Proud Boys Bullhorn attracted a bigger and bigger crowd. Just a few Capitol Police officers were there, standing behind temporary fencing, these metal bike racks. Behind them was a straight path right to the Capitol building. USA! USA! People got angrier and angrier, yelling at the cops. And then a few people went from words to action. They started to lift the fencing up, pushed it back, and knocked the cops over. Fuck them, stormed the Capitol,

one proud boy yelled. Ryder started throwing punches. We have a breach on the west front, first street. Breach, multiple units. Send all you have. The protest had just turned violent. The police were in full retreat.

The collapse of the outer perimeter was shocking for how rapid and violent it was. At the time, it seemed unclear why the Capitol Police were so overwhelmed. But we later got more pieces of the puzzle. Right at the time of the fight at Peace Circle and the breach of Capitol grounds, the police were scrambling to deal with multiple serious incidents all at once. First, cops found a pipe bomb by the headquarters of the Republican National Committee. Then they found a Trump supporter's truck loaded up with guns and 11 mason jars filled with gasoline, Molotov cocktails. And then they found another pipe bomb, this time by the Democratic National Committee.

We need to make sure that officers are posted. So Capitol Police were trying to manage multiple crises all at the same time. And then, while all of this was happening... Madam Speaker, members of Congress, pursuant to the Constitution and the laws of the United States... Inside the Capitol, within minutes of all these events, Vice President Pence was starting the certification process, and he announced in a letter that he would not follow Trump's plan. He would not overturn the election results.

Pence's announcement came out just before Trump was ending his speech. And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. As people in the crowd heard about Pence's announcement, they were outraged. And now Trump was sending them. to the Capitol. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all.

God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all for being here. Trump's speech is over. It was awesome. Some of you may have seen it online, it went over all the voter fraud. The big group that had breached through Pease Circle and was fighting with police,

they were about to get a lot more backup from people who were furious about Pence's announcement. Anyways, we're walking over to the Capitol right now, and I don't know. maybe we'll break down the doors. War, more, our civil war! War, war! Our civil war! Right, more truck! Right, more truck!

Jason Riddle got to the Capitol, along with the rest of the angry crowds. And I kept thinking about war movies. Like what movies? I thought of saving Private Ryan. There was this guy up in the scaffolding with a megaphone, and he was going, Don't stop! Keep moving forward! Don't stop! Push forward! Push forward!

He looked at the windows and the people inside. But I remember standing back and seeing the politicians looking down, taking pictures with their phones and thinking, good. And I was happy about it. You were happy about them seeing, like... Being afraid of people. Like, here's a common man. Here we are. Daniel Hodges, the D.C. police officer, was called to respond to.

to the chaos and try to help the Capitol Police, who were stretched to a breaking point. Early in the day, protesters were telling him, thank you for your service. Not anymore. What he saw was the crowd embracing violence. They said it was the right thing to do. His body cam shows people calling him and the other officers traitors, stormtroopers, Nazis. While just trying to walk through the crowds, he was punched and kicked and knocked to the ground. people tried to steal his baton.

This is the metropolitan police department. This area is now a restricted access area pursuant to DC official code. All people must lead the area immediately. Blair to comply with this order may subject you to arrest and may subject you to the use of a riot control agent or impact weapons.

At this point I was hopeful that they would be satisfied with the ground they had taken because they were already breaking the law by being where they are. And I was hopeful that would be enough. The police escalated with pepper spray and tear gas. Riddell was in the crowd, and he says it backfired.

The feeling was they were throwing tear gas grenades at us, and part of my thinking of, oh, they're escalating. Now we're allowed to escalate. Rioters had sprays too, pepper sprays, bear sprays, and other weapons. The substance with the gas fans of the American flag, sir. He's assaulting an officer. At the same time, rioters were battling police on one side of the Capitol. On the other side, it was mostly peaceful.

But then people in the crowd started coordinating. They're so overwhelmed with 2 million people on the other side. That's why they're understaffed over here. Now's the time. Now's the time. Rioters started overwhelming police lines all over. And then, back in the mob where Jason Riddle and Daniel Hodges were, a group of proud boys made.

a breakthrough. They reached the Capitol building. Rioters started smashing windows. Capitol Police jumped on their radios. They're in the building. Okay, the Capitol has been free. Now, a mob was inside. Where's that meeting at? Hey, where do they count the fucking boats? They were hunting for Pence while Secret Service scrambled to evacuate. If we lose any more time, we may lose the ability to leave.

So if we're going to leave, we need to do it now. Don't get scared. Go arrest the vice president. That's the first arrest. We're coming out now, all right? Make a way. At almost the exact moment, as Pence was being evacuated, Trump posted on Twitter.

He said this on Twitter. Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify. USA demands the truth. If Pence caved, we're going to drag motherfuckers through the streets. Because this is the second fucking revolution. We're going to drag your fucking ass through the street.

Some protesters seemed to know they were breaking the law. And that was exciting. Can you hear me, honey? Yeah. Okay, I love you. Tell everybody I know that might be going to jail tonight. That's okay. And somebody who has money to bail on the office.

And then it was just ransacking. It was basically like a bunch of frat kids ransack in the place. Riddle says the whole thing felt like a joke. He didn't hit any cops himself, but he admits he laughed watching it happen. At one point he went into an office and found a bottle of wine in someone's mini-fridge. In the room I was in, I was drinking wine. There was a girl who had her feet up on the desk, and she was playing with the phone, and people were laughing.

and the bottle wine got passed around. The proud boy, who was the first to break into the building, celebrated with a cigarette. Victory smoking the Capitol, boys. This is fucking awesome. I knew we could take this motherfucker over and just try it hard enough. Proud of your motherfucking boy. Time to smoke weed in here. In other parts of the Capitol, people started to party.

It feels like a lot of weed in here. Everyone's smoking weed. Oh, smoking weed in the fucking day. Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. Shit. This is the party room. Peter Welch, the congressman, was inside the House chamber.

And at first, he had no idea that anything was wrong. And then one of the Capitol police officers came onto the floor and silenced us and said the building has been breached. Capitol Police just announced that there was a breach. Somebody or some people got into the building of past security. Welch posted that video online, and then the police told him and the others in the chamber to lie down in case shooting started. Cops grabbed furniture to barricade the main door, and as rioters broke through the glass, the police drew their guns. We've got to hang a bunch of crooked congressmen. We'll do that. And I think the worst fears that all of us had,

that this could be a mass shooting event. While Peter Welch was watching that entrance, rioters were trying to get into the House chamber and to get to him and other members of Congress through another way. Hey, he's got a gun! He's got it good! A woman named Ashley Babbitt tried to climb through a door where the glass had been busted out

into a place called the Speaker's Lobby. For Welch and the other members of Congress, that was their escape route. And then, you know, the gunshot goes off. Where did she hit? Where did she hit? Shot fired House War. Shot fired, House War and immediate assistance.

The Capitol Police officer shot Babbitt in the shoulder, and she later died. Inside the House chamber, Welch waited for more gunshots, but they didn't come. Eventually, a Capitol Police SWAT team held back the group of rioters at Rifle Point, one of the only times that happened during that day, and the members of Congress had a way out. When Welch remembers these moments now, the thing that he says is most vivid is this really strange feeling. Even as I was hearing the glass break, even as I heard the shot going off, even as I was being told by the police to put on the gas mask, I didn't believe it was happening. I didn't believe it was happening. I was thinking, Peter, this is not happening. And I realize the reason that I thought that is that I couldn't believe it.

could happen in the United States. Jason Riddle, the rioter, kept drinking. A cop told him to chug his wine and yelled at him to leave. Outside the building, a guy came up to him. And he told me someone got shot. And he's like, I'm like, no one got shot. It's a party in there. He's like, no, I saw a woman come out with an ambulance and they had bandaged her on her neck.

They shot her in neck. She's dead. And that's when it stopped being funny. and I became afraid. Then Riddle just started running away from the Capitol, as fast as he could. They killed this girl. They killed the girl.

When Michael Phenone got to the Capitol building, he could still see Ashley Babbitt's blood on the ground, on the path where emergency responders had taken her. He'd been a cop for decades, but he did not do. crowd control or protests. That day, he was supposed to be undercover, playing clothes, working on a heroin bust. We have another 1033. Every evening will turn inside the Capitol.

1033 is our distress call. Officer needs assistance, which essentially is, if you're an officer, you drop what the fuck you're doing, and you go and respond. Fennon and his partner, Jimmy Albright, met up to go to the Capitol together, and he was not used to putting on the full riot gear. And as somebody who's vanity prevented them from bringing a gas mask to this fucking event, yeah, I just thought of it. Wait a minute. Was your vanity that you did bring gas masks?

Yeah. What do you mean? You thought you were too tough for a gas mask? I was just like, well, you're already carrying like all this crap. Fucked, I'm not wearing a shit. I didn't even want to wear the helmet. Like, that's how vain I am. Like, I didn't want to wear the helmet. So Jimmy was like, bring the fucking helmet.

And I was like, uh, all right, I'll bring the helmet. When he got inside the Capitol, he saw rioters everywhere. And he says it's not just that arresting all those people was impossible. He says it might have also made a bad situation worse. You know, we're outnumbered fucking like seven to one. I mean, there's no way that you could, like going in and trying to affect an arrest at that point is not going to de-escalate. the situation. It's going to escalate it. Not to mention the fact that even if we did arrest

them, where the hell are you going to take them? Because we don't have any transport vehicles. A few minutes later, Phanone got word that a group of police needed help at the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. He started heading that way. And it was just not a scene that I had ever experienced in 20 years of inner-city policing. And, you know, I work narcotics. I've seen a few things. As you're walking down, there are adjacent hallways, and they were filled with injured officers. You know, guys who, under normal circumstances,

would have been transported to the hospital. By this point, the police had lost ground again and again. They were beaten down, but they decided they would hold on here in this tunnel. On the other side were thousands more demonstrators. You may have heard about this fight in the tunnel. It was the scene of the most intense violence at any point on January 6th. Officers described it as medieval. The tunnel is not very wide.

People were packed so tightly that body cam footage often shows just bodies on top of one another. I mean, you know, a couple dozen of us versus 10,000 of them trying to force the way in. Daniel Hodges had already been defending against the rioters. for more than an hour. And after the police line outside collapsed, he had to retreat inside. When Fanon arrived, Hodges was just up ahead in the scrum of officers, protecting the tunnel.

As people fall back, I move up until I'm at the front of the formation and trying to keep them out. I tried bracing myself against a metal door frame so that I would have something hard to push off of. Unfortunately, once I had done that, the momentum had shifted. And I was getting pinned against the metal doorframe. Then I was getting crushed like that.

And someone grabbed the front of my gas mask and pushed it back and forth, essentially punching me in the face in the mouth a few times, and ripped my rabbit on away from me. and beat me in the head with it. It was just completely overwhelming. And I could feel getting weaker and weaker, and I was afraid that I might, you know, lose consciousness or be killed there.

You were afraid you could be killed. Yeah. I mean, I was unable to help myself. I did the only thing I could do at that point I started calling for help. Thankfully, the office is behind me. The office is behind me, heard me, and they were able to take enough pressure off my side to pull me out and get me back to the rear.

Come on. Come on. Let's go get water. Let's go get water. A cop poured water over Hodges' face to try to wash away the gas, pepper spray, and blood. Great job, Hodges. Good job, all right? Good job.

Michael Fanon saw Hodges being pulled back, patted him on the shoulder, and took his place. Just the fresh guys up foot. Let's get some fresh guys up front. Come on. Who needs a break? Let's get some fresh guys. And I remember trying to, like, appeal to them. And I said, like, we have injured officers here.

And, like, it just seemed to set these guys off. And immediately after that, it's, like, all hell broke loose. And we start into the melee. Come on the PD, dingin! Let's go, push him back! Diggins! You're literally living, like, second by second in that moment, and it's just, you know, I was just fully focused on doing everything that I could do

to get these guys the hell out of my way. Fennon and the cops behind him started to get some momentum pushing back the rioters. But the momentum pushed Fanon too. And then a rider named Albuquerque head put his arms around Fanon's neck. And he yelled. I got one. He says, I got one. I got one.

And that's what I was just like, fuck. It's just a sea of people and flags and, I mean, just the most surreal, you know, optic imaginable. And on top of that, you know, I'm trying to take that in and also fight to. stay alive. You know, when I'm out in this crowd, like, I'm being assaulted from every direction. So I'm trying to, like,

keep people away from my weapon. People are yelling, like, kill him with his gun. One man took an electroshock weapon and drove it into Phenone's neck, twice. A handful of people tried to stop the assaults. And that's when, like, my recollection goes from so vivid to, like, nothing. Phenone collapsed, face first.

Officers dragged him back behind the police line, then picked him up by the arms and legs. We don't got it. We need to appease now. I got it. Mike, stay in there, buddy. Mike, it's Jimmy, I'm here. Mike, Mike, I'm here for you, buddy.

Come on, dude. Come on, wake up, brother. Talk to me, man. Come on, Mike. Come on, buddy. We're going duck hunting soon. Suddenly, his eyes opened. Can you take that door back?

Yeah, we did. Do you even remember saying that? No, but I mean, it's like in character. I mean, shit, I guess, like subconsciously, I was thinking if I just went through all of that and we lost the goddamn door, the fuck. The fight continued for more than an hour, but they held the line. I know you're pain. I know you're hurt. We had an election.

that was stolen from us. At 4.17 p.m., Trump tweeted this video. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. It's less than two minutes long, and directed to his supporters who had breached the Capitol. So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home.

At the Capitol, Riders played the speech over a megaphone. That looks pre-recorded. Show the fuck out. Some people listened to Trump's message. They left. Then backup arrived from the FBI and police from nearby states. I remember just like saying, thank God. And I started clapping because, you know, we desperately needed them.

And I think it was Virginia State Police. It's a bunch of, you know, 6'5 corn fed. Troopers finally came and helped clear out the tunnel. So eventually, everyone else was able to clear the grounds, and we stayed there until it was clear that the grounds were secure. This is what the President of the United States just said. Hard to believe, but I'll repeat it. These are the things and events that happen

when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever. Madam Speaker, the Vice President and the United States Senate. After the Capitol was cleared at about 8 p.m.,

Congress was able to reconvene. Peter Welch was back in the House chamber. That time, democracy won. It felt like a victory in that moment that... It felt like we'd done our job in the person that, in fact, was elected by the people of this country, was certified. And it felt good to be part of making that happen.

Officer Michael Fanon was in a hospital bed. On top of the wounds from the assault, he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury and a minor heart attack. He was exhausted, injured, but still filled with adrenaline. When I was in the hospital, I didn't really sleep at all. Joseph R. Biden, Jr., of the state of Delaware, has received 306 votes. And, I mean, it didn't help that, like, you know, I'm sitting in a hospital bed. I'm watching, like, the certification of the election take place, like, fucking, you know, in the middle of the night. Within that whole number, a majority is 270. After all this, at around four or five in the morning, Phenone took a shower, and he washed off all the chemical sprays, the tear gas, and the blood and sweat off his body.

Officially, 140 police officers were injured in the attack on the Capitol, many of them seriously. Officer Brian Sicknick collapsed that night after being pepper sprayed, and he died the following day after suffering two strokes. That 140 number is almost certainly an undercount. It does not include the psychological damage they suffered. Two other officers there that day, Howard Leibingood and Jeffrey Smith, took their own lives in the following days. And Fanon says, looking back on that day now, He thinks the worst was still to come. What was traumatic was everything that happened afterwards.

There's no end. Like, we're still living in the midst of my fucking trauma. On the next episode, the Justice Department fans out across the country. It begins the largest investigation in its history to bring the rioters to justice. And then Trump turns the story inside out, and wins. On the next, Consider This. This episode was produced by Monica Estateva

with audio engineering by Robert Rodriguez. It was edited by Barry Hardiman. Our executive producer is Sammy Yenigin. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow. Want to hear this podcast without sponsor breaks? Amazon Prime members can listen to consider this sponsor-free through Amazon music.

Or you can also support NPR's vital journalism and get consider this plus at plus.npr.org. That's plus.npr.org.