Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)
Throughout that impeachment trial, once we noticed all of it knit collectively — when it comes to the maps and the movies and the footage and noticed the entire thing going down without delay — it was stunning.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)
It was already a tough day for me. It was the one-year anniversary of my brother’s passing [former Rep. Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)]. My complete household was gathered at my mother and father’ home. I wasn’t there. They usually’re texting me, as I am sitting on the ground watching the proceedings happen, saying, ‘Are you OK?’ I’m considering, ‘They’re asking me, am I OK for the one-year mark.’ I did not understand they have been watching tv, watching the Capitol get stormed. No thought.
That was the case for lots of us. We have been getting pinged earlier than we had any clue.
Rep. Ann Kuster (D-N.H.)
Rep. Ann Kuster was considered one of 4 lawmakers lower than 50 toes from a gaggle of rioters as they have been evacuated from the Home gallery: The total story has not come out on the Home facet. On the Senate facet, we noticed the video of Mitt Romney. … That for me is part of the story that I must convey, as a result of I used to be part of that. Each second counted.
The entrance of the mob was coming towards us in that hallway. You can hear them. I did not see them as a result of I used to be fussing [with my gas mask].
A gaggle of them had come up that staircase and are available down that hallway. … That eight-and-a-half minutes, with all my colleagues nonetheless caught contained in the chamber, pinned down, calling their households to say goodbye.
I am making an attempt to convey how shut this got here within the Home.
… on making an attempt to remain protected, bodily and emotionally, one yr later
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.)
I do not go anyplace in Connecticut with out police safety once I’m doing my official duties. That was not the case previous to Jan. 6. The extent of harassment directed at my household is extra vital than it was. The job is totally different now. These individuals are not nicely, they usually come after us in a really, very totally different, very private manner.
Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Sick.)
Rep. Rodney Davis was there when a gunman attacked a GOP Congressional Baseball Sport apply in 2017: I’ve seen the vitriol earlier than. I imply, I needed to run from bullets on a baseball subject with my associates a few years in the past.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.)
We have to work out a technique to do safety within the individuals’s Home. … I need everyone who’s right here to be protected. However I do not wish to use your security as an excuse to not get this place again to the place individuals can come see it. And there is a technique to do each.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
I all the time felt protected going into the Capitol. The one instances I’ve not felt protected have been on 9/11 and on Jan. 6. I really feel protected going now, however I’ll all the time have that tiny little query mark in my thoughts.
Kuster, who’s helped develop a assist group for the handfuls of Democrats who have been within the gallery that day: Now we have this textual content chain. And generally the textual content is, ‘Who’s bringing the wine?’ or teasing [Rep.] Jason Crow (D-Colo.) about bringing pie. After which generally it is, ‘I am actually having a tough time.’ ‘This is a e book about trauma that may provide help to.’
It is an extremely highly effective assist system. I would say that at this level, we love one another. We take care of one another. And it is not a lot that the story is about us. The story is about this place that we love that’s so necessary to our nation and to our future.
… on how the riot has affected relationships between the events
Tester: I feel it will be very easy to say ‘I’m by no means working with these guys once more.’ However finally, in the long run, I’m right here to get issues executed and I’m right here to attempt to transfer the ball ahead.
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)
Particularly within the Home, there appears to be extra proof of [Jan. 6 affecting relationships].
Kuster: Properly, [on Jan. 7], I used to be getting a Covid vaccine. The scene was surreal. It is like out of a film. I used to be sitting in these seats with Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and two southern Republican males.
And the 2 of them are sitting there, Thursday morning, bragging about what number of busloads of supporters that they had dropped at Washington, like that that they had paid for, presumably. Possibly their marketing campaign funds. They usually’re actually bragging about that, sitting proper subsequent to me.
Rep. Sean Casten (D-Sick.)
I can’t vote for a invoice that involves the ground that is sponsored by individuals who voted to overturn the election outcomes, until they’ve acknowledged the error of their methods. Which thus far consists of [Rep.] Tom Rice (R-S.C.), and that is it. I would not go as far as to say not work with individuals, as a result of good concepts come from all corners.
Davis, considered one of Minority Chief Kevin McCarthy’s unique picks for the Home Choose Committee on Jan. 6: No person’s failing to work with the Democrat committee chairmen who voted to not certify George W. Bush’s election in 2004. I do not see a push to not work with [Rep.] Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as a result of he was debating whether or not or to not certify outcomes that got here in for President Trump on the Home ground in 2017.
Armstrong, one other of McCarthy’s unique picks for the Jan. 6 panel: I feel amongst the rank-and-file, it has thawed some. I feel from ideological ends, it hasn’t.
Fitzpatrick, who co-chairs the bipartisan Downside Solvers Caucus: If we implode on one another, if we begin to erode our establishments, lose religion in our establishments, that would be the finish of democracy. And I do not suppose individuals understand how fragile democracy is, how younger it’s, and the way prone it’s to that.
So any time I see my colleagues assault one another on the Home ground, I do not care which occasion they’re from, I’ll inform them you are making your adversaries very pleased proper now. Thoughts the burden of your phrases as a result of they’ve penalties.
… on how they see the violence now
Murray: We bodily had to return into that Capitol that very same night time [to finish certifying the election]. And I believed that was an important second that mentioned that we weren’t going to permit this to occur. … I feel what I’m involved about is the fragility of that second. All people stood collectively — or just about everyone apart from just a few stood collectively — at that second. I hope none of us ever neglect that.
Casten: I am not offended anymore. I am simply making an attempt to determine what do you do when you might have been entrusted with duty as a member of the USA Congress — and a big faction of your colleagues stood down when any individual tried to kill you.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
I give it some thought often. To me, it is a day like 9/11. That is a day like when John Kennedy was assassinated. You are too younger to know that date, however that date is in my thoughts. Each of these occasions had a long-lasting impression on me. Jan. 6 has had a long-lasting impression on me.
Murkowski: I used to be scared. After which I acquired actually offended. And now it is nearly extra of a way of disappointment in acknowledging that, for some, they’ve chosen to both transfer the occasions to the again of their thoughts — simply neglect about them — or have sort of re-imagined the details that we stay by.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.)
Rep. Cheney, vice chair of the Home Choose Committee on Jan. 6: Whether or not or not we inform the reality about it, and whether or not or not we maintain individuals accountable, and ensure it by no means occurs once more — it truly is the ethical query of our time.
… on shifting ahead
Armstrong: I attempted to not do it earlier than, however I’ve made a aware effort to battle about concepts and never ship the snarky tweet that you just suppose is gonna get a bunch of clicks — and also you suppose you are pleased — and then you definitely look again at it 48 hours later, and you are like, ‘Actually, is that actually value it?’ … While you exaggerate one thing, you lose the ingredient of the argument. And either side try this. I want we’d do it much less.
Tester: After the sixth, I feel it confirmed the establishments are strong they usually’re holding up. … When the establishments can’t be screwed up by anyone particular person or group of individuals, that’s a really constructive factor.
Thune: As we glance to the long run, the extra that we get on the market and speak about concepts, ideas, and establish and relate to individuals the place they’re at … the higher likelihood we’ll have of being an electable governing majority for the long run. And the extra we dwell on what occurred prior to now, individuals are going to discover a ceiling.
Casten: It is, in some ways, redoubled my dedication to public service. As a result of I discover myself incessantly fascinated about that line of Lincoln’s, that ‘there was all the time simply sufficient advantage on this nation to put it aside; generally none to spare, however all the time simply sufficient.’
Murkowski: I had a choice to make on whether or not or to not run once more. And for a number of various causes … the better factor to do would have been to say that I can’t run. However I selected the tougher path, I feel. And I did so as a result of I feel this place is value saving.
Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.)
We do not choose the instances that we stay in. They’re right here. We every individually decide about how we’ll stay in these instances.
Photographs: Related Press
