T E X A R K A N A M A G A Z I N E
On January 6, 2021, Congressman Pat Fallon was at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., just three days into his newly elected office representing the Fourth Congressional District of Texas. What began as a normal day on the Chamber floor ended historically as the Capitol was stormed by a rioting mob. “We were sitting in the Chamber at the Capitol when somebody whispered in Nancy Pelosi’s ear, and she left,” recalled Congressman Fallon. “The Capitol police came on the microphone and said there had been a breach in the Capitol, and we were in lockdown. Nobody knew what was going on. Ten minutes later, they tell us there is a gas mask under every chair. We had to rip it out and get it ready to use. The police started getting us ready to evacuate, and I looked back and saw very few Capitol police officers. They were frantic. There were not even enough of them to get one on each door because there are so many doors in the Chamber. I felt compelled to help, and my military training kicked in. Five Republicans from Texas stayed, and we didn’t know what was on the other side of those doors. One guy had this club in his hands. It was a hand sanitizer station pole he had ripped off, and he had it like a Braveheart pike. I found a sanitizer station, and with all that adrenaline, I ripped the club right off the hand sanitizer station like a hot knife through butter. We had our ties on and I screamed to the other guys to get their ties off. If you’re in a street fight, you don’t fight with a tie on because they can drag you down and choke you. So, we all got our ties off and put them in our pockets. We were ready to defend the Chamber because it is the People’s House. You don’t just barge in uninvited. Then someone was shot right outside the Chamber, and we heard ‘shots fired!’ Then, someone from the outside busted through the Chamber glass with a flagpole right where we were standing. It shattered the glass and looked like a bullet hole. We thought they were shooting. That’s when we left, and they took us to an undisclosed location. After one of the other Congressmen found out I had only been in office three days, he assured me this wasn’t a normal day in Congress. It was harrowing for sure.”
A Seat in the People’s House BY L IBBY WHITE
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