‘Distressing and emotional’: Senators relive horror of riot at US Capitol

Reporters vie for a response from Senator Mitt Romney (Scott Applewhite/AP)

US senators have spoken of their emotion after spending 90 tense minutes during the impeachment trial of former president Donald Trump watching footage of the violence at the US Capitol.

They had seen much of the video of the insurrection before, but not like this – on screens near their desks, screams and anguish echoing across the chamber, with Democratic prosecutors explaining in detail how close they came to danger on January 6, and how much worse it could have been.