'Not even a single security guard was posted in the rotunda'
Shortly before one o’clock in the afternoon on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence led a silent, regal procession of 100 U.S. senators across the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol towards the House of Representatives. The men and women of that elite body all wore masks and their footsteps echoed in the marble corridor. It was the ceremonial fulfillment of a rite in our democratic system: the official counting of electoral votes to formalize the November election of America’s president. Ordinarily it’s a pro forma affair, meant to pass unnoticed. Despite objections to the process that Republicans had been telegraphing for days, there was every reason to believe that the usual traditions would ultimately play out by the end of the day—except for something I had heard just a few minutes earlier, while in the Capitol’s basement cafeteria.
What I had heard, coming over the walkie-talkie of a nearby Capitol policeman, was that a “bomb-like device” had been discovered a few blocks away, next to the Republican National Committee headquarters. Hearing the news, three policemen rushed out. I left just after they did. I knew then that nothing would go as planned.
After watching the vice president and the senators file into the House chambers, I decided to see whether trouble was sprouting elsewhere in the Capitol. Owing to the pandemic and to the presence of the vice president, only authorized staff and media were allowed inside the building. Not even a single security guard was posted in the rotunda. As I took the stairs to the first floor, a Capitol policeman hustled past me in the opposite direction. He seemed not to have noticed me, and I wondered what was on his mind.
At the exit to the western terrace, a half-dozen policemen burst into the building. Their faces were red, and their eyes were swollen. They were looking for water to flush out pepper spray. One called for a medic. Another ran down the hallway, banged on the door of the women’s restroom, and staggered inside. Two office workers rummaged through a cabinet, found a couple of buckets, and began filling them with water. I carried them to a policeman, who grabbed them, and headed back outside, where a couple of policemen had retreated from the mob and were seeking medical aid.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/2021/01/not-single-security-guard-posted-in-capitol-rotunda-mob/
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