Jan. 6 Committee Airs Never-Before-Seen Footage of Lawmakers During Capitol Riot: 'Do You Believe This?'

The committee also aired new chat logs that showed Secret Service agents worrying about Mike Pence's safety after Donald Trump began tweeted about the vice president

Chilling footage at a Thursday House hearing offered a never-before-seen look at lawmakers huddling as the U.S. Capitol was under siege on Jan. 6, 2021.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi can be seen in various clips, sitting in an undisclosed secure location as supporters of Donald Trump stormed the building and asking a staffer if lawmakers were still technically in session.

"There has to be some way to maintain the sense that people have, that there is some security or some confidence that government can function and that you can elect the president of the United States," Pelosi said in the footage. "Did we go back into session?"

A staffer off-camera then said, "We did go back into session but now apparently everyone is putting on tear gas masks to prepare for a breach."

"They're putting on their...?" Pelosi then asked quizzically.

"Their tear gas masks," the staffer responded.

"Do you believe this? Do you believe this?" Pelosi quietly said in astonishment.

In the footage, Pelosi could be seen huddling with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as the three tried to get through to other state and federal representatives to determine how to proceed with the election certification that had been delayed.

"Oh my gosh ... it's just horrendous and all at the instigation of [Trump]," Pelosi said on the phone in the footage.

Elsewhere in the footage, Pelosi could be heard saying that she had gotten reports about damage done to the building, including "defecation" on the House floor.

"It could take time to clean up the poo poo ... literally and figuratively [that] they are making in the Capitol," Pelosi said in the footage.

Nancy Pelosi. Chip Somodevilla/Getty

Pelosi could also be seen frantically calling Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, to see if he could send additional officers to help restore order.

Elsewhere in the hearing, members presented logs from Secret Service chats, showing that agents were worried about the threats that could be facing Mike Pence after Trump began directing his ire at the vice president.

Trump has maintained that Pence could have and should have acted to stop the certification of the electoral vote count during the joint session of Congress being held that day.

"Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify," Trump tweeted on Jan. 6, 11 minutes after Pence was seen on live TV leaving the Senate floor.

After the tweet went live, agents began chatting about the dangers that could come next.

"POTUS just tweeted about Pence, probably not going to be good about Pence," wrote one agent.

"POTUS said he lacked courage," wrote another Secret Service agent in a message shown by the committee. "Over 24k likes in under 2mins."

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Footage taken during the breach of the Capitol shows some Trump supporters chanting "Hang Mike Pence" — a chant that the committee previously heard the former president approved of.

The committee earlier heard how, as rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol that day, the vice president, members of his family and staffers absconded into a hiding place, narrowly avoiding the mob. Meanwhile, those on Pence's security detail were so worried for their safety that they made goodbye calls to their families.