Congressman says he was prepared to use a baseball bat to protect staff

WASHINGTON D.C. (KTRK) — As the calm continues in our nation’s Capitol, one local lawmaker is telling us what he saw as rioters stormed inside the building on Wednesday afternoon.

Republican Congressman Michael McCaul said he barricaded himself and his staff inside his office and even picked up a baseball bat in case he had to defend them against what he referred to as the angry mob.

McCaul represents Texas’ 10th District, which stretches from west Houston to Austin. He tells us he saw the crowd forming on Wednesday morning and said even before things turned violent, he was worried something bad could happen.

“That was an outright assault on the United States Capitol, and a dark chapter for our democracy,” said McCaul.

McCaul said he was still in his office when he first learned the crowd had made it inside the building.

“I was getting ready to go to the floor when the alarms went off in the Capitol complex and the broadcast from the Capitol police said to stay in your office and lock down,” he said.

McCaul and his staff watched the events unfold on television, as rioters climbed the walls outside.

“We heard the mob outside our office door and we barricaded it with a couch,” he said. “That’s really all we had. We can’t carry weapons in the Capitol, and have to rely on Capitol police,” said McCaul.

The congressman said he and his staff were worried that the mob would break down the door.

“I picked up a baseball bat,” he said. “That’s all I had to protect myself in the event they broke into the office.”

McCaul said that’s when Capitol police showed up. He heard a skirmish between the protestors dressed in paramilitary outfits and law enforcement.

“The Capitol police had been involved in a skirmish with them, and had blood all over their uniforms,” he added. “It really was a dark chapter for America and democracy in the United States.”

McCaul said he and his staff are fine and he believes those who broke in the Capitol building should be prosecuted.

He also said those who stormed the Capitol misled protestors to make them believe Congress could overturn the election results and when it became clear that was not going to happen, things turned violent.