Capitol riot memories linger on the ground where Trump will take the oath of office
No matter what path Donald Trump takes to the Capitol rotunda before saying his oath of office, he’s guaranteed to pass sites of chaos, violence and destruction wrought by supporters who stormed the Capitol in 2021.
WASHINGTON — No matter what path President-elect Donald Trump takes to the Capitol rotunda before he says his oath on Monday, he’s guaranteed to pass sites of chaos, violence and destruction wrought by supporters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
If Trump comes through the Senate carriage entrance, as he did en route to the inauguration stage when he took his first oath of office eight years ago, he would have two paths to choose from. The first left, going up the stairs toward the Senate chamber, would trace the path where a mob chased a Capitol Police officer toward the floor of the Senate on Jan. 6.
Staying on the same level and taking the second left instead, he would pass the very first breach point, where the windows were smashed, alarms were blaring, and hundreds of rioters flooded into the building. Later, that’s where many rioters brawled with police trying to force the mob outside.
Another possible entry point — the one President Joe Biden took four years ago before his inauguration — would take Trump through the rotunda doors on the east side of the Capitol, the scene of forceful entries and violent clashes — and the spot where some of the Oath Keepers militia members convicted of seditious conspiracy breached the building.
If Trump were to enter through the House side of the Capitol, he would cross over the path of Jeffrey Smith, a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was repeatedly assaulted — including when he was struck in the head with a flying metal object on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol — and then died by suicide. (Smith was found to have died in the line of duty after a medical board determined the injury he sustained on Jan. 6 was “the sole and direct cause of his death.”)
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