Video: Jan. 6 Rioters Searched For Speaker Pelosi After She Was Evacuated From Capitol
WASHINGTON, D.C. (CBS SF/CBS News) -- Prosecutors at former President Donald Trump's second impeachment trial on Wednesday played chilling video that showed Jan. 6 rioters calling out to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they searched for her after she had been evacuated from the Capitol complex.
Democrats said Capitol Police had already evacuated Pelosi from the Capitol after the mob breached security because police feared for her safety.
"Nancy! Oh Nancy! We're looking for you!" one person is heard yelling in video shot on a cell phone of a mob member as the rioters wandered the Capitol's halls.
Capitol security footage shows Nancy Pelosi's staff rushing into a conference room and barricading a door minutes before rioters entered the House speaker's office and tried breaking the door down https://t.co/eiuPMCshgF pic.twitter.com/xobvI1n5lL
— CBS News (@CBSNews) February 10, 2021
Prosecutors also showed security video of Pelosi's staff members rushing to a conference room where they barricaded themselves minutes before the mob stormed into the hallway, said Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the U.S. Virgin Islands, who presented the Democrats' reconstruction of the events.
At least two rioters are seen trying to open the door, with one actually succeeding in breaking open the outer door to the conference room before giving up when faced with the second interior door, according to Plaskett.
Live CBS News Updates: Democrats show new footage of Capitol attack at Trump impeachment trial
The 80-year-old Pelosi was a longtime political target of the president, who derisively nicknamed her "Crazy Nancy."
Plaskett said Pelosi was rushed to a secure offsite location by Capitol police because some of the rioters publicly declared their intent to harm or kill Pelosi.
"We know from the rioters themselves that if they had found Speaker Pelosi, they would've killed her," Plaskett said. "They did it because Donald Trump sent them on this mission."
In audio from Pelosi's staff broadcast for senators, a male aide is heard saying "we need Capitol Police to come into the hallway," and "they're pounding on the doors trying to find her."
Pelosi's office was ransacked and damaged, and a man, identified as Arkansas resident Richard Barnett and later arrested, took a photo with his feet up on a desk. Plaskett highlighted that Barnett was carrying a stun gun in his waistband.
Barnett now faces 11 years in prison after a weapons charge was filed.
"President Trump put a target on their backs, and his mob broke into the Capitol to hunt them down," Plaskett said of Pelosi and Pence.