Pro-Trump senator hid in closet with a dozen other Republicans while Capitol riot unfolded: report

On Tuesday, The Washington Postreported that Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) hid in a closet with roughly a dozen other Republican senators while the Capitol attack took place on January 6.

According to the report, during that time many of the lawmakers huddled there questioned whether they would still go through with a plan to object to the counting of electors in closely divided states won by President Joe Biden — which the rioters were attempting to influence. Some did change their minds, but Tuberville, a former college football coach newly elected to the Senate, did not.

"He does remember a few details," reported Ben Terris. "'One thing that was brought up was that people were hurt,' he recalled in one of several interviews with The Washington Post. Plus, Biden was going to end up president, whether they objected or not. 'Do we want to continue this,' Tuberville remembered his colleagues mulling, 'if there's not going to be a result we are looking for anyway?' Some Republican senators changed their minds after the closet huddle, but Tuberville's vote was not in question. Coach stuck with the play and formally objected to certifying the electoral college votes in Arizona and Pennsylvania."

For his part, Tuberville insists he only cast these votes because it was what the voters of Alabama wanted him to do.

Tuberville went on to oppose establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate the Capitol attack, which ultimately died in the Senate. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) later set up a select committee to conduct the investigation instead.