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Crowd outside the Capitol during the attack (top); bear spray deployed against a line of policemen (bottom left); attackers breach a police line (bottom right)
Date
January 6, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-01-06) c. 12:53 p.m. – 5:40 p.m.[1] (UTC-5)
Extensive physical damage;[7][18][19] offices and chambers vandalized and ransacked; property stolen;[20] more than $30million for repairs and security measures[21]
Encouraged by Trump,[47][48] on January5 and6, thousands of his supporters gathered in Washington, D.C., to support his false claims that the 2020 election had been "stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats",[49][50][51][52] and to demand that then-Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory.[53] Starting at noon on January 6 at a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse,[54] Trump gave a speech in which he repeated false claims of election irregularities[55] and said, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."[56][57] As Congress began the electoral vote count, thousands of attendees, some armed, walked to the Capitol, and hundreds breached police perimeters.[58][59] Among the rioters were leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepersmilitia groups.[60]
The FBI estimates that between 2,000 and 2,500 people entered the Capitol Building during the attack,[61][62][63] some of whom participated in vandalism and looting,[64][65] including in the offices of then-House speakerNancy Pelosi and other Congress members.[66] Rioters also assaulted Capitol Police officers and reporters, and attempted to capture and harm lawmakers.[67] A gallows was erected west of the Capitol, with rioters chanting to "Hang Mike Pence" after he rejected calls to overturn the election results.[68] With building security breached, Capitol Police evacuated and locked down both chambers of Congress and several buildings in the Complex.[69] Rioters occupied the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor.[70][71]Pipe bombs were found at both the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters, and Molotov cocktails were discovered in a vehicle near the Capitol.[72][73] Trump resisted sending the National Guard to quell the mob.[74] Later that afternoon in a Twitter video,[75] he restated false claims about the election and told his supporters to "go home in peace".[76][77] The Capitol was cleared of rioters by mid-evening,[78] and the electoral vote count was resumed and completed by the early morning of January 7. Pence declared President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris victorious. Pressured by his cabinet, the threat of removal, and many resignations, Trump later conceded to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement.[79][80]
A week after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection, making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice.[81] In February, after Trump had left office, the Senate voted 57–43 in favor of conviction, but fell short of the required two-thirds, resulting in his acquittal.[82] Senate Republicans blocked a bill to create a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack,[83][67] so the House instead approved a select investigation committee.[d][84][85] They held nine televised public hearings on the attack,[86] voted to subpoena Trump,[87] and recommended that the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecute him. On August 1, 2023, following a special counsel investigation, Trump was indicted on four charges.[88][89] As of May 6, 2024, of the 1,424 people charged with federal crimes relating to the event,[90] 820 have pleaded guilty (255 to felonies and 565 to misdemeanors),[90] and 884 defendants have been sentenced, 541 of whom received a jail sentence.[90] Some participants in the attack were linked to far-right extremist groups or conspiratorial movements, including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters,[91][92] some of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy.[93]Enrique Tarrio, then the chairman of the Proud Boys, received the longest sentence, a 22-year prison term.[94] Trump and elected Republican officials have since promoted a revisionist history of the event by downplaying the severity of the violence, spreading conspiracy theories, and portraying those charged with crimes as hostages and martyrs.[e]
Biesecker, Michael; Kunzelman, Michael; Flaccus, Gillian; Mustian, Jim (January 10, 2021). "Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover". Associated Press. Archived from the original on January 11, 2021. Retrieved January 11, 2021. The insurrectionist mob that showed up at the president's behest and stormed the U.S. Capitol was overwhelmingly made up of longtime Trump supporters, including Republican Party officials, GOP political donors, far-right militants, white supremacists, members of the military and adherents of the QAnon myth that the government is secretly controlled by a cabal of Satan-worshiping pedophile cannibals. Records show that some were heavily armed and included convicted criminals, such as a Florida man recently released from prison for attempted murder.
^Cite error: The named reference AJCTwoSuspended was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"California Man Pleads Guilty to Felony Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach". U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia (Press release). July 8, 2024. Archived from the original on July 14, 2024. Retrieved July 14, 2024. In the 41 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,450 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 500 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony. The investigation remains ongoing.
^Cite error: The named reference ABC News 2021-01-07 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^Buchanan, Larry; Gamio, Lazaro; Kelso, Christina; Khavin, Dmitriy; Leatherby, Lauren; Parlapiano, Alicia; Reinhard, Scott; Singhvi, Anjali; Watkins, Derek (January 7, 2021). "How a Pro-Trump Mob Stormed the U.S. Capitol". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved October 31, 2023.
Harvey, Michael (2022). "Introduction: History's Rhymes". In Harvey, Michael (ed.). Donald Trump in Historical Perspective. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003110361-1. ISBN978-1-003-11036-1. Archived from the original on June 15, 2022. Retrieved November 21, 2022. As with the Beer Hall Putsch, a would-be leader tried to take advantage of an already scheduled event (in Hitler's case, Kahr's speech; in Trump's, Congress's tallying of the electoral votes) to create a dramatic moment with himself at the center of attention, calling for bold action to upend the political order. Unlike Hitler's coup attempt, Trump already held top of office, so he was attempting to hold onto power, not seize it (the precise term for Trump's intended action is a 'self-coup' or 'autogolpe'). Thus, Trump was able to plan for the event well in advance, and with much greater control, including developing the legal arguments that could be used to justify rejecting the election's results. (p3)
Castañeda, Ernesto; Jenks, Daniel (April 17, 2023). Costa, Bruno Ferreira; Parton, Nigel (eds.). "January 6th and De-Democratization in the United States". Social Sciences. 12 (4). MDPI: 238. doi:10.3390/socsci12040238. ISSN2076-0760. What the United States went through on January 6th was an attempt at a self-coup, where Trump would use force to stay as head of state even if abandoning democratic practices in the U.S. Some advised Trump to declare martial law to create a state of emergency and use that as an excuse to stay in power.
Eisen, Norman; Ayer, Donald; Perry, Joshua; Bookbinder, Noah; Perry, E. Danya (June 6, 2022). Trump on Trial: A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality (Report). Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on June 9, 2022. Retrieved December 16, 2023. [Trump] tried to delegitimize the election results by disseminating a series of far fetched and evidence-free claims of fraud. Meanwhile, with a ring of close confidants, Trump conceived and implemented unprecedented schemes to – in his own words – "overturn" the election outcome. Among the results of this "Big Lie" campaign were the terrible events of January 6, 2021 – an inflection point in what we now understand was nothing less than an attempted coup.
Eastman v Thompson, et al., 8:22-cv-00099-DOC-DFM Document 260, 44 (S.D. Cal. May 28, 2022) ("Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history. Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower – it was a coup in search of a legal theory. The plan spurred violent attacks on the seat of our nation's government, led to the deaths of several law enforcement officers, and deepened public distrust in our political process... If Dr. Eastman and President Trump's plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power, undermining American democracy and the Constitution. If the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will repeat itself."), archived from the original.
Jacobson, Louis (January 6, 2021). "Is this a coup? Here's some history and context to help you decide". PolitiFact. Archived from the original on June 20, 2022. Retrieved January 7, 2021. A good case can be made that the storming of the Capitol qualifies as a coup. It's especially so because the rioters entered at precisely the moment when the incumbent's loss was to be formally sealed, and they succeeded in stopping the count.
Duignan, Brian (August 4, 2021). "January 6 U.S. Capitol attack". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved September 22, 2021. Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d'état.
^Rutenberg, Jim; Becker, Jo; Lipton, Eric; Haberman, Maggie; Martin, Jonathan; Rosenberg, Matthew; Schmidt, Michael S. (February 1, 2021). "77 Days: Trump's Campaign to Subvert the Election". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 31, 2021. Trump's [...] effort to reverse his loss turned into [...] an extralegal campaign to subvert the election, rooted in a lie so convincing to some of his most devoted followers that it made the deadly January 6 assault on the Capitol almost inevitable [...] With each passing day the lie grew, finally managing to do what the political process and the courts would not: upend the peaceful transfer of power that for 224 years had been the bedrock of American democracy.
^Feuer, Alan; Haberman, Maggie (April 13, 2024). "Inside Donald Trump's Embrace of the Jan. 6 Rioters". The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 13, 2024. Retrieved April 14, 2024. Recently, however, his celebrations of the Capitol riot and those who took part in it have become more public as he has promoted a revisionist history of the attack and placed it at the heart of his 2024 presidential campaign ... Mr. Trump hasn't always embraced Jan. 6 — at least not openly ... Mr. Trump's embrace of Jan. 6 not only has meant describing the attack in which more than 100 police officers were injured as a "love fest." It also has led him to tell a journalist that he wanted to march to the Capitol that day but that his team had prevented him from doing so.
^Klepper, David (January 1, 2022). "Conspiracy theories paint fraudulent reality of Jan. 6 riot". PBS News. Retrieved October 21, 2024. By excusing former President Donald Trump of responsibility, minimizing the mob's violence and casting the rioters as martyrs, falsehoods about the insurrection aim to deflect blame for Jan. 6 while sustaining Trump's unfounded claims about the free and fair election in 2020 that he lost.
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