'They think we're like servants': Inside the fractured relationship between the Capitol Police and members of Congress

In the weeks after the January 6 riot, Capitol Police officers were shell-shocked and wounded, both physically and psychologically. They'd been through hell, they'd sacrificed their bodies, they'd lost colleagues who died as a result of the attack. But in the end they had safeguarded democracy and upheld their primary directive: Secure and protect the 535 members of Congress.

Officers could take solace in the fact that they'd done their job, and that it appeared there would be a sweeping examination of the events of the day, one that could bring to light the systemic failures that led to the attack and ensure that nothing like it could ever happen again. But in recent weeks, those hopes have been extinguished, and what was already a tense relationship between Capitol Police and some lawmakers has only gotten worse. Officers bristle at the efforts of some Republicans to whitewash and move past the January 6 insurrection, and many worry the moment will go down as a missed opportunity to fix the substantial shortcomings the attack revealed.