Rep. Ronny Jackson describes 'insane' moment rioters overran Capitol: It was 'fight or flight'

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Rep. Jackson describes making makeshift weapons as Capitol rioters overran police

Dr. Ronny Jackson, former White House physician and newly-elected Republican congressman from Texas, says he broke furniture to make weapons as protesters tried to breach the House chamber.

Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, shared the harrowing experience of sheltering from rioters in the U.S. Capitol earlier this week.

Speaking Friday on "Fox & Friends," Jackson said he and his colleagues had "no choice" but to prepare to fight as angry mobs of Trump supporters descended on the House chamber to stop the certification of the presidential election.

Jackson said lawmakers saw nowhere to run, so they started fashioning makeshift weapons in preparation for a physical confrontation. He said police decided to evacuate lawmakers when it became clear that the attackers were going to break their way into the House chamber. 

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RONNY JACKSON: "When it was happening, it was just basically fight or flight. We were looking around and there was nowhere to run or nowhere to go so we opted to fight. ... Capitol police came into the chamber and all of a sudden, they just shut the doors and you could hear the doors locking, click-click-click, and they posted, armed on the inside. A couple of my colleagues said hey, there must be a bomb threat but I knew there wasn’t a bomb threat because they wouldn’t lock us in the chamber and post people with weapons inside for a bomb threat. Right away I knew there must be something that is not supposed to be. 

...

They said everybody remain in your seats and remain calm. About that time we started hearing boom boom boom, and they said everybody get your gas mask out, have them ready to put on, they're deploying tear gas in the House and we may have to evacuate. ... That's when we knew it was more than one person and things were deteriorating. 

...

We heard a lot of commotion, people just like banging on the doors, but it quickly escalated, the doors were buckling, they were ramming into the doors so hard. ... We started grabbing big pieces of furniture and started piling them in front of the doors. The doors were buckling, they were about to break through the doors. It was crazy. We decided to find a way to defend ourselves. We all took our ties off so we didn't get choked with our ties. We ran around and we broke the legs off the furniture to make makeshift weapons and our goal was to stand our ground, and if they came in, to encourage them to turn around or to be able to fight back or to make a pathway for us to get out of there. 

It was an insane day. I could not imagine in my wildest dreams that that would ever happen in the U.S. Capitol.

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Watch the full interview above.