On the afternoon of January 6, 2021, loudspeakers in the Senate press gallery blared dire warnings, and as I sat at my desk in the Capitol, a voice announced a lockdown.
“External security threat,” I scribbled what I heard on my notepad. “Stay away from exterior windows and doors.” Then: “Take cover.”
That’s how I knew something had gone wrong — terribly wrong — four years ago during a typically perfunctory event on Capitol Hill: certifying the results of the presidential election.
This year’s January 6th returned to what it always was: a routine step in the peaceful transfer of power, mandated by the constitution and prohibited by law, whereby Congress formalizes matters already decided in democratic elections.
After the riot, some Republicans tried to repurpose the day as a peaceful protest or even a routine tour. Trump has vowed to pardon those charged for their involvement, calling the day “a day of love.”
In many ways, the country and Congress have made progress. There was less mention of the violence four years ago. Democrats who once said they couldn’t work with so-called election deniers now find themselves needing to work with Republicans, who will control all levers of government when Trump is sworn in on January 20.
Mr. Trump, who sought to rewrite the history of those dark days, has legally returned to the presidency. The American people still condemned the attack in polls and decided they preferred him to Democrats on issues like the border and the economy.
But it’s worth remembering what happened on January 6, 2021, when the Capitol suffered its largest attack since the War of 1812, and reflecting on how things were different on Monday.
Four years ago, after a loudspeaker announced the lockdown, I jumped from my chair in the Senate Press Room on the third floor of the Capitol to watch a mob of Trump supporters charge into the building, kicking over bicycle racks and trampling on them. venue. I’ve covered mass protests before, but this clearly took a darker, more violent turn.
This year, the Capitol grounds are a largely silent empty space, covered in snow from a winter storm and fortified by a massive black fence, mostly closed to the public, keeping them away from protesters or any sign of disturbance.
At that point, I burst into the Senate gallery and looked down on the floor, where senators, including some in their octogenarians, were gathered and guarded by Capitol Police. Aides locked the door to prevent the mob from intruding, and I could feel panic beginning to surge through the room. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., looked at her phone and yelled, “Shoot’s fired!” to alert other lawmakers to the escalating danger.
We later learned that a Capitol Police officer shot and killed a rioter outside the House chamber.
On Monday, Ms. Klobuchar joined other lawmakers in the reading of each state’s electoral votes to certify Trump’s victory. She calmly declared that everything she read was “formal and true,” and the count continued without interruption.
In 2021, Vice President Mike Pence was presiding over the Senate floor when security officials rushed him out of the chamber and police began urging senators to evacuate as rioters closed in. Take action, Senator. Police helped the elderly senator get up from his desk and out a side door.
Some reporters started calling from the balcony to the rooms downstairs, asking where we should go. “What about us?!”
We were led into the Capitol’s labyrinth of basement tunnel systems.
As lawmakers and staff rushed out, some Senate aides prepared to snatch the boxes containing the Electoral College certificates to ensure that saboteurs couldn’t actually steal the election results.
Outside the Senate chamber, more than an hour into the commotion, I finally found the phone I had hastily left on my desk. I was flooded with text messages from colleagues, editors, and friends, some of whom begged me to respond and let them know I was okay.
I didn’t realize until later that we had left the room before the mob did.
On Monday, it was a different story. Ms. Harris stoically and smoothly presided over her own failed formal ceremony without interruption, while Mr. Schumer looked on and declared: “We are loyal to the Constitution and the rule of law.” The mahogany box containing the electoral votes Place them where they belong on the dais of the House of Representatives.
There was no sign of danger in the air as reporters sat upstairs in the House gallery, staring down and tapping away at laptops.
Former Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, was not even at the Capitol to witness Monday’s proceedings. Four years ago, he delivered a scathing speech on the Senate floor, warning that democracy would enter a “death spiral” if Republicans listened to Trump’s lies that the election was stolen. At that moment, a security officer nearly lifted him off his feet while carrying him away from the mob that broke into the Senate chamber.
Soon after, I finally reached a safe area and sat on the floor, more angry than scared.
Thousands of people came to one of the most important places in American democracy to smash windows, vandalize offices, and harm others for what they believed to be a just cause, but a cause that was built on a foundation of lies.
As a journalist, my role is clear: I open my laptop.
In this safe space, I and other members of the media fulfilled our own constitutional obligations under the First Amendment. We are not heroes; that title goes to the officers of the Capitol and the Metropolitan Police who fought off the attackers and ultimately ensured the transfer of power between the presidential palaces that day. Over the next few months, I got to know several of them.
But we did our job to the best of our ability. The room was packed with tactical law enforcement officers armed with long guns.
In a secure room next to ours, senators began talking in hushed tones about whether and how the electoral vote count would be conducted. We later learned that we heard an eruption of applause when they decided to return to the Senate floor that night to finish counting the votes.
“We will not be stopped from getting this done,” Ms. Klobuchar told me at the time.
It will take several hours for lawmakers to ratify Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. Some Republicans continue to oppose the former vice president’s victory.
The meeting finally ended at 3:41 a.m. on January 7—about 14 hours after it began.
On Monday, the same task takes 30 minutes.
