President Trump and Democrats waged a fight Tuesday over which party will determine what the history books say about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
As the event hit its five-year anniversary, some Democrats maintained that democracy is at risk, pointing to the Jan. 6 violence as a key example. The White House says Democrats are rewriting the narrative and targeting “innocent” Americans.
Voters, however, have moved on to caring more about present problems.
House Democrats marked the anniversary with an unofficial hearing at the Capitol with witnesses spanning former and current lawmakers, to Capitol police, to a Jan. 6 participant who has since changed their tune.
“The years may have muffled the screams we heard and the horrible images of that day may have faded,” said Rep. Bennie Thompson, Mississippi Democrat, and former chairman of the Jan. 6 select committee that was tasked with investigating the event.
“So as we mark this grim anniversary, it’s important that we remember exactly what happened. January 6 was not a regular tourist visit, it was not a day of love, it was a bloody riot that pushed our democracy to the breaking point,” he said.
SEE ALSO: White House marks Jan. 6 with website accusing Democrats of targeting ‘innocent’ Americans
Pamela Hemphill, the only participant in Jan. 6 who refused the mass pardons and commutations Mr. Trump gave to more than 1,500 people charged and convicted in the attack, spoke about stopping “the lies.”
“You can’t gaslight me. I was there. I saw what you did. I saw the officers being pepper sprayed…so don’t be telling me it wasn’t violent,” Ms. Hemphill said. “Don’t come to me with that ever again.”
The White House took a different approach, launching a website pointing the finger at Democrats, including former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat.
“The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protestors as ‘insurrectionists’ and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump — despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government,” the website states.
“In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissents, all while Pelosi’s own security lapses invited the chaos they exploited to seize and consolidate power,” the website said.
More than 140 police officers were injured in the attack that was aimed to stop the certification of former President Biden’s win of the 2020 election. Five officers died in the aftermath of the attack, in which the FBI estimated some 2,000 people participated.
The president has since maintained the 2020 election was stolen and has labeled those involved in the attack as “patriots” who were treated unfairly.
Speaking at the House Republican lawmakers’ retreat on Tuesday, Mr. Trump placed the blame for the violence squarely on Ms. Pelosi, saying she wouldn’t have accepted the National Guard.
The newly launched White House website featured a clip of Ms. Pelosi, released last year, that showed her talking to her chief of staff and blaming herself for not having the National Guard on hand at the Capitol.
“They never reported that Nancy Pelosi was offered 10,000 soldiers, National Guard soldiers, whatever you want,” Mr. Trump said.
A spokesperson for Ms. Pelosi responded, “Numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed again and again that Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination on January 6th.”
“Cherry-picked, out-of-context clips do not change the fact that the Speaker of the House is not in charge of the security of the Capitol Complex — on January 6th or any other day of the week,” the spokesperson said.
Ms. Pelosi, who spoke at the hearing Tuesday as a witness, said lawmakers “begged [Mr. Trump] to send the National Guard” for hours.
“He never did it. He took joy in not doing it. He was savoring it. What he’s saying is an insult to the American people,” she said.
The president also took aim at the media, saying his words on that day were misrepresented. He noted that in his Jan. 6 speech, he called for his supporters to march “peacefully and patriotically.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, Maryland Democrat who also served on the Jan. 6 select committee, said “Jan. 6 fundamentally defines Donald Trump’s image and his reputation among Americans.”
