On January 6, 2021, the world witnesses one of the darkest pages in American history. Thousands of extremist supporters of Republican Donald Trump storm the Capitol in Washington as Congress meets to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
They climb the outer walls and terraces, break down doors and windows, and break into the palace. A few hours earlier, in the park near the White House, Trump had urged the crowd to ‘fight’ and march on Capitol Hill against what he had called ‘election theft’ .
During the riots, five people lost their lives. After a few hours and after the intervention of the National Guard, the police resume control of the premises and the session resumes. “Let’s get back to work,” says Mike Pence , who rejected the president’s requests to block certification.
After 24 hours of silence, in the aftermath of the assault on Congress, and after two months of legal battles to overturn the electoral result, Donald Trump concedes victory to Biden for the first time.
“Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus is now on ensuring a smooth, smooth and orderly transition of power. The moment calls for healing and reconciliation,” he declares in a video message on Twitter, saying he was “outraged, like all Americans” for the violence of the demonstrators. “They do not represent America – he says – America and and must remain a nation of law and order.”
But, one year after the darkest day, America Still Awaits Official Truth Was It a Getty Protest or an Organized Insurrection
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Assault on the US Congress
The images of masked rioters, brandishing weapons, Confederate flags and supremacist symbols, scoffing at the police as they climb balconies, devastating office desks, humiliating politicians gathered in the courtroom, forced to squat under the armchairs and wearing gas masks, which scar the temple of democracy, go around the world.
Starting with that of the gallows erected in front of Capitol Hill. “Hang Pence”, we hang Pence, shouts the crowd addressed to the vice president, accused of not having obeyed Trump’s orders allowing the proclamation of Biden.
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Assault on the US Congress – The gallows in front of Capitol Hill
The symbolic image, however, remains that of the “shaman” Jake Angeli. American with a name that sounds Italian (but the real one is Jacob Chansley) ends up on the covers all over the world. Impossible to go unnoticed because of the horns and bison skins he wears: not new to protests, belonging to the far-right organization QAnon, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
Then there are Adam Johnson who smiles and greets taking with him the lectern of Nancy Pelosi and Richard Barnett with his feet on the desk of the speaker of the Chamber.
Shots that leave the viewers incredulous. But while the Confederate flagsenvelop the statues of the Capitol, there are dead, wounded and hundreds of employees are still traumatized.
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Assault on Congress – Nancy Pelosi’s lectern The President’s speech
For the first anniversary of the attack, the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, proclaimed a “solemn moment” of prayer in Congress. Institutional speeches from Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are expected . “Not even during the Civil War – the president thundered in July – did the insurrections violate the Capitol, the citadel of our democracy. January 6 was not a dissent. It was a disorder”.
A year later there are seven hundred people indicted. Of these, six hundred were accused of violating a restricted area , an offense for which a maximum sentence of one year in prison and a fine of $ 100,000 are envisaged. For others – those who were armed, those who had planned to arrest the representatives of Congress, those who were thinking of a coup – the charges are more serious, and involve sentences of between ten and twenty years in prison.
Thirty were accused of theft of government property . 75 were accused of using life-threatening weapons against policemen , including irritating gases and an ax. For 275 the indictment for obstruction and impediment of the normal electoral certification process was also initiated, in fact, they attacked the democratic life of the country, a crime that can lead to up to twenty years in prison.
Five have pleaded guilty to “conspiracy” : they are members of far-right groups, four are part of the “Oath Keepers”, one of the “Proud Boys”. More than five hundred have yet to be tried, but the most serious cases will be investigated starting in April, such as those involving the thirty Marine veterans who attacked the cops . Among them, Thomas Webster, 54, a former soldier and for twenty years a policeman in the New York Department. He was charged with seven offenses. He risks ten years. Robert Scott Palmer, a Florida man who admitted assaulting an officer with fire extinguishers, was sentenced to five years and three months in prison in December. It is the toughest sentence issued so far.
But the rain of new sentences arriving, starting in the spring, will not help to reveal what really happened that day. The dark part remains the alleged role of the White House, of the presidential staff who, during the dramatic hours of the assault, were gathered in the “War Room” set up at the Willard Hotel, a few steps from the White House. Leading the group was Steve Bannon, Trump’s historical advisor and friend.
And finally Trump. The special commission of inquiry, appointed by Congress against the opinion of the majority of Republicans, aims to nail the former president to stop his race for the presidential elections of 2024. He investigates why he moved after three hours, first with a tweet, then, after 4 pm, using controversial words: “I know your punishment, we have elections that have been stolen from us, but you don’t have to attack the police, so go home, do it in peace, we love you, you are special “. Ivanka Trump’s Appeal
Ivanka Trump asked her father to step in to stop her supporters’ assault on Congress. Republican representative Liz Cheney says so, vice-president of the commission of inquiry on ‘January 6’, who speaks of “first-hand testimony” confirming the background.
“We know that his daughter – Cheney told ABC News – intervened at least twice to tell him, ‘please stop this violence’. We have first-hand testimony”. It would have been just one of many calls for action to Trump during the dramatic hours of the siege on Capitol Hill. Trump’s speech canceled
Meanwhile, former US President Donald Trump canceled the press conferencethat he had summoned for the day of the anniversary in his residence in Mar-a-Lago. The announcement was released in a statement accusing the media and the parliamentary commission investigating the events of that day: “In light of the total bias and dishonesty” of the parliamentary commission made up of “Democrats and two failed republicans” and ” fake media “, cancel Thursday’s press conference” and instead discussed many of these important issues at the rally that will be held on January 15 in Arizona. There will be a large crowd. ”
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Assault on US Congress America a year after Capitol Hill
A year after the assault on Capitol Hill, Americans remain concerned about their democracy and almost a third (28%) believe that the use of force can sometimes be justified to defend their ideas and the result of a ‘ election. The recently published CBS News poll shows that for two-thirds of the sample interviewed, the attack by Donald Trump supporters on the Congress building on January 6 a year ago was “a sign of growing political violence” and American democracy and even today “under threat”.
According to the Washington Post and University of Maryland report, however, Americans’ “pride” in their democracy dropped from 90% in 2002 to 54%.
