WASHINGTON — The shuffling in the Senate press gallery started a little after majority leader Mitch McConnell finished his scathing rebuke of President Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.
The faint chants from pro-Trump protesters outside were getting louder as more people streamed to the front of the Capitol building on Wednesday and Congress began the process of counting the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden the next president. Senate press staff said they had a plan to lock the gallery doors on the third floor should the security situation outside escalate.
It was all “just in case,” all very hypothetical.
Then, a warning from a crackly Capitol radio reverberated across the room alerting us to get away from the windows and doors. There were reports of shots fired, and a reporter burst into the room shouting that Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the vote counting, had been evacuated.
It was suddenly clear this unusual day at the Capitol was about to get even more so. The place was under siege.
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