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Trumpist Senators ‘Hid From Colleagues in Closet’ as Capitol Riot Raged Around Them

Sen. Tommy Tuberville recounted hiding in a storage closet with around a dozen colleagues.

On Jan. 6, as the Capitol riot raged around them, a rag-tag group of pro-Trump senators hid in a closet to plot their next move, fretting that the insurrection was making them look pretty bad. The new detail comes from a Washington Post interview with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), the college football coach-turned MAGA congressman whose first full day in his new job coincided with the Capitol riot. He recounted hiding in a storage closet with around a dozen other Trump-supporting senators as they sought privacy from their colleagues to thrash out a plan. “One thing that was brought up was that people were hurt,” Tuberville recalled, adding that the theme of the discussion was: “Do we want to continue this if there’s not going to be a result we are looking for anyway?” Some senators did change their minds after the closet meeting, but Tuberville went on to object to certifying the electoral college votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He conceded to Post that Trump’s rhetoric ahead of the riot was a “mistake,” but, asked about his own actions, said: “I have no regrets.”