NEW: January 6 exposed a harsh reality about working for Congress: the Capitol Police's priority is protecting elected lawmakers and they otherwise really don't have anyone else's back. - Great read by @WARojas ($) @thisisinsider businessinsider.com/january-6-atta…
That was a major takeaway Insider gleaned from its latest oral history project that involved interviews with more than a dozen Hill aides, journalists, hospitality professionals, and custodial staff who remain haunted by the violent attack on their workplace by a pro-Trump mob.
"The people who work here know that the next time shit goes down, it's everyone for themselves," said one congressional aide granted anonymity to speak candidly about the events of January 6. "We were hung out to dry."
It wasn't the first time it's happened either. Congressional authorities have adopted certain precautions over the years to compensate for the fact lawmakers are atop the safety pecking order. Administrative staff periodically lead disaster-related drills.
They stash emergency hoods throughout the complex that can be donned in a hurry in case of a chemical attack. There are even CB-style annunciators that one Capitol security watchdog described as outdated "garbage."
"9/11 showed me for the first time as a staffer that really the only people that matter in this building are the members," said the Hill aide, who cited repeated instances where Capitol security officials signal employees are "a complete afterthought" when trouble happens.
Check out our 10K-word oral history - yeah, it's pretty darn comprehensive - of January 6 here w/ a @thisisinsider subscription: businessinsider.com/january-6-oral…

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More from @dsamuelsohn

26 Oct
NEW: Karlin Younger's wine-stained sweater was still wet when she left her laundry room early in the afternoon of January 6, leaned into the gate of an alley, and caught a glimpse of something metallic by the garbage bin. ($) by @cryanbarber businessinsider.com/who-found-janu…
Thinking someone had simply missed the container, she stopped to recycle the mystery object. "Because I'm about that life," she said.

Only as Younger drew closer did she notice the caps at both ends. And the timer.
"You're just staring at it, and you're like, 'Okay, it's definitely metal.' But there's like wires attached to it, and there's a timer attached to it. What am I looking at? It's not immediately obvious because you're just really, really not expecting anything," Younger recalled.
Read 4 tweets
25 Oct
Trump attorney John Eastman: "So I spoke for three minutes, completely unplanned, and then stayed there in the front row while we waited for the president to come, completely unaware of what was starting two miles away, about an hour and a half later. ($) businessinsider.com/january-6-oral…
More voices describing what it was like in & around the US Capitol on January 6
Read 4 tweets
25 Oct
"Tear gas is all over everything that we own to this day,” one DC police officer told ⁦⁦@PoliticsInsider⁩ as part of our massive January 6 oral history. He added the fire dept "came by, and they literally just hosed down all of our gear." ($)
businessinsider.com/january-6-oral…
“I can't do deep dives into this. I can't look at the videos. I can't read anything else about it, because it would just throw me into a rage," House Periodical Gallery’s Jay Rupert said. He started Jan 6 thinking: "I work in the safest building in DC. Next to the Pentagon."
And here’s @SenRonJohnson on what he recalled from January 6.
Read 4 tweets
24 Oct
NEW this AM my DC crew published its January 6 oral history. We collected first-hand accounts from Trump's rally, the mob on the Mall, and inside the US Capitol. @thisisinsider #longreads ($) businessinsider.com/january-6-oral…
In recent weeks we've done interviews with 34 lawmakers, journalists, photojournalists, law-enforcement officers, Capitol Hill staff, and many others. They shared the details of that day, where split-second decisions may have saved their lives.
It's an admittedly long-read. 10,000 words, so you may want to print it out and then pass it on. Here's where we start:
Read 14 tweets
21 Oct
SCOOP: Influential Democratic donors who backed Buttigieg in 2020 are privately chattering about prodding him to run for the White House in 2024 if Biden doesn't seek reelection, @thisisinsider has learned. ($) by @adamwren & @rbravender businessinsider.com/buttigieg-2024…
More than 2 dozen Democratic donors who want to eventually see a President Buttigieg have been attending secret & informal dinners over the summer and into late Sept in traditional $-raising hubs including DC, Wall Street, & Silicon Valley, per a former Buttigieg bundler.
They're driven in part by a lack of confidence in VP Harris' performance so far, and some don't think Buttigieg should wait in line behind Harris if Biden opts against running for a 2nd term. Other dinner attendees think Buttigieg is better off waiting until 2028 or even later.
Read 9 tweets
19 Oct
NEW: Senate Republicans are blocking the confirmation of Biden's pick to oversee the hundreds of prosecutions stemming from the January 6 attack on the Capitol, people familiar with the matter tell ⁦@thisisinsider⁩ ($) by ⁦@cryanbarberbusinessinsider.com/senate-republi…
The Republicans' "hold" on the nomination is not based on any objection to Matt Graves, an ex-federal prosecutor whom Biden nominated in July to serve as US attorney in Washington, DC. Instead, his nomination "is being used for leverage," Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton told Insider.
“We've learned this on condition that we not speak about it specifically, but I can tell you that what we have learned is that the Graves nomination is not being held up for any reason connected to the nomination” said Norton, who represents DC in Congress as a non-voting member.
Read 6 tweets

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