ATLANTA — Some lawmakers say they are still feeling the trauma from the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol one year ago.
Channel 2′s Dave Huddleston was the only Atlanta television reporter to travel to Washington, D.C. to cover the presidential transfer of power, and the recent election of senators Ossoff and Warnock — not realizing the chaos that was going to greet him when he got there.
Huddleston talked with lawmakers who were trapped inside the Capitol, hiding and unsure what was going to happen to them.
“I still have some scars that remain, some psychological scars that remain,” Rep. Hank Johnson said. “It’s a day of extreme disgrace and dishonor to our flag, to our country, to our democracy.”
Johnson talked to Huddleston about hiding in the Capitol Gallery, crawling on his hands and knees to safety.
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“Everybody get down, everybody get down,” is what he remembers an officer saying. “And then we hear (a) gunshot. Bam! It sounded like it came from right from beneath where we were.”
“Those who were responsible should be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Rep. Buddy Carter said.
A year later, Carter said the insurrection is still one of the saddest days in American history because the attack came from within.
“Because they couldn’t see these images of people smashing windows, beating police officers and destroying the nation’s capital, they didn’t realize how bad it was until that gun went off,” Johnson said. “We knew at that point, that this was something we may not get out of.”
It’s important to remember what happened, learn from it and move forward.
That’s why today, a year later, Johnson held an interfaith public policy roundtable about how to discuss issues without destroying the fabric of democracy.
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