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The Plot to Seize the Capitol #J22
In 2016 over the course of two days, 500 Democrats seized control of the United States House of Representatives in an insurrection designed to obstruct Congress.
Many of the same Democrats who sit on the January 6th Select Committee participated in the planning and execution of a secret plot to occupy the Capitol and seize control of the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Their stated motive was to obstruct the official proceedings of Congress until its members met their demands. Despite warnings that their plot would violate 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) a crime that could land them in federal prison for eight years, they moved forward ultimately seizing the House floor for 25 hours over the course of two days. This is the story of their two-day insurrection.
THE PLOT
Federal investigators determined the 2016 Plot to Seize the Capitol was first discussed on June 19, 2016, during a meeting between Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Steve Israel.1 Two days later, in the dark of night, Rep. Katherine Clark and a dozen other Democrats met in Rep. John Larson’s office to determine how they could stop the leadership of the House of Representatives from conducting business. Their insurrection was endorsed by Pelosi but she advised the plotters to recruit a person of color to lead their takeover of the People’s House of Representatives. As a result, Rep. John Lewis, a former civil rights leader, was recruited to be the ‘face of the plot’, and a final meeting was held in his office late on June 21st.
The morning of the 22nd, with the Plot to Seize the Capitol finalized, Rep. Pelosi called a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus to reveal her plan—in attendance was the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton. Realizing that her members might be reluctant to break the law Pelosi stood and said,
“Many of you have said that we cannot have another moment of silence without action to follow. These moments of silence have almost become a moment of denial because it’s a denial of what we need to do. “Now, many of you have said, we want to be disruptive, we want to be dilatory, we want to make sure the public knows that there is an opportunity to get this done. This isn’t about politics, it’s not about elections, it’s not about campaigns. It’s much bigger than that.”
While Pelosi filled her caucus in on the plot, Rep. Larson secretly met with the House Parliamentarian Thomas Wickham to understand the possible ramifications of their planned insurrection. Wickham stressed to Larson that their actions would violate 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) and if convicted the entire Democrat caucus could spend the next eight years in prison.
Despite encouragement from Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi only 60 members joined Rep. Lewis and Rep. Clark on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. Presumably, the prospect of spending the next eight years in prison was enough of a deterrent to keep the remaining Democrats away. In an effort to convince more Democrats to participate both Hillary and Bill Clinton tweeted their public support of the occupation:
Shortly afterward, Pelosi and Lewis reached out to President Obama and asked him to encourage the rest of the Democratic Party to get behind their effort to seize control of the House floor. In response, he tweeted his support just after lunch.
THE OCCUPATION
When Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Dan Webster realized the United States House of Representatives facing an insurrection led by members of the minority party he ordered the House into recess before they could seize control of the government. Understanding that a de facto coup d'etat was being broadcast live to our enemies in Russia, and according to House rules requiring video feeds to be turned off when the House isn't in session, C-SPAN cut the chamber’s video off.2 Despite this Democrats began illegally broadcasting their occupation of the House to a worldwide audience of millions. Their illicit streams were broadcast on C-Span3, Russia’s state-controlled RT4, and the coverage was amplified on Twitter by people like Russian-born Igor Volsky:
The Democrat’s occupation of the House floor had successfully blocked all official proceedings of the United States House of Representatives. By noon Speaker Pro Tempore Rep. Ted Poe reconvened the House, asked the Chaplain to recite a prayer, and led the members in the Pledge of Allegiance. When Poe tried to bring the House to order Rep. Lewis and his fellow Democrats shouted vitriolic threats and heaped abuse on the Texas Republican until he was forced to evacuate the House floor. The Democrat’s insurrection had successfully blocked the official proceedings of Congress for a second time.
As the world watched the Democrat takeover of the legislative branch, the number of occupiers grew. When the occupation began only House members were present but soon their ranks were bolstered by non-members.5 Throughout the day the Capitol Police allowed demonstrators to fill the public galleries and the Sergeant at Arms expressed concern that there weren't enough Capitol Police on duty. Meanwhile, Democratic senators began ordering their staff to bring aid and comfort to the occupiers in the form of pizza, sandwiches, snacks, candy, and even sleeping bags.6
When the sun began to set hundreds of Democrat protesters began assembling on the Capitol steps in support of the insurrection. Members of the occupation would take turns leaving the House floor to speak to the growing mob just outside of the Capitol rotunda.
The Democrat occupation of the House had lastest almost eleven hours when Speaker Paul Ryan attempted to reconvene the House for the third time. House Democrats joined by non-member Democrats on the floor and protesters in the gallery shouted down the Speaker. Ryan continued calling for decorum but the occupiers had swollen to almost two hundred with their vocal supporters filling the public galleries. Heckling from the public galleries is so uncommon the Capitol Police were caught off guard and didn’t know how to respond.
Running out of time, Speaker Ryan attempted to hold a vote to override Obama’s veto. The occupiers formed a line to physically block Republican members attempting to reach House electronic voting machines as other Democrat members broadcast their efforts on the internet to a global audience. Members were forced to use paper cards and the vote was eventually completed. Four and a half hours later at 2:30 AM Speaker Ryan reconvened the House and attempted to vote on bills to fund the Department of Veteran Affairs, military construction, and the fight to stop the Zika virus outbreak. When it became clear conducting any additional business in the United States House of Representatives would be impossible, Speaker Ryan adjourned the house for thirteen days until July 5th—hoping that Democrats would leave the House on their own accord without bloodshed or arrest.
The Democrats remained in control of the House throughout the night and the next day they found a podium and carried it to the front of the House floor and began taking turns speaking as their fellow members livestreamed their remarks to the world. With only a dozen Democrats left on the House floor Rep. Stenny Hoyer, the Democratic Whip ordered available Democrats to return to the House floor to bolster the ranks of the insurrection.7 While some Democrats like Rep Maxine Waters claimed they would continue to occupy the House until July 5th - Rep. Lewis convinced his fellow Democrats to leave the House floor that afternoon.
THE AFTERMATH
All told more than 500 Democrats participated in the insurrection and occupation of the United States House of Representatives in the summer of 2016. With the support of President Obama and Hillary Clinton, official proceedings in the United States Capitol were obstructed for more than 25 hours between June 22nd and June 23rd.
Hundreds more trespassed outside the Capitol in restricted areas including the Capitol steps, the lawmaker’s parking lot, and Capitol grounds. The occupiers, conspirators, and protesters violated more than a dozen federal laws including 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) Obstructing Official Proceeding of Congress—punishable by up to eight years in federal prison. Despite this, not a single person was arrested, investigated, or charged by FBI Director James Comey or Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The insurgents were allowed to go home and celebrate the fact they had taken over the most powerful legislative body in the world over the course of two days while the world watched.
Eventually, even Speaker Ryan decided not to punish the occupiers but instead passed a rule fining any member who broadcasts proceedings from the House floor in the future $500.8 Rep. Eric Swalwell, famous for his long-term affair with a Chinese Communist Party spy9, went to Twitter to complain about the fine even though he wasn’t getting fined.
POSTSCRIPT: Calling the occupation of the House a ‘sit-in’ is offensive. The sit-in is a tool for those without power — those for whom the system has failed. When four African American college students walked up to a whites-only lunch counter in Greensboro and sat quietly waiting for service that would never arrive the civil rights sit-in was born. These brave civil rights advocates were blazing a trail showing other African Americans who lacked political power that they could influence the powerful to make a change.
Listening to members of Congress talk about their obstruction of Congress as a ‘sit-in’ is offensive. It was an abdication of their responsibilities as legislators. If they honestly felt as though they had no power they should have resigned in protest — not sit on the floor blocking Congressional proceedings. I can’t tell you how upsetting the image of these people — the most powerful in the world — sitting on the floor doing nothing was to me personally. I was livid.
POSTPOSTSCRIPT: Unsurprisingly, the editors of Wikipedia will not allow the Democrat’s 2016 Plot to Seize the Capitol to be included in the list of security incidents in the House:
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/democrats-sitin-gun-control-224687
https://web.archive.org/web/20161229102219/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/28/why-punishing-democrats-for-their-gun-control-sit-in-is-dicey-territory-for-paul-ryan/?utm_term=.21aee0c3fd65
https://www.theverge.com/2016/6/22/12008592/c-span-congress-periscope-facebook-live
https://www.rt.com/usa/347798-house-sitin-gun-legislation/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/house-democrats-gun-violence-sit-in_n_576b2f9be4b09926ce5dc3e1
https://wwmt.com/news/nation-world/pillows-sleeping-bags-for-house-dems-protest
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/house-democrats-sit-in-day-2-224719
https://www.cnn.com/2016/12/28/politics/house-gop-fines-democrats-gun-sit-in
https://www.foxnews.com/media/swalwell-affair-chinese-spy-us-intel
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