WASHINGTON D.C. — New congressman for Utah in the First District, Blake Moore was a guest on KVNU’s For the People program on Thursday. He was in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday when it was stormed by Pro-Trump supporters trying to disrupt the voting of the Electoral College.
“I’ll try to briefly summarize it, I’ll try not to be overly dramatic. But there were a couple points that were really sort of harrowing, if you will. The point when the Capitol police entered the chamber and basically barricaded…locked all the doors because there’s central doors in there, there are so many. So they get those double-doors locked down and they stand there at each one of them and we noticed there was like a barricade,” the congressman explained.
Moore said at one point they thought that protesters could barge into the chamber at a certain entrance location.
“Some of my colleagues had set up a little station to push back on that point and you heard the banging start. Before it all kind of went on, I looked out from one of the windows with a colleague (who said)’ I’ve never seen it get this close.’ And I’m like ‘Oh really?’ It was getting really loud and pretty raucous”
Moore said he started getting texts and learned that somebody had been shot outside, although he didn’t know the details about it. He knew that the building had been breached and that the Senate chamber had been breached. He said the banging on the doors became louder and they were soon evacuated to the hallways.
Moore issued a statement on his website on Thursday (blakemoore.house.gov)that said in part: “This week, I was thrilled to be sworn in to the U.S. House of Representatives and join my colleagues as we seek to protect and defend the Constitution. But I was greatly saddened and troubled by the assault on the United States Capitol yesterday, and I urge the American people to unite and help usher in a peaceful transfer of power. Violence and intimidation against the Legislative Branch are unacceptable and un-American.
It is clear to me that each and every one of my Republican colleagues is firmly committed to election integrity. Our union functions and thrives because the people’s votes are fairly counted, and we were dismayed by reports of fraudulent activity during the 2020 presidential election. Every abuse must be thoroughly investigated, and I will support legislation to safeguard our elections so that all Americans can trust the security of our democracy.”