Impeachment trial: Disturbing new video shows Mitt Romney fleeing and Proud Boys smashing into Capitol

Donald Trump accused of being 'inciter-in-chief'

Senator Mitt Romney was seen fleeing as Proud Boys and other rioters smashed their way into the US Capitol in previously unseen video footage played at Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

The video, taken from the Capitol security footage and containing no sound, showed the Utah senator running down a corridor, having been told to flee by Capitol Hill police officer Eugene Goodman.

Mr Romney had previously been walking, but after being spoken to by the officer, he was seen to turn and run the other way. Moments earlier, scores of protesters, at least one of them carrying a baseball bat and wearing full tactical gear, were seen smashing their way into the building.

While some of the moments of violence and chaos that erupted on 6 January, after hundreds of Mr Trump’s supporters stormed the legislature building as it met to ratify Joe Biden’s electoral win, had been seen before, many of those shown on Wednesday had not.

Other footage, also not previously seen, showed Officer Goodman leading the rioters away from vice president Mike Pence as they yelled that they wanted to kill him. Democratic senator Chuck Schumer of New York was also seen fleeing for safety as hundreds of rioters stormed into the building.

“Where are they counting the votes?” they yelled at one point. Mr Goodman could be heard to say: “Don’t do it. Don’t do it.”

As the footage was played to the Senate, Mr Romney tweeted his thanks to the officer, saying: "We appreciate your bravery and service, Officer Eugene Goodman!!"

As he left the chamber during a break, he was asked by reporters about what he had just watched and said: "It tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. That was overwhelmingly distressing."

Asked if he knew that the officer who had saved him was Mr Goodman, he said he did not. "I look forward to thanking him."

Congressman Eric Swalwell, one of the Democrats acting as “prosecutors” as the Senate hears the case against the former president, played the chamber the footage and said the rioters had been just 58 paces away from where the senators were seated.

What Mr Trump did, said the congressman, was widely different to any of the challenges to Mr Biden's win launched by members of the Senate. 

“This was a deliberate and premeditated incitement to his base to attack our Capitol and stop the counting going on inside,” he said. “And this was foreseeable, especially to President Trump - who warned us it was coming."

Several of the Democrats wiped tears from their eyes as they recounted the events of the day, when the Capitol was stormed “on our watch”.

Stacey Plaskett, who represents the US Virgin Islands, played video showing the view of the rioters as they stormed into the building, just hours after Mr Trump held a “Stop the Steal” rally on the National Mall, and repeated again his false claim the election had been rigged.

“During the assault on the Capitol, extremists reportedly coordinated online and discussed how they could hunt down the vice president. Journalists in the Capitol reported they heard rioters say they were looking for Pence in order to execute him," said Ms Plaskett.

The footage showed Mr Pence and his family quickly moving down the stairs. The vice president turned around briefly in the video. During the same time frame, rioters were spreading throughout the building, Ms Plaskett added.

“As the rioters reached the top of the stairs, they were within 100 feet of where the vice president was sheltering with his family, and they were just feet away from one of the doors to this chamber," she said.

In one video shown, the crowd can be heard chanting "hang Mike Pence" as they stood in the open door of the Capitol building. A photo showed a gallows outside on the lawn.

“After President Trump had primed his followers for months and inflamed the rally-goers that morning, it is no wonder that the vice president of the United States was the target of their wrath, after Pence refused to overturn the election results," she said.

CNN anchor Jake Tapper tweeted to point out that at almost the precise moment Mr Pence was seen being led to safety, Mr Trump had tweeted that his vice president "did not have the courage to do what was needed" to protect the country.

Last month, seven days before he left office, Mr Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives, which found he was responsible for “inciting insurrection”, by his speech on 6 January, as a joint session of Congress was set to affirm the electoral college votes of all of the 50 states. It marked the final step to clear before Mr Biden’s inauguration on 20 January.

On Tuesday, Democrats had outlined their broad case against the former president, who remains the only person to be twice impeached.

On Wednesday, with a close attention to detail, they sought to show a direct link between Mr Trump's words, and the events that shocked the world. For months, they said, he had falsely told his supporters the election victory belonged to them, and then on 6 January, he told them the only way to protect their country was to “fight like hell”.

“The evidence will show you that ex-president Trump was no bystander,” said congressman Jamie Raskin, who is leading the prosecution in the Senate.  

“The evidence will show that he clearly incited the January 6 insurrection.”

He added: “It will show that Donald Trump surrendered his role of commander-in-chief and became the inciter-in-chief.”

Democrats said Mr Trump’s language and the words he used repeatedly to claim, falsely, the election was rigged, were chosen to intentionally antagonise and fire up his supporters. 

They also said that when Mr Trump had the opportunity to stop the violence he is accused of inciting on January, he rather posted a video message in which he told his supporters how much he “loved” them.

“Evidence will show you that he assembled, inflamed, and incited his followers to descend upon the Capitol, to “stop the steal”,  block vice president Pence, and Congress from finalising his opponent’s election victory over him,” said Mr Raskin.

Additional reporting by the Associated Press