Vermont’s senior U.S. Senator recounted his experience today as the Capitol was overrun one year ago.
Senate Pro Tem Patrick Leahy, a Democrat who is retiring at the end of his eighth term, said he was making some of the most somber and sorrowful remarks of his career as he marked the anniversary of the attack.
“An attempted coup incited not against a president but by a president who promoted and still promotes a litany of lies to overturn the results of an election in order for him to hold onto power that he no longer possesses," said the senator.
Leahy recalled officers removing the Vice President from the dais while he and others were taken to a safe room. There a discussion occurred as to whether the election should be certified while they were in hiding.
“I was standing next to the Parliamentarian and the leather boxes carrying the certification of election and I’m sure we were both thinking the same thing," Leahy recalled. "We will protect our Constitution. We will protect the Senate. We will protect America.”
Leahy lamented that one year later there has been an effort to downplay the events of January 6th by some members of Congress.