Hello to the three of you to Amna to Lisa to Umesh we don't get many opportunities
Parodies
To have a conversation like this one but what a week it has been
I want to hear from each one of you about what it was like as we experience
This day that is
Going to be in the history books
And and Lisa let's start with you you were
Inside the capital of covering what was supposed to be
Relatively routine
Although this was going to be a little different
Set of procedures for
Counting the electoral votes
But
That's not the way it turned out
That's right
I walked in there
Judy thinking it was
Going to be a historic day but
Maybe a pretty long and boring
Really I thought all the drama was what
Do you know would be speeches
And
Instead
Shortly after that elect
Procession began
We got notification that
The house office
Breached
At that time we
Protesters
Where's that they
Clearly became
Can rioters
And then a second house off
I had to make a decision do I go into the house chamber and cover
This debate about
The presidency or do I go to
That event
I went to cover it because
Cuz I thought
Okay everyone can
The debate but may
Maybe not everyone
Get antsy
These protests
That situation
I died down at those office
By the time I
Came back to the Capitol
I spoke to cap
Please add
Told asked them hey what's going on.
They didn't know any
Think about it
I walked around
On the corner
From where those Capitol police officer
Standing out
The house chamber
I was in the middle of the capitol
And I was looking at the
Front doors
The US Capitol
Brass Door
Ice pick as you
You can imagine
Bulletproof glass
Triple pane
Glass
And
Cases
You know that mop
Pressed right up against
The glass trying to break in
Initially there were
Look like sarswati
Trying trying to keep
Keep them
Away but
Eventually most of those swap
Made their way out
Of that mob pushing against
Is the glass on the outside
On the outside
The other side I was on the inside and was the
The mom that had come up the steps
And I did see initially
Capital
Police officer
The black
SWAT outfits
Maybe three four
People stick
Front of the door on the outside trying
How to block
Protest
But
Then
Dave day went away I went downstairs
Can't look around
That came back up
And then by that point
The those officers
Gone and it was
Just
The mob
Trying to get in
And they started breaking the glass
Switch I didn't think
Possible they're using all kinds
Including
The end of an American
Flagpole
I and I
Yeah I stood there looking down I was on
Marble balcony I felt safe
People there are
Myself to other reporters
And to doorkeeper
She really just
Help Taurus
Skit around the capitol
No
Security officer that we saw and I think there may have been
A couple things
And sure enough you could hear
The Brass Door
That giant Brass Door
Winx
Freak
Under the strain
And eventually
A hand
Through
We saw the hand
There became a gap
More hands
Open the gap
And
We looked at each other and said
They're going to break
The store
One of the doorkeepers have the same one of the
Most surreal
And brave moments
That I saw
Just did on that balcony
Unarmed you know nothing but
A basic
Tie and shirt on
She yelled
Stop it
Go back stable
There's nothing else you could do but she wanted them to stop
Course they kept coming
They were climbing over each other
I saw a few
Leftover swapalease
Make their way in back inside
And I saw one loan
Police officer who was in
Suit-and-tie indicating that he's someone
And probably attached to a d
Detail of a
Dignitary
He was the only person I saw him run
Pearl his body over that Gap
In the door
To try and stop
What look like dozens and dozens
Protesters
Rioters
Coming in
He was not able to
Do it and sure enough they
They climbed over animated
Meantime I'm not you are outside
Watching and I think from watching you you were
Position more on the Senate side of the Capitol but you were still able to see this group
Gathering outside
That's right we were on the Senate side
And we've been out there on NewsHour team for most of the morning doing what we do when we arrive it seems like
That we talk to people we get a sense of who they are or where they're from what brought them out there
What was striking Judy and talking to the folks
To find out why they had gathered there
Was it was
It was like walking through a Hall of Mirrors
Talking to p
People that was just a festival of misinformation
I mean there were people who were so
Clearly
Just divorced from facts
And from any evidence they believe that President Trump had won the
They believe that this election was stolen and they
They had flown in at their own cost they had driven long distances
To stand out
In the freezing cold weather
Because they believe
That this is what they needed to do to their words to to save their country to protect their democracy
And we heard a lot of the kind of conspiracy theory language we've all covered and we've all heard over the past
Several months in years
We heard a lot of the same language we've heard from President Trump and again and again about
About the Press
About the election about draining the swamp about
About Joe Biden
And it was generally a
Come crowding we got tackled occasionally is pressed due in large groups of trump supporters are a lot of ridicule
Knowing that we were wearing masks
Claro probably some of the only people in the entire crowd wearing
And then something changed
And all of a sudden you heard a lot of yelling coming from one part
Fairgrounds
And we went over to try to figure out what it was
And you just saw
A wave
Of people
Coming up the hill from around on the house side and they clearly been breaching barriers and they were now walking
Undeterred up to a line of
Just a handful
A Capitol Police
And I think it was so striking to us was you could see from the gecko
They were
Vastly
There were way more protests
Way more now Riders
Then there were law enforcement there to me
And what was incredible to watch with just how completely undeterred
They walked
They push down the green wire fencing they moved aside the media barriers in the metal barriers that were there
And just a flow of people a flood of people
We're suddenly moving down in front of the Capitol in an area that you and I and any of us
We have to show Chris
To be able to
We get stopped
Absolutely
7 hour yet
It was just such a remarkable see me couldn't believe that it
What's happening there
Yamiche you were at the White House following
What President Trump had done and it was a just a short time before all this happen
The heat had been speaking to his
Supporters who he had invited
To Washington
So from your perspective
How did you see this coming
What happened on
What what happened
With all of these riots and all of
I'm this violence was really I think in some ways a slow-moving train that was driven by president
The morning started
On a date
The president
Feared and dreaded
I'm his entire life and especially
His political life as presidency he was going to officially lose the white out
He was waking up to
Official repudiation of
Of all of his ideas all of his policies all of his rhetoric
And having to come face-to-face with the fact
That despite all of his disinformation
The Congress was going to count the votes and he was going to be
Begone
Went to the rally
Where he saw the
Jovial crowd of
People who are welcoming him
Poor eating up his collage of Lies
And who were egging him on it and he was getting energy from that you could see the president when he started
He started to say to some of the things that you've no let me know everything
He said I'm think that we know to be false he said that the election was stolen from him that it was rigged
The Democrats head
Had all sorts of conspiracy theories that they had gone through with
Alleging
Voter fraud
But the thing that really got this
Started the thing that really changed this was the fact that the president said
We are going to fight we're not going to concede and we're going to March the capitol
And it was in that moment that the president
Justified people taking
That anger that they had over at at that rally and taking it over to
The capital
And the president himself
I'm had said that you was going to Marshall
The capital with them that's what the president said was
Return to the White House and I was standing
Along with where the president was he was in the residence and not anywhere near reporter
Solid security Bubble at the White House things were calm you can hear the protesters
You could hear sirens you can hear
In the mood and In The Wind that things were clearly getting dark
Because of course the capital is not far from the White House
But we were in this
In this moment where the president was
In some ways shielded from the chaos that he had created
And when they breach
Those wall the president
And White House staff didn't come out and say we need to stop right now they didn't come out and condone it only afterwards of the president say
We understood their pain he loved them and then told people to go home an hour
Hours hours
After all of the different chaos and all of the different things that happened
So the president and in some ways just was
Someone who was feeding this to people but who didn't have to deal with the consequences
In the way that Lisa and lawmakers and so many other people
Had to deal with when that Fierce mob broke through those doors
So these messages from the president from
Republican members of Congress from
The other speakers at that rally those messages were ringing in the ears
Of these
People who ended up
Going to the capital and
I'd like a mom and and assaulting
The building at least that's
These are the people who came push their way through the door
And made their way inside that
When you were there
You know looking into the eyes of those rioters
They were offering Robert in on the anger that they were turning into hate and then that they were turning into a
Sense of
Completely abandoning any sense of responsibility
And deciding that they themselves
That they were so right and they had
So much propriety
Over the rest of the world and in fact the US government itself
That they were right to break into this building
You know and that
That it was not violence you know I spoke to
Two of the rioters shortly after they came in and asked them
Why they did
Unn how could they explain this violence and they said yes we don't really want to be violent but we came up here and look we were at the door
When we could do it and this is our building
And then they said you know the American Revolution there was violence there
And now is
Honestly a really tricky moment for me because
Makes up situations like this
For so I know you can't
Push back in that situation because
You're putting yourself in danger if you're too confrontational right and so you just have to listen and you have to make yourself or later
But in my mind when they said
This is like the American Revolution
You had I been in a studio just me and them and I knew that I was Secure I would have said
This is like the French Revolution
This is
This is where a society becomes unravel
These kinds
But they see themselves as Heroes
And they
Have determined to
Just
Absolve themselves of any responsibility because
They they are right and in fact they are more important than others
People but I will say this also you know all of these words I'm saying it sounds like they're sort of these
Large like literary
Fumes in almost like Dickens is writing this story but when you were talking to these people it was really pretty Randy
They didn't have
A goal they didn't really know what they wanted to do they wanted to stop the election from being certified they want Trump to be
Depressed and again
But
They didn't know what they were going to do when they got in the building a lot of them for looking for the bathroom
Kind of thought they were lost
Which from a security standpoint I knew right away was an advantage for me I knew that if a large group came to where I was I would have an advance
Because I knew my way around the building and I could get around much more
Quickly than they could
But they had a lot of trouble finding the chamber and
Figuring out where the big offices were they they didn't I wasn't a few minutes but
This respond to 10 minutes you could see they just really
Had no idea what they were doing
And an honor you were saying
A number of them were reluctant to talk to you if you're reporter you're there with
With your colleagues
Did some of them want to engage in conversation
Aelu
Assertive unburden themselves to share
Here's why I'm here
Very
Very few were interested
Talking to us particularly after they asked where we were from
Let me take the PBS NewsHour and they would say fake news
And then the heckling would ensue there were a couple of a really wonderful people we met who
At least
Said
You know
Yeah sure I'll go
Talk to you after we going to try to do them for a little bit and that this
This is why we here we just want to talk to you and hear your story and understand why you're here
And so we ended up doing a few interviews but mainly especially is
Time went on
Intentions started Rising
And you could just feel the atmosphere kind of change
Suddenly every interaction became much more Hosta
And at one point
We kind of got surrounded by a group that had gathered and we're waiting to
To see into something people were just waiting as Lisa said there was no real intention behind their presents
They believe President Trump when he said he was going to be out there with him and that rumor has been circulating they're all saying a week maybe he's going to show up soon
He said he was going to come soon
And attentions kind of Rose we found ourselves surrounded by this one group
Square one couple said
Sure we'll talk to you first and then all the sudden they said why are you wearing a mask
Take that mask
This is ridiculous
I'm wearing a mask to protect myself and you
And
Elizabeth who'd you vote for where are you from your fake news no I'm not going to talk to you unless you tell me where we're from and then everyone
Nelson the group in around them kind of starts to join in and see atmosphere
Change where it suddenly wasn't
Safe for us
To be kind of mixing and mingling in the crowd
But also to Lisa
I just want to say that you know that when people
We heard about the bridge we solved folks
Brush up to the stairs and it was just this moment where you couldn't quite process what you were seeing because
The Capitol Police basically stepped aside in a few instances and there were just only hundreds of people occupying
Stairs
And trying to
Breach the door is on the side we were on on the Senate side up having already
Breach the doors on the house.
And
And the people we were talking to and everything just
Kind of God
Elevated and suddenly the whole Atmos
Sphere change
End
And the police started responding and there was
Tear gas and flash bangs and it just in an instant
It changed you
Couldn't believe
That you were standing on the grounds of the US
Capital and I said this to you on the day and it's resonated with me since
I have covered so many of these things
A cupboard so many instances
Just like their selections abroad
Puno unrest in other countries
This happened
And for all the talk about how this doesn't happen in America this isn't who we are at this
Happened here it is Who We Are
And it's not everyone
But we have to be able to reckon with the fact that
This is something that unfolded on our soil that's been unfolding as a mage pointed out for a long time
That are now
An enemy's how much of this
What were you and others at the White House
Aware of this and following is clearly on the outside they had access to television they were watching any internet they were
Seeing some of these
Pictures of it if they were watching PBS they were saying
Lisa inside the capitol
Trying to talk to some of these
People
Were they following how closely were they following what was going on
The White House was closely following what
What's happening the president
What's doing what he often does which is spending his afternoons watching TV
He was in the residence
I'm for most of that at some point he moved to the Oval Office
The entire time he was monitoring this
And I'm told that the president had mixed feelings
Excited it I meant old in some ways almost excited about the idea that he was having this power over
Over people that this was
A confirmation that he had this
Does influence over people when it came the information that he was giving them in as I was watching those images the thing that came to my
My mind was
False
Accusations they have
Consequences
Conspiracy theories
Have consequences
Continuing to Naval people
And make them feel entitled to misinformation to disinformation that has a
Consequences and that's what President Trump was seeing a photo of the combination really of President Trump's lies
I'm his allegations all of its posting that he's been telling his supporters
He was watching it play out and in people close to the president tell me that
While the president
Did not want the capital to be burned down
He did have the sense that he wanted to hold onto power
By any means and this was but the by any means
The president really never got around to condemning these
People in a full-throated way
On camera with questions what we've seen from the president so far
In the multiple videos and tweets
Is the president of
It sometime finally saying after multiple videos
But he does not like the idea of violence of these people do not represent him
And he's now saying that he wants to have a seamless
Transition of power but Judy we all watched
And we can never call the election
2020 and the transition of 2021a seamless or orderly thing is in fact it was deadly and it was chaotic
With five people at least losing their lives because
Of all of the things people dead
The other thing that I was thinking about as I was watching
President-trump
Is Israeli and then of course the violence that followed
Is I did as a piece for the NewsHour talking immigrants who immigrated
To America
From countries that had political
In a political instability
Places like Haiti and Venezuela and Afghanistan and all these other places I'm the came to America because we had to
Democracy that was stable
They had been so scared watching President Trump refusing to
And I was thinking about those people and realizing that the country that they had
Trusted with their hopes and their dreams that it was being challenged
And tested
Remember I'm an immigrant from Haiti Tommy democracy
Is fragile and Americans need to learn that and I think we all saw democracy almost
Break
We saw democracy really really tested and of course it didn't
Go all that way and it didn't break we saw the Congress of course
Do what it came to do very late into the night but
It was a moment where President Trump was demonize immigrants
Really tested the country that has welcomed so many immigrants who are fleeing just the kind of chaos that was created
I think it's true that we came right up to the bring
Right up to the brain
Seeing our democracy
Broken in a way we have never seen before
By Americans this was not a terrorist attack
Bye
People from outside this country and there's so much to think about and we're all still processing what happened but
Is is all of you
Think about this and you all
You know you
You I'm sure you talk to your family's about it
What do you think
You're going to look back on I don't know what's going to stand out the most
About about this day Lisa
Wow that's at is a hard question I think
I think the moment
That I
That was the most
Shocking to me was when I
That not not when I saw the
The rioters
Crashing through the door which
Which which was the most shocking moment I had seen in the capital to that point
But even worse than that was when I left that area because there were more riders coming in
And I needed to get
A second piece of
Equipment and I wanted to make sure that I was safe
But when I left that area and I went to
The house chamber
And I was going to wear my desk is which
Near the house chamber
And I remember thinking in my head
Okay
I know where the police
Are stationed there there
Four police officers in that next hallway
I'm going to see those police officers I got my mask on
I'm holding up my badge to show them
That I'm with
Depress
And and I'm going to be in a good position right there
And I'll find out maybe they'll tell me some
And when I
We're here in the
Riders behind me
As I made my way
Area right outside the house chamber
Starting to hold at my badge to show them
And there are no police officers there
Note there's no one there
And I was alone
That was
That is probably aimed at the moment that I think I'll remember
Alot the actual absence
And then having to really quickly
Figure out what I
Would you not
Because I I never
Thought that
Capitol police officers
Will be there post like that I am I evil find out in days ahead
With her orders War why this happened
But I also never thought that
The House of Representatives would be
Completely unguarded
Which is what I saw
You know it.
That's going to be a memory
Well you're reporting was extraordinary as it
Certainly is Amna zenyu Misha's was
Watch Lisa
Make her way to the capital and confronting
Officers with
Guns drawn it was
It was so
A really frightening moment and honor you
As you mention of and you've covered
Yeah you've been around the world you covered insurrections and
Riots in other places
What what do you think
As you look back on this years from now what what do you think you're going to remember
You know we talked so much about the consequences
Of
Of the election
And the consequences of
Our leaders words
And I think all of us as journalists think about the consequences of our work
Write what you say and what you do and how you
How you handle yourself in in those moments where you are tested and I just
I think
Long-term whenever I think about consequences of work I think about
I think about my kids
I do it because they are curious about my work
And they're curious about what I do everyday
And
I have to say this year I have really struggled
To explain to them what is going on in this country we call home
And I think that that day is no exception
I think we're all still very much processing what it means and what the consequences of that day will mean
And what will change if anything
And I find myself struggling to answer very basic question
About
What exactly happened that day
And what it all means
And you know
That for me is someone who makes a living and explaining things to people and trying to convey what we know to be true and
It's a very difficult thing to reckon with and honestly in all the stories that I've done and all the places that I've been
I've never
Ever found it as difficult as it is right now to explain to my girls with go
It's it's not
It's going to take a long time
I think you're absolutely right we're going to process this for a long time and you niche
This is a president you covered since he was running for president you
Stadium up
Close day after day after day
This was
I think it's
We would all agree the worst day
Of his presidency
And there been a lot of
A lot of days that have been difficult
What do you what do you think
For you would you look back
On this fix that you're going to most remember
The thing I'm probably going to most remember is
How much the consequences of present
Trump
Rhetoric
He didn't have to deal with
It was surreal to be at the White House
Realize the Stillness
It's realize how safe we were on the White House complex
How how barricaded the president was as he could watch on TV
I'm the consequences of his
Conspiracy theories
I've conferred consequences of him begging people on and rolling them up
I'm and then abandoning them to do what they met with the US Capitol
We've seen as president 4 years
Play with fire
And we've seen people close to the president who
People would say should know better enable him
And he made people feel entitled to be able to break into the US Capitol and in the moment where his
His words
We're having
Physical manifestations the president didn't have
Active at Aldi with Elsa
And I think that when you think about the world you think about I'm going to say it dictators and tyrants and authoritarianism
You realize that in a place like Haiti I think about
Is there a dictator 2
Wreak havoc on people and then they can be
They can go and live in Paris so they can go and be
Be somewhere else where they don't have to deal with their consequences
President-trump
Did not have to deal with
The consequences
If someone was going to die
President Trump's life was never at
Anatomy of the thing that that sticks with me
Power in the wrong hands power
In the hands of someone who turns it on a mob of people who
Incites them to do these things it can corrupt and it can be really really deadly
And that can happen in the United States and this is us this is
Who American Canby
If they are pushed
And if they are given information
I'm in if they are not at all
Told the right things in Toulouse
I honestly think something I'm going to remember is your voices the voices of the
The three of you
Because I had my earpiece in
And so whenever
I was looking for a place to
Tubidy I was trying to find safety I didn't know it was going to happen I was hearing your reporting and it was
It was so important to me to hear that and to hear your voices and to
Feel like I was grounded I think I'm going to remember that
I think that that is something that's going to stick with me when I think about
This experience listening to Tulisa genuinely being
Scared for Lisa
Genuinely being scared
Wanting in some ways to look at Judy and say okay if Judy can keep this together and I can keep it together I think that's something that's going to stay
Stick with me because I was of course all that at the White House
At times really wanting to get emotional at times I almost cried and
So I didn't try and that's something that
None of us cried on camera I think we could all day none of us cried on camera that's right
The lucky one because I could not only listen to
Look at the preview
While you were doing your work and eat
One of you was
Simply remarkable I just want to say two quick things
I think I will take away as somebody who first
When do the capital is as an intern while I was in college to work for my congressman
This is back in the late 1960s or the long time ago
That building
Is a place of reverence if the center of the government yes along with the white house but it's where all of us
The people are represented at the people's house
And just see it the file the way that it was
On Wednesday that sassy people climbing on the building and breaking in our remember that
Remember is
How far
Misinformation
Falsehood flies
The whole
Stu of
Of rumor and
Conspiracy theory
Can fuel something like
It's just
We watched it
And this time it led to something really horrible
In tragic
And I'm going to
I'm going to remember that
For a long time
But you three are simply remarkable and you inspire me every single day yamiche Alcindor
Lisa Desjardins
What a great conversation thank you
We love you Judy who