Three Years to the Day: Capitol insurrection anniversary on Saturday

TOLEDO, Ohio — Saturday marks three years since a group of former President Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building, following remarks Trump gave in anger over losing to President Joe Biden.

His calls for the large crowd to walk with him down to the Capitol Complex have since been a source of discourse, a debate over how much responsibility he should carry for the attempt to overthrow democracy as Electoral College votes were being tallied. Elected officials on both sides of the aisle have condemned the tragic day in American history, which resulted in a total of five deaths in the time shortly before and in the weeks following the attack.

Here’s how Grace Segers, who was a political reporter for CBS News at the time, described to me what it was like being in the building that day.

“I’ll be honest: it was pretty scary, at first. We weren’t really sure what was going on. I was in the Senate Chamber, when it was locked down. And it was unclear how many people had entered the Capitol or what exactly was going on. But, after about half-an-hour in the Senate Chamber, we were evacuated,” Segers said.

The committee hearings that followed gave us more insight into what Capitol Police were up against, and the anger surrounding how something like this could happen. It also offered a glimpse into the fear staffers, elected officials felt knowing that angry mob was in their presence.

January 6th, 2021: A day of lawlessness we won’t soon forget that resulted in trauma shared by many.