WASHINGTON (AP) — Reminders of the violence are becoming increasingly occasional at the Capitol.
Scars on the walls have been repaired. Windows and doors broken by the rioters were replaced. And there is no plaque, display or memorial of any kind.
Lawmakers rarely mention the attack, and many Republicans are trying to downplay it by repeating President-elect Donald Trump’s claims that that day’s carnage was exaggerated and that the rioters were victims.
In some ways, it is as if the insurrection of January 6, 2021, which shook the foundations of American democracy, never happened.
“It’s been deleted,” said Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt. “Winners make history and Trump won. And his version is that it was a peaceful gathering. Obviously completely untrue.”
If Trump pardons rioters, as he said he would after taking office on Jan. 20, it would be “an exclamation point on his version of what happened,” Welch said.
Some of the 1,250 defendants convicted of crimes after Jan. 6 called for the deaths of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president, as the mob violently overran police and into the building penetrated. Some carried guns, zip ties, chemical irritants and Confederate flags as they ransacked the Capitol looking for lawmakers. They sought to block the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory over Trump, repeating the Republican incumbent’s false claims that the election was stolen.
But the disruption was only ephemeral. Congress resumed its work that evening and completed its constitutional role.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, one of seven Senate Republicans who voted to convict Trump on impeachment charges after Jan. 6, said: “It’s been a very, very dark time.” Some lawmakers, she said, “really want this.” leave us behind.”
However, there are different reasons for this.
Former Republican Sen. Mike Braun, a habitual Trump ally who left Congress this year and was elected governor of Indiana, said many in the party believe the Justice Department is “disproportionately armed” against some rioters. He said many lawmakers who were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 wanted as much distance as possible between then and now.
“I think we all remember that,” Braun said. But he added: “When you start putting up plaques it looks like that further highlights the divide on this issue. And perhaps the greatest remedy is to just keep going.”
The plaque that never happened
Congress passed a law in March 2022 requiring “a plaque of honor bearing the names of all officers of the United States Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia, and other federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies serving on the violence that occurred at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”
The Architect of the Capitol was ordered to obtain the plaque within a year and place it permanently on the West Front of the Capitol, where the worst of the fighting took place.
But almost three years later, there is no plaque left. It is unclear why and who is responsible. A spokeswoman for the Architect of the Capitol referred questions to the House Sergeant at Arms, who did not respond to requests for information.
Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer of New York and then-Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky signed the plaque, according to a Senate leadership aide who was familiar with the process but was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition that this is the case anonymity. The Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries of New York, also supported him. A spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not respond to requests for comment.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, who chaired the House Administration Committee when the law passed, wrote to Johnson in May asking why the plaque had not been installed. “If there is a reason for the delay, I look forward to any information you can share to that effect and what will be done to resolve the issue,” Lofgren said.
She never heard anything.
“It’s not just the plaque, although it means something to the officers who were there, but the fact that no one cares enough about them to uphold the law and recognize the sacrifice they made for us and our country have,” Lofgren said. “This service to their country is not respected.”
New York Rep. Joe Morelle, now the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, said the refusal to place the plaque was part of an effort “to deny that January 6th happened and the harm it caused to the U.S. police force.” -Capitol inflicted”.
The officers who were there
Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who fought the rioters and was captured on video screaming as they crushed him in a doorway leading to the inauguration ceremony, said it was “incredibly insulting” that the plaque was not installed became.
“It’s an incredibly simple thing, but it can mean a lot to so many who fought that day to defend democracy, Congress, the vice president and the staff,” he said. He said Jan. 6 had become a political issue. “It shouldn’t be,” he said.
Hodges said he expects to work on Inauguration Day, one of thousands of police officers who will protect the president and the city on Jan. 20.
Former Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell, who retired because of his injuries while fighting rioters near the Western Front Tunnel, said he lost “my career, my health” and even some friends and family after the attack. He and Hodges were among the few who encouraged law enforcement to speak publicly about their experiences.
“Looking back, it’s like it was all for nothing,” Gonell said. “It’s a betrayal.”
He said he wished the plaque was on the Western Front so Trump could see it before he takes the inauguration stage in a few weeks.
Trump “could read the names of the officers before he left,” Gonell said. “So he knew his actions had consequences.”
Changing Republican Narrative
In the days following the Capitol siege, Republican condemnation was nearly unanimous.
“Count me out,” Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of Trump’s key allies, said on the evening of Jan. 6. Then-Republican leader of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy of California said a week later that Trump bore “responsibility” for the attack.
But McCarthy soon made amends and, within weeks, traveled to Florida to meet Trump. It was a fateful decision that began Trump’s tardy return to power. When Trump returned to Capitol Hill during his campaign last year, Republican lawmakers not only met with him but also gave him a standing ovation.
Over that time, Republican attitudes toward the January 6 attack have changed. GOP lawmakers have condemned the work of the Democratic-led committee that investigated the insurrection and fiercely disputed its findings. Some Republicans have echoed Trump’s words that the imprisoned rioters were “hostages” potentially worthy of a pardon.
Still, the matter could be a sensitive one for Trump, who has promised pardons on “Day 1.” It is unclear how many people he wants to pardon or whether this includes the most violent criminals.
“If they physically assaulted police officers, I don’t think they deserve a pardon,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., one of Trump’s closest allies, said in a CNN interview. “I think they should serve their time.”
“Trust in history”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., said there are legacies of the attack even without a plaque hanging on the wall – such as increased security at this year’s certification and Biden’s invitation to Trump to come to the Oval Office after the election , a return to the peaceful transfer of power.
“Don’t you think people were thinking in the back of their minds that this was different than Jan. 6?” she said. “So it works, it’s important.”
Congress has updated the Electoral Count Act, the undiscovered law that governs the certification of a presidential election, to make it harder for members of Congress to object to the results.
But with Trump back in power and many Republicans supporting his version of events, Democrats fear that a misrepresentation of January 6 will gain even more traction.
“If you don’t want to remember history, the more likely it is to repeat itself,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. (*6*)
In the days after the riot, Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said he believed a broken window should be kept as a reminder. But the windows were replaced, reinforced and cleaned up. There is little evidence of the widespread damage, amounting to millions of dollars, that the rioters inflicted on the building.
It’s “painful” to see attempts to rewrite what happened, Himes said, but he doesn’t believe Jan. 6, 2021 will be forgotten.
“I have faith in the story,” Himes said.
