- - Jan. 6 anniversary showcases fight over narrative around Capitol riot

Zac Anderson, Bart Jansen and Zachary Schermele, USA TODAYJanuary 6, 2026 at 11:08 PM

58

A pardoned former Proud Boy leader led a march to 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 a House impeachment and a federal criminal indictment of 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 of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol to try and prevent the certification of Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden.

1 / 7January 6 defendants march in DC five years after attack on CapitolPeople hold a banner and placards as they gather ahead of a march from The Ellipse to the U.S. Capitol in memory of those who died on, or in the aftermath, of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, on the fifth anniversary of the attack in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6, 2026.

Among Trump’s first acts in office after he was inaugurated to begin a second term following his 2024 election victory was to pardon nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 defendants, a fact the Trump administration highlighted in a new Jan. 6 page on 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 jury indicted Trump in 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 transcript released by the House Judiciary Committee.

Many Republicans also voted to certify the 2020 election results and condemned what happened on Jan. 6, including Mike Pence, Trump's former vice president. Pence, who enraged Trump when he certified the election, said in a social media post marking 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.”

Counter-protester Patricia Eguino (C) clashes with demonstrators during a January 6th memorial march marking five years since the attack on January 06, 2026 in Washington, DC.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 his installation of Jan. 6 defendants into 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.”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and House Chaplain Margaret Grun Kibben hold a moment of prayer in front of the door where rioters first broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 6, 2025.

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 leader Enrique Tarrio, led a “memorial march” to the Capitol on the anniversary.

Tarrio was convicted of 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. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison and later released after Trump commuted his sentence.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio speaks to demonstrators ahead of a January 6th memorial march marking five years since the attack on January 06, 2026 in Washington, DC.

The march was 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 recently settled a lawsuit brought 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.

Law enforcement separate counter protestors as they clash with participants during a January 6th memorial march marking five years since the attack on January 06, 2026 in Washington, DC.

More than 140 police officers were injured on Jan. 6 as the mob overran the Capitol, according to the final report of 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 President Donald 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.

1 / 12See images of pro-Trump rioters storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021Rioters stand on the US Capitol building to protest the official election of President-elect Joe Biden on Jan. 6, 2021 on Washington DC.

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 checkers have called Trump’s statement about offering 10,000 troops false.

President Donald Trump addresses a House Republican retreat at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on January 06, 2026 in Washington, DC.

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 media that 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, but he 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 Tuesday that 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

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Breaking”