A pardonedformer Proud Boy leader led a marchto the U.S. Capitol. Democrats gathered to decry the storming of the American seat of government on Jan. 6, 2021. The White House unveiled a new website declaring "it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection."
The five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot saw the Trump administration and Democrats present two very different accounts of that momentous day, which led to both aHouse impeachmentand afederal criminal indictmentof a former president.
Tuesday's partisan split screen highlighted the starkly different narratives that have formed around Jan. 6 in the years since a mob ofPresident Donald Trump'ssupporters stormed the Capitol to try and prevent the certification of Trump's 2020 election loss toJoe Biden.
January 6 defendants march in DC five years after attack on Capitol
Among Trump's first acts in office after he was inaugurated to begin a second term following his 2024 election victorywas to pardon nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, a fact the Trump administration highlighted ina new Jan. 6 pageon the White House website.
"President Trump took decisive action to pardon January 6 defendants who were unfairly targeted, overcharged, and used as political examples," the page begins, before continuing with a selected timeline of events that day, video of Trump's speech before the riot, links to government reports about Jan. 6 and other material.
The White House website repeats Trump's unfounded claim about fraud in the 2020 election in slamming Democrats for certifying the results and accusing them of staging "the real insurrection." Much of the site also presents an accounting of the day that's at odds with the findings of a bipartisan investigation into the attack, which also is linked to and criticized on the page.
A federal grand juryindicted Trumpin 2023 on charges he conspired to steal the 2020 election in a series of actions that culminated on Jan. 6. Special Counsel Jack Smith dropped the charges after Trump won the 2024 election, citing a Justice Department policy against prosecuting a sitting president.
Smith, in testimony to Congress last month, said Trump was responsible for the attack on the Capitol.
"Our view of the evidence was that he caused it and that he exploited it and that it was foreseeable to him," he said,according to a transcriptreleased by the House Judiciary Committee.
Many Republicans also voted to certify the 2020 election results and condemned what happened on Jan. 6, includingMike Pence, Trump's former vice president. Pence, who enraged Trump when he certified the election,said in a social media postmarking the five-year anniversary that Jan. 6 "was a tragic day."
"But it became a triumph of freedom when, after Capitol Police quelled the violence, leaders in both chambers in both political parties reconvened the very same day and finished democracy's work under the Constitution," Pence continued.
The White House website, under a heading in its Jan. 6 timeline titled "betrayal of the president," accuses Pence of "cowardice and sabotage."
Democrats warn that Jan. 6 sentiment remains
At a hearing on Capitol Hill to commemorate the anniversary, Democrats warned that Trump's pardons of rioters and hisinstallation of Jan. 6 defendantsinto jobs at the Justice Department underscore how the forces that led to the events of that day are still influencing the country.
"It is still January 6 in America," said Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat who led the House impeachment proceedings against Trump after the 2021 riot. "And it will be until the forces of strong, nonviolent democracy prevail."
In an emotional moment during the anniversary event, a rioter and former Trump supporter expressed remorse for her actions as she held back tears. Pamela Hemphill, who served a 60-day sentence for participating in the insurrection, later rejected a pardon from the president for her actions.
"Once I got away from the MAGA cult and started educating myself about January the sixth, I knew what I did was wrong," she said. "I am guilty. And I own that guilt."
The crowd knocked her down during the riot, Hemphill said. After her head was stepped on and her knee was cut, she wasn't breathing.
"If it hadn't been for the Capitol Police officers, I would've died," she said.
Former Proud Boy leads march
Another Jan. 6 defendant, former Proud Boy leaderEnrique Tarrio, led a "memorial march"to the Capitol on the anniversary.
Tarrio was convictedof engaging in a seditious conspiracy against the government while he was head of the Proud Boys, a far right extremist group, that culminated in Jan. 6. Hewas sentenced to 22 yearsin prison andlater releasedafter Trump commuted his sentence.
The marchwas billed as honoring those who died on Jan. 6, including Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter who was shot and killed inside the Capitol during the riot. The Justice Department recentlysettled a lawsuitbrought by Babbitt's family.
The march began at the Ellipse, where Trump spoke on Jan. 6, 2021, before a crowd of his supporters descended on the Capitol. The event also drew counterprotesters.
More than 140 police officers were injured on Jan. 6 as the mob overran the Capitol,according to the final reportof the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol. At least 2,000 people gained access to the Capitol, according to the report, causing lawmakers to flee in fear.
The committee held nine public hearings and drew on the testimony of more than 70 witnesses, many who served in the Trump administration.
"That evidence has led to an overriding and straight forward conclusion: the central cause of January 6th was one man, former PresidentDonald Trump," the report concluded.
Trump claims Jan. 6 'scandal'
Trump told House Republicans on Tuesday that the committee that investigated the riot ignored that he told protesters to behave "peacefully and patriotically" and "never reported it."
"It's a scandal," Trump said.
In fact, the final report on the investigation quoted Trump telling participants about 20 minutes into his speech near the White House to proceed "peacefully and patriotically." But the report said he later amped up his language with lies about the election and urging participants to "fight like hell" for their planned walk down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol.
See images of pro-Trump rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
Trump also said Tuesday the House investigation never reported that then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, turned down his offer to provide 10,000 National Guard troops for protection on Jan. 6. Trump alleged that Pelosi was "caught" acknowledging the offer during a documentary her daughter made.
"I said, 'Whoa, this is a major story,'" Trump said. "They are vicious people."
Fact checkershavecalled Trump's statement about offering 10,000 troops false.
The House's final report on the investigation said Trump raised the possibility of deploying troops at the White House but his aides discouraged him, saying they were unnecessary. His acting Secretary of Defense, Christopher Miller, testified there was no order to prepare 10,000 troops.
Pelosi said Tuesday on social mediathat Trump "incited" the "violent insurrection" that forced lawmakers, staffers and reporters to "flee for their lives."
"January 6th was not an aberration and it was not spontaneous," Pelosi said. "It was the culmination of a sustained assault on truth, on the rule of law, and one of the most sacred principles of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power."
The House impeached Trump a second time after Jan. 6, buthe was acquitted by the Senate,paving the way for him to run again in 2024.
Trump is the only president impeached twice.He told House Republicans on Tuesdaythat they need to maintain control of the chamber, saying Democrats will "find a reason to impeach me" a third time if they win a majority.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Republicans, Democrats battle over Jan. 6 narrative on anniversary
