Former Tacoma mayor on storming of Capitol by Trump supporters: ‘This is domestic terrorism’
Congresswoman and former Mayor of Tacoma Marilyn Strickland was awaiting proceedings to certify the 2020 presidential election in favor of Joe Biden when hundreds of people in support President Donald Trump forced their way into the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday afternoon.
Strickland, who was watching from the House Office Building, where her office is located, saw the doors to the floor suddenly shut.
“You could tell something had happened but you didn’t know what it was,” Strickland said.
Then the news reports started trickling in that a mob had forced its way into the building.
“It was just surreal watching this happen in real time,” she said.
Strickland, who told The News Tribune of her experience over the phone, said she and her staff were safe.
“I am in a safe location sheltering in place,” she said. “That’s really all I can tell you right now, but we’re doing fine.”
Strickland won her race for the 10th Congressional District, which represents Olympia and portions of Thurston, Pierce, and Mason counties, in November and had just been sworn in at the Capitol on Monday.
“If you’re used to being here on the Capitol campus, you’re acutely aware of how secure it is,” she said. “To hear that a large group of people had just basically stormed the Capitol and were on the floor was really disconcerting.”
She condemned the actions of those storming the building.
“This was not a peaceful protest,” she said. “This is domestic terrorism.”
President Trump needs to “vocally and forcefully denounce the behavior,” Strickland said.
“Trump and his enablers, who have been sowing seeds of discontent trying to undermine the validity of this election, are responsible for this,” she said. “So he needs to take responsibility and just tell people to go home.”
Strickland said she was expecting a long day due to debates and restrictions over how many delegates from each state could be on the house floor at one time. But she wasn’t expecting a riot.
“No one in their wildest imagination imagined that we would be here watching this happen in the halls of Congress,” she said.
Strickland said she’s anxious to certify the election so that Biden can take office and she can move on to tackle other issues.
“We are still in the middle of a pandemic we need to get vaccines out to people,” she said. “We have an economic recovery we have to work on.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 3:00 PM.
