For any of you still tiptoeing around the term “terrorist” to describe the angry mob that stormed the Capitol yesterday, let me paint you a very personal picture. Thread:

Large, uncontrolled groups ran unchecked through the halls of the Capitol, which, on top of the Senate and House Floors, houses offices of Leadership and Committee staffs. They had firearms, knives, zip ties, and other weapons/means of subduing others.

My office is one of those. I was in yesterday with a number of our staff. They broke through the outer doors of our office. We, thankfully, had retreated to an interior room and barricaded the doors. We could hear them chanting and taking things feet from where we were hiding.

The worst of it was in the Speaker’s Office. You’ve all the seen the pictures. What is not captured are staffers in similar situations to me and my colleagues, hiding in rooms with the lights off, being as quiet as they possibly can for fear of attack b/c of who they work for.

They ran through those offices antagonizing and searching for staff among the mayhem, all while asking where the Speaker was. That, on its face, is terrifying.

I will never, as long as I live, forget the helpless feeling of holding a desk that we ripped out of the wall against a door and praying that no one tried to come in. It was harrowing. These were terrorists.

They attempted to scare Members and our staff out of completing our Constitutional duty to certify the results of a fair and free election by all accounts other than the Presidents’ and some of his allies. They failed, but that does not change what they are.

We will continue to do the work of the people. I have never felt a sense of duty so strongly. America will persist. We just need to make sure we recognize her on the other side.