Panic Buttons in Ayanna Pressley’s Office Were Torn Out Ahead of Capitol Riot, Her Chief of Staff Says

The chief of staff for progressive representative Ayanna Pressley says the panic buttons had been removed from her office ahead of the Capitol riots.

January 13, 2021

In the days following the Capitol riots, the trend among reporters trying to make sense of what happened was to talk about the mob as if all of its members had the same goals. They were either hooting rubes cosplaying at revolution or dangerous insurrectionists looking to overthrow the government. The messy truth is that both types of people can be found within a massive group. For every story of a bumbling, maskless fool waving for photographers before being arrested, there's another of an anonymous zip-tie militiaman who ran through the Capitol ready to take hostages.

A new report from the Boston Globe shows just how serious the threat was from some riotous factions. In the story about the scene inside the Capitol, it was revealed that the panic buttons inside of representative and "Squad" member Ayanna Pressley's office had been "torn out."

Pressley's Chief of Staff Sarah Groh said that she has run through drills many times, due to frequent death threats against the representative, who is frequently demonized by conservative media. When she went to press the buttons to call for help in their office, she found the entire unit had been removed before rioters had made it into congressional offices, suggesting a plot from people with access to the Capitol building.

"Every panic button in my office had been torn out — the whole unit,” she said, noting that Pressley and her staff were wary of Capitol police officers that they did not recognize for the rest of the day.