After confronting death & Trump mob “it’s an all-hands-on-deck moment” to defend democracy: Rep. Peter Welch

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On January 6, 2021, supporters of former President Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 presidential election had been stolen, launched a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress’s formal certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Rep. Peter Welch, who has been Vermont’s lone Congress member since 2007, was in the House chamber waiting to vote. As rioters rampaged in the halls, Welch was ordered to lie on the floor by Capitol police who stood over him and his colleagues with guns drawn. Welch heard a gunshot. He thought he might die.

“All of us thought that at some point,” says Welch. “When we heard that gun go off, and we saw that the mob was trying to break the doors down, that this could include violence. So the thought definitely occurred to every single person who was there, including the Capitol police officers. In fact, five officers died as a result of…