Impeachment Managers Present Devastating 13-Minute Video Compilation of January 6 Attack

On the second day of Trump’s impeachment trial, House managers led by Jamie Raskin, Stacey Plaskett, and Eric Swalwell presented a devastating 13-minute video compilation synchronizing Trump’s January 6 rally speech with the violent assault on the Capitol that followed. The video presentation, which included never-before-seen Capitol security camera footage, body camera footage from Washington D.C. police, and police radio dispatches, provided the fullest view to date of how the Capitol was overrun and came within moments of becoming a mass casualty event. Senators from both parties sat in stunned silence as the video blared at high volume through the Senate chamber, with several visibly shaken and some looking away from the graphic scenes of violence. The presentation fundamentally reframed the trial by making the connection between Trump’s words and the mob’s actions impossible to ignore, creating what multiple senators called an “overwhelmingly distressing and emotional” experience.

The video compilation interwove footage of Trump’s Ellipse rally—where he told supporters “if you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore” and urged them to march to the Capitol—with synchronized footage of rioters breaching police lines, smashing windows, and hunting for lawmakers. The managers showed rioters explicitly citing Trump’s words as their justification, with footage of attackers shouting “Trump sent us” and “we were invited here by the President of the United States.” The video documented the timeline of the attack in excruciating detail, revealing multiple near-misses where senators came within feet of armed rioters, officers being beaten with flag poles and crushed in doorways, and congressional staffers barricading themselves in offices while rioters searched for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence.

Jamie Raskin’s Emotional Opening and Personal Testimony

Raskin’s introduction to the video presentation was deeply personal and emotionally devastating. Speaking just weeks after burying his 25-year-old son Tommy, who had died by suicide on December 31, 2020, Raskin recounted how he had brought his younger daughter Tabitha and son-in-law Hank Kronick to the Capitol on January 6 to witness the electoral vote counting—what he thought would be a peaceful constitutional ceremony just one day after laying his son to rest. When the attack began, Raskin’s children were locked in an office, believing they would die. Raskin told the Senate that his daughter later said to him, “Dad, I don’t want to come back to the Capitol,” capturing the trauma inflicted not just on lawmakers but on their families.

With tears in his eyes, Raskin described witnessing an American flag—the symbol of the nation he had dedicated his career to serving—being used as a weapon against police officers defending the Capitol. He declared with raw emotion: “This cannot be our future. This cannot be the future of America. We cannot have presidents inciting and mobilizing mob violence against our government.” The combination of Raskin’s personal grief, his constitutional expertise, and his moral clarity created a powerful emotional foundation for the evidence that followed. His ability to connect the attack’s personal impact with its broader constitutional implications gave the managers’ presentation a human dimension that transcended partisan politics.

Never-Before-Seen Security Footage Reveals Multiple Near-Disasters

The previously unreleased Capitol security camera footage revealed several moments where senators came within seconds of encountering the violent mob. In perhaps the most dramatic sequence, footage showed Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman—who had already been hailed as a hero for leading rioters away from the unguarded Senate chamber—running through hallways and discovering Senator Mitt Romney heading directly toward approaching rioters. Goodman urgently redirected Romney and an aide, causing them to turn around just moments before the mob reached their location. Romney, visibly shaken after viewing the footage, told reporters: “It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. That was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional. I had no idea how close I came to danger.”

Additional footage showed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his security detail rushing down a hallway before abruptly reversing direction after encountering rioters. The video documented congressional staffers fleeing and barricading themselves inside offices, with audio of their desperate calls for help played alongside the footage. Police radio dispatches captured the chaos and desperation as officers called for backup while being overwhelmed: “We need backup, we’re getting overrun!” The managers showed officers being sprayed with chemical irritants, beaten with flag poles, and having limbs crushed in doorways as rioters attempted to force their way deeper into the Capitol. The footage included scenes of rioters actively searching for specific lawmakers, with audio of chants calling for the hanging of Vice President Pence and demands to find Speaker Pelosi.

The “Where Was The President?” Central Question

The managers’ presentation centered on a devastating question: “Where was the president?” The video documented Trump’s 187 minutes of inaction from the end of his rally speech at 1:10 PM to his 4:17 PM video message telling supporters to go home. During those critical hours, as the Capitol was under siege and lawmakers’ lives were in danger, Trump made no calls to law enforcement or national security officials, issued no orders to protect Congress, and took no meaningful action to stop the violence he had incited. White House records showed no phone calls and no documented activity—Trump simply watched the attack unfold on Fox News from the White House dining room.

The managers emphasized that this timeline proved Trump’s intent: he had assembled the mob, aimed it at the Capitol, and then watched with satisfaction as the attack unfolded. When Trump finally posted his 4:17 PM video telling supporters to “go home,” he praised them as “very special” people and told them “we love you”—messages that the managers argued showed Trump’s continued support for the insurrectionists even as they were being cleared from the Capitol. The presentation included evidence that some rioters interpreted Trump’s eventual message not as a condemnation but as encouragement, with several saying they were proud to have answered Trump’s call.

Bipartisan Senators Visibly Shaken

The video’s impact on senators was profound and visible, with reactions spanning both parties. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski stated that the evidence was “pretty damning” and emphasized “the threat to the institution and what Congress represents, it’s disturbing.” She acknowledged that seeing the complete timeline revealed how much she had been unaware of during the actual attack. Senator Susan Collins, another Republican who had voted that the trial was constitutional, called the presentation “riveting” and described it as “compelling,” though she deferred final judgment until hearing Trump’s defense. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, whose vote switch on constitutionality had already angered his state party, said the presentation was “very powerful” though he remained officially undecided.

Senator Dan Sullivan, a Republican from Alaska, said watching the footage made him “angry” and that it “brings back a lot of anger” from experiencing the attack. Even Senator Ted Cruz, a staunch Trump ally, admitted the footage was “horrific,” though he quickly added he didn’t believe it was relevant to the trial’s constitutional standards—revealing how even Republicans moved by the evidence sought ways to justify their predetermined votes to acquit. Senator Mitt Romney’s emotional reaction was particularly notable given that he had been the lone Republican to vote to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial and had already declared Trump’s conduct impeachable. Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono challenged her Republican colleagues directly: “How do you live with yourself after watching all this if you’re not going to convict the guy?”

According to pool reporters inside the Senate chamber, some senators looked away during the most violent sequences, and when the video concluded, the chamber fell into complete silence. The presentation had accomplished what the managers intended: it made denying Trump’s responsibility for the attack far more difficult and forced senators to confront the full horror of what had occurred. However, despite the video’s emotional impact and the clear evidence linking Trump’s rhetoric to the mob’s violence, the political calculus remained unchanged—most Republicans would still vote to acquit, citing constitutional concerns about trying a former president or arguing that Trump’s speech was protected by the First Amendment. The gap between the evidence’s power and the political reality of a deeply partisan Senate foreshadowed the trial’s ultimate outcome.