Impeachment manager chokes up describing 'terrifying banging' on House chamber doors amid Capitol attack

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Impeachment manager chokes up describing 'terrifying banging' on House chamber doors amid Capitol attack
Rep. Madeleine Dean said she would "never forget" the "terrifying banging" she heard on the House chamber doors on January 6.Getty Images
  • Rep. Madeleine Dean teared up as she discussed the Capitol attack during Trump's impeachment trial.
  • Dean said she would "never forget" the "terrifying banging" she heard on the House chamber doors.
  • "The truth is, this attack never would've happened but for Donald Trump," Dean said.
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Impeachment manager Rep. Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania on Wednesday became emotional as she recounted the Capitol attack and what it was like to be in the House chamber as a pro-Trump mob descended on the building.

Speaking during the second day of former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial, Dean said, "So they came, draped in Trump's flag, and used our flag, the American flag, to batter and to bludgeon. And at 2:30, I heard that terrifying banging on House chamber doors. For the first time in more than 200 years, the seat of our government was ransacked on our watch."

Dean added: "The truth is, this attack never would've happened but for Donald Trump."

The Pennsylvania Democrat said she would "never forget" the sound of the banging on the House chamber doors or the "panicked calls" she made to family members.

Five people, including a police officer, died as a result of the Capitol riot on January 6.

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Trump provoked the riot in a speech earlier in the day, in which he falsely claimed he won the 2020 election and told his supporters to "fight like hell." Dean said in her remarks that the president's broader effort to overturn the election result and baseless allegations of mass voter fraud also helped lay the groundwork for the insurrection.

"This was not just one speech. This was weeks and weeks of deliberate effort by Donald Trump to overturn the election results so that he didn't have to give up the presidency," Dean said.

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