LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – Saturday marks the three-year anniversary of the events of January 6, 2021 in Washington D.C.
FOX5′s John Huck sat down with Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto, who was preparing to debate a senate colleague over election results in Nevada and Arizona on that day. She spoke about how the events unfolded from her perspective, and where we are three years later.
“It’s vivid to me today, as it was back then,” she said. “It was something that was so unexpected, and it was a shock that this would even happen in our country.”
She was making her way to debate in the Senate chambers when she was confronted with the reality of what was unfolding outside the Capitol. She described walking past a Capitol police officer flushing his eye out in a restroom sink. She learned that he had been pepper sprayed and that protesters were nearby.
“We’re keeping them at bay,” the officer told the Senator. “Don’t worry, we’re going to take care of you.”
Cortez Masto said she knew that President Trump was holding a rally on the nearby Ellipse and it became clear that protesters were moving from there to the Capitol.
She explained that the legislators in the chamber were later transferred to a secure location where video monitors revealed what was happening in real time.
“We knew it was bad,” she said. “And for all of us. I don’t care whether you’re Republican, Independent, Democrat. Everybody in that room, except for those who were still challenging the election.”
She stated that the Senators agreed to stay and finish their job, regardless of how long it took.
“We’re going to finish this, because we were just that adamant that showing the strength of our democracy and the peaceful transfer of power was important at that moment, not just for those people living in the United States, but for those around the world,” the Senator said.
Three years later, Senator Cortez Masto is disappointed that the country seems to remain “just as divided.” However, she said that not everyone sees the efforts behind closed doors to remedy that.
“A lot of the legislation that we pass that you don’t hear about is bipartisan,” she noted. “There’s a lot of support and trying to work together in a bipartisan way to get things done.”
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