New footage of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer huddling with members of the House and Senate amid the January 6 attack was played by the House select committee investigating the attack on Thursday.
In the footage, Ms Pelosi is heard on the phone with Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam and securing the aid of hundreds of police and National Guard troops as backup.
“Governor, I don’t know if you’ve been approached about the Virginia National Guard,” the House speaker was seen telling Mr Northam on her cell phone.
As Ms Pelosi was making calls for backup, rioters in the Capitol were yelling “bring her out” in reference to the House speaker, according to a video montage produced by CNN.
Later, in a joint call with Ms Pelosi beside him, Mr Schumer is heard demanding that the acting attorney general get in contact with the White House and insist that Mr Trump call off his supporters.
“Yeah, why don't you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr attorney general, in your law enforcement responsibility,” Mr Schumer is heard saying.
“I’m gonna call up the effing Secretary [of Defense],” he is heard saying at another point around 3.00 p.m.
The two are heard in repeated instances angrily blaming Mr Trump for the attack and demanding that he do something to get his supporters to leave the building.
They are also seen discussing the issue of continuing with the work of certifiying the 2020 election once the attack ends — even as it remains ongoing.
Aside from the footage of Democratic leadership filling what panel members referred to as a “void” of authority emanating from the White House, the video also depicted a more unguarded look at America’s elected leaders than most see on a given day. In one part, several Democrats including Ms Pelosi, Senator Dick Durbin, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar and others are seen sprawled out in chairs around a table with a box of Triscuits in the middle.
The footage pretty directly contradicts conspiracies that Donald Trump has sought to spread about their actions that day; he has long insisted that Democrats did nothing to secure the Capitol both ahead of time (which was not their responsibility as legislators instead of Executive Branch members) and did nothing to rally law enforcement during the attack itself.
