Romney says footage shown at impeachment trial let him know how close he was to danger

Mitt Romney.
(Image credit: Joshua Roberts/AFP via Getty Images)

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) told reporters on Wednesday evening that when House impeachment managers showed previously unreleased law enforcement footage of the Capitol riot during the day's proceedings, he learned just how close he had been to the mob.

In the video, Romney is shown running into Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman, who motions for him to turn around, as he was headed directly toward the rioters. Immediately after the attack, video was released showing Goodman diverting the mob away from the Senate chambers, and Romney told reporters he did not know that the same officer had helped him that day.

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"I look forward to thanking him when I next see him," Romney said, adding he feels "very fortunate" that Goodman was "there to get me in the right direction." Seeing the new footage of the attack was "very troubling," he said, and witnessing the "great violence that our Capitol Police and others were subjected to ... tears at your heart and brings tears to your eyes. That was overwhelmingly distressing and emotional."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.