January 6 U.S. Capitol riot
The January 6 U.S. Capitol riot occurred in 2021 when then-president Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to prevent the U.S. Congress from certifying the electoral votes from the Nov. 2020 presidential election (in which Joe Biden was elected as the next President of the United States of America). Because it was an attempt to prevent a legitimate president-elect from taking office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d’état incited by outgoing president Donald Trump.
In the weeks between the election in early Nov. 2020 and January 6 ('21), Trump had vigorously contested the 2020 election results in a social media campaign called "Stop the Steal", though with no actual evidence (as determined by numerous lost lawsuits). Per the "January 6th Report" later issued by Congress[1], the riot was a last-ditch effort after multiple futile attempts by Trump to get the 2020 election results overturned, as he also tried to intimidate various state and federal officials (including his own vice-president, Mike Pence) to take illegal actions designed to overthrow valid election results. As of early 2023, Trump has not been prosecuted on any of these allegations.
Beginning in early afternoon of Jan. 6, 2021, an armed mob assaulted the Capitol police force and would injure 140 law officers before the day was over[2]. Rioters broke past police lines; more than 2000 of the attackers broke into the U.S. Capitol building (by breaking windows and locked doors) and tried to reach senators and congressional representatives, either to harm them or hold them as hostages. The building's furnishings, doorways, and artwork were severely damaged. A protester was shot by police at the door into one of the houses of congress and died in the chaos. A Capitol policeman died soon after the attack, possibly from a blow to the head. Another committed suicide within weeks of the attack. During the attack, there was frequent chanting of "Hang Mike Pence" and demands of "Where's Nancy?" as the rioters sought to detain then-vice-president Mike Pence (GOP, Indiana) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (Democrat, California).
All the congressional members and staff escaped intact, but only narrowly. After Capitol police and assisting forces regained control of the building[3], Congress resumed session late that night in a defiant, bi-partisan gesture, and it completed the certification of the votes in the wee hours of the following morning. Throughout the riot, Trump's Department of Defense declined to send assistance to Capitol police.
President Donald Trump (GOP) has been criticized widely for inciting the riot and attempting to interfere with the peaceful and lawful transfer of power between presidents, and for having allowed it to continue for 178 minutes until he finally saw that it had failed in its intended purpose, only then issuing a weak message via Twitter urging rioters to go home and saying "We love you. You're very special".
After the riot, as nearly a thousand of its participants began to be prosecuted[2], Trump's popularity waned drastically, although as of early 2023, he still commands a loud and potentially violent following and has control of enough of the Republican party's finances to be able to threaten and cajole various party members to do as he says[4].
References
- ↑ Final Report by the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, Dec. 22, 2022, 117th Congress Second Session, House Report 117-663. After the riot, six months went by while the 100-member U.S. Senate attempted unsuccessfully to create an investigative commission that would have consisted of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, after which the U.S House of Representatives appointed this committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans to investigate. There could have been five Republicans, but the party leaders tried to prevent any Republicans for participating. Two Republicans (Liz Cheney and Adam Kinsinger) broke party discipline to join the committee anyway, at the cost of losing their own seats during the next election.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 24 Months Since the January 6 Attack on the Capitol at the U.S. Department of Justice website; shows the prosecutions still underway and states that about 140 police officers were assaulted that day, including about 80 from the U.S. Capitol Police and about 60 from the D.C. Metropolitan Police.
- ↑ Capitol police faced the initial assault of the mob alone and were losing ground and direly needing backup. They were first assisted by an FBI tactical team, then by the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, with later help securing the cleared grounds from the D.C. National Guard. The U. S. Department of Defense failed to send any troops to the Capitol on that day.
- ↑ The Jan. 6 committee says the Trump campaign ripped off donors. But was it illegal? at National Public Radio (NPR). After he lost the presidency in 2020, and before the riot, the Trump campaign took $250 million in donations given towards an election defense fund to pay for legal fees to overturn the 2020 presidential election results, but instead, the money went to the Save America political action committee, and then from there to several pro-Trump organizations which are headed by former officials close to Donald Trump's inner circle. This enormous pot of money is now being used to threaten and cajole Republican party members to adhere to Trump's choices or lose funding.