Buggs' Media Network

On January 2021 I travelled to Washington DC to cover a mega Trump rally. What I never expected was an attack at the US capitol from Trump supporters who attempted to prevent a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral college votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. We arrived around 10am at the "Save America" rally on the Ellipse within the National Mall just south of the White House, where President Trump was schedule to talk. We tried to get close, but the crowd was tight and huge, we knew we would never get close enough to cover the rally. We then decided to walk to the US capitol. While there we saw a large group of Proud Boys on the northwest side of the US Capitol who seemed to be organizing something. We identified at least three groups that included the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and the Three Percenters. We followed the group to the perimeter of the capitol where they easily breached the three levels of security. The capitol police were not in riot gear, were not enough to contain the crowd and were ill prepared to stop the assault. Although I did witness some protesters engage and attack some of the police, there were some that were trying to help officers that had fallen or stop others from assaulting some of the officers. The officers on the west side of the capitol fought hard to prevent protesters from breaching the interior of the capitol. On the east side was another story. About 2,000 protestors breached the interior of the capitol, many of whom occupied, vandalized, looted, assaulted Capitol Police officers and reporters. Inside they attempted to locate lawmakers. With building security breached, Capitol Police evacuated and locked down both chambers of Congress and several buildings in the Capitol Complex. By 6pm, the building was cleared of protesters, and bomb squads swept the Capitol. At 7:15pm, Defense Secretary Miller told the leaders of Congress that they were cleared to return to the Capitol. By 7pm, reinforcements from DC police and the national guard arrived and started moving the protestors on the west side away from the capitol. At 8:06pm, Vice President Michael Pence called the Senate back into session, and at 9pm, Pelosi did the same in the House. After debating and voting down two objections, Congress voted to confirm Biden's electoral college win at 3:24am. Five people died either shortly before, during, or following the event: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes. Many people were injured, including 138 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. As of July 7, 2022, monetary damages caused by attackers exceed $2.7 million. As of March 2022, 778 have already been charged in relation to the attack. On January 13, 2022, 10 members of the Oath Keepers were arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy. Best viewed on destop computer. More photos in the menu.