WADESBORO — Barricades and army trucks blocked off streets to Pastor Mark Perko’s hotel in Washington D.C., the day before rioters stormed the United States Capitol, resulting in the death of five people.
His GPS had to keep redirecting him as street after street on his way to the hotel was blocked in preparation for rallies in support of President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, the same day of the Georgia Senate runoff and the day President-elect Joe Biden’s victory was to be formally certified. Perko finally called the hotel to ask how to get there.
He was told to show his hotel reservation on his phone to a member of the National Guard patrolling a blocked road before he was allowed to pass. This experience, even the night before the insurrection, was surreal for Perko.
“Every street in probably a ten block radius was blocked,” he said. “Dump trucks were parked…there were police and National Guard at every intersection. It was just kind of weird to see that and think, ‘What in the world is getting ready to take place up here?’”
The Deep Creek Baptist Church Pastor traveled to Washington, D.C. to have a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The arrangements for this were made prior to any knowledge of rallies and Trump supporters protesting the election.
“It all started when I got a phone call from one of the area representatives from Family Research Council, who I do lot of work with over the years,” Perko said. “They asked me if I’d be interested in going to a meeting with the Secretary of State. They were looking for some pastors to go to this meeting.”
Perko was excited to be selected as one of the ten pastors to have a paid trip to Washington and meet with Pompeo for a private, off the record meeting. He was joined by another North Carolina pastor, a few from California and some from the Northeast.
A few people asked Perko why he was going to the rally, but he wasn’t there for any rally — he was there for a meeting that just so happened to be the same time of the historic day for the United States.
“I even had someone in the hotel lobby ask where I was during the riot,” Perko said.
The events as they happened
On the morning of Jan. 6, Perko waited until all the people who were going to the rally left to come downstairs and eat breakfast. He watched on a big-screen TV Trump’s speech to his supporters.
The president’s supporters traveled from across the country to the nation’s capitol in order to protest the election and the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden. The President addressed his supporters before the insurrection at the Capitol Building, saying, “We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.”
He encouraged them to march down the Mall towards the Capitol in protest of his false claim that the election was stolen from him. Perko walked about two blocks to the Family Research Council building, which he said was safe due to the streets still being blocked off from traffic. It was when he and the other pastors got to the building that the shocking events of the day began unfolding as they watched on TVs in the building.
The group was then shuttled to the state department building in Washington D.C., right around the time rioters entered the Capitol.
“We weren’t really aware of anything else going on until in the lobby of the State Department building,” Perko said. “All of our phone alarms, alerts, went off about the curfew…then it kind of hits you, ‘What in the world is going on three or four blocks from where we are located?’”
Perko and the rest of the invited pastors continued on with going through multiple levels of security. Despite what was happening at the Capitol, Perko felt safe with the security at the State Department, especially since Pompeo is fourth in line to succeed the presidency.
Tensions were rising at the Capitol, just as his meeting was about to take place.
Protesters approached the Capitol, broke through security and entered the building. Members of the Senate and the House of Representatives were quickly evacuated from their chambers. Photos captured the protesters running through the building, taking selfies, destroying offices and stealing items.
But while all this was happening, Perko was continuing on with his meeting. They sat down with Pompeo in a large meeting area. Perko and the rest of the pastors listened to Pompeo talk about his experiences, but Perko declined to share the nature of the rest of the off-the-record meeting.
“We had to turn in our cell phones,” Perko said. “Given some protocols as to what we can ask, what we can say. Everything was going to be off the record. Nothing was to be put on social media, etc., etc., which we expected. It was just going to be a candid meeting with the Secretary of State.”
Perko said you could tell things were escalating outside because the meeting was cut short. A member of Pompeo’s staff came into the room to get him to leave, but Pompeo did not close the meeting out until they all prayed together.
Afterwards, the group was quickly ushered out the building.
“We got in our van and worked our way back through the city,” Perko said. “We were not around any violence that was going on, just mainly the traffic because they already enacted the curfew by then and people were trying to get out of town.”
Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered a citywide curfew on Jan. 6 from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. the following day. No one was allowed to walk, bike, run, stand, loiter or use a mode of transportation during the curfew hours, unless he or she was an essential worker.
Perko again walked two blocks from the Family Research Council building back to his hotel. He still felt safe, even after the Capitol was sieged, because of the amount of police and armed guards that had descended to the area.
“The only vehicles you saw were military or law enforcement, Capitol police, Secret Service…that were scurrying about,” Perko said. “You could hear sirens everywhere. There were helicopters overhead. I guess maybe evacuating people out or they were news people. I don’t know what kind of helicopters they were.”
He said when he got to the hotel, many guests were returning from the rally. Perko listened in on some of their conversations and had the reoccurring thought, “What in the world is going on?”
Perko saw one woman wearing a “tactical” outfit — slacks, jacket, bullet proof vest, helmet and gear. She was recounting what she’d experienced and described how much pepper spray she got on her.
Perko went upstairs, changed, then came back into the lobby to receive a boxed lunch, which was the only way to receive food since all of the restaurants were closed.
While waiting in line to receive his dinner, he listened to those who were present and watched videos of the protest. He noticed people’s body language and saw how many were genuinely afraid.
“There were comments made that is was actually two different events — the one in the morning where the President spoke, very patriotic, people were packed in line sardines…” Perko said. “Then when it went to the Capitol, it was like there was another group of people that were bringing the trouble and problems.”
Those back in the hotel were in shock, according to Perko. He said many came for an innocent rally, a good time and for a party atmosphere. The siege of the Capitol was not what these participants Perko met wanted to happen.
“One lady in particular was at the Capitol and she had gotten up to one of the doorways that was busted in,” Perko said. “She told me, ‘I was willing to defend that building because there was just no police around.’ She wasn’t sure where (the police) were.”
President Trump eventually addressed the protestors and instructed them to return home, while also telling them how they are “very special” and that he loves them. He still continued his message from earlier in the day, saying the 2020 election was “fraudulent.”
Despite the attack, elected officials knew the importance of certifying the election and returned to the Capitol to complete their task.
A few GOP elected officials shifted away from objecting the certification of the election after the raid.
In Anson’s district, Rep. Dan Bishop voted to object the election results. He was joined by eight senators and 138 other representatives who voted to sustain one or more election results, including the following North Carolina representatives: Ted Budd, Madison Cawthorn, Virginia Foxx, Richard Hudson, Gregory Murphy and David Rouzer.
“I condemn the violent attack on our Capitol, Members of our brave Capitol Police,” Bishop wrote on Twitter. “In American, we settle our differences through debate and discourse, not violence. We are better than this — we have to be.”
Bishop continued, decrying the “group of individuals with violence in their hearts” who attempted to stop the certifying of the election.
“Still, I know millions believe there were issues worth exploring in this election even if results don’t change — I’m your voice,” Bishop wrote.
Senator Thom Tillis wrote he would not oppose the certification of the Electoral College votes.
“Although I certainly wish the results were different, Congress cannot change them without inflicting irreparable damage to our Constitutional Republic,” Tillis said in a press release.
The election results were certified and President-elect Biden will take office on Jan. 20.
House Democrats on Monday introduced a new article of impeachment against Trump, charging him with “inciting violence against the government of the United States.” They will pursue this in the event that Vice President Mike Pence elects not to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump’s presidential powers.
