New Jan. 6 footage shows Pelosi, leaders as crisis unfolded

WASHINGTON — As rioters stormed through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sheltering in a secure location and trying to do what her job demands: take charge of a situation. At one point, Pelosi said of President Donald Trump, “I’m gonna punch him out.” Never-before-seen video footage played Thursday by the House Jan. 6 committee, and later on CNN, showed Pelosi and other leaders, including Republican allies of Trump, responding anxiously — and angrily — to the insurrection. “As the president watched the bloody attack unfold on Fox News from his dining room, members of Congress and other government officials stepped into the gigantic leadership void created by the president’s chilling and steady passivity that day,” said Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a committee member. Around 3 p.m., as a Trump loyalist outside Pelosi’s office pointed her finger and shouted, “We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out,” the speaker was huddled somewhere else in a room with Schumer, who said, “I’m gonna call up the effin’ secretary of DoD.” And so he did, telling acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller on speakerphone that there were senators still in hideaway spaces and imploring him to send in the Maryland National Guard. “And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the president of the United States.” Schumer weighed in too, shaking his head to the side for emphasis: “Yeah, why don’t you get the president to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, in your law enforcement responsibility?