New Video Shows Inside Look at Siege of Capitol

'New Yorker' contributor Luke Mogelson filmed with his phone
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 18, 2021 10:35 AM CST

Luke Mogelson is a war correspondent who has written dispatches from Afghanistan and Syria. But his latest hits much closer to home. Mogelson entered the US Capitol (as a journalist) when rioters took it by storm on Jan. 6. He wrote a first-person account for the New Yorker, and the magazine has now published 12-plus minutes of video shot by Mogelson on his phone. Axios calls it "astonishing," USA Today deems it "chilling," and the Week suggests it might be the clearest glimpse yet of the riot. Some of the moments:

  • "You're outnumbered," a rioter tells a small group of police officers inside the building. "There's a f---ing million of us out there, and we are listening to Trump—your boss."
  • "Where the f--- are they?" and "Where the f--- is Nancy?" are some of the shouts heard as the rioters reached the legislative chambers. Also heard: "Knock, knock. We're here," and "Is this the Senate?"
  • "While we're here, we might as well set up a government," someone says.

  • "I think Cruz would want us to do this, so I think we're good," one man says as people rifle through documents, referring to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. At one point, someone spots Cruz's objection to the vote count in Arizona and declares, “He was gonna sell us out all along—look!" He then realizes his mistake that Cruz was doing what the Trump supporters wanted.
  • "There's gotta be something in here we can f---ng use against these scumbags," one man says as he looks.
  • "They can steal the election, but we can't sit in their chairs?" one man says, objecting to another's plea that they be respectful.
  • Mogelson at one point is in the Senate chamber with horned rioter Jake Angeli, and he uses his phone to capture the message Angeli writes at the desk used by Mike Pence: "It's only a matter of time, justice is coming."
(Rioters came within seconds of encountering Mike Pence.)

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