NPR: How NPR reporters built an archive to document January 6th. “Five years ago, a mob stormed the U.S. Capitol with the goal of stopping the certification of the presidential election. NPR’s Tom Dreisbach wanted to preserve a record of the moments before, during, and after the attacks for future generations.”

White House publishes website that rewrites history of Jan. 6 attack – The Washington Post

Politics Donald Trump The Fix The Briefs Polling Democracy in America Elections

White House publishes website that rewrites history of Jan. 6 attack

Five years after a mob of Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol to stop certification of Joe Biden’s victory, the Trump administration is still fixated on a false narrative.

January 6, 2026 at 4:59 p.m. ESTToday at 4:59 p.m. EST, 5 min

President Donald Trump’s face appears on large screens as supporters participate in a rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. (John Minchillo/AP)

By Amy B Wang

The White House published a website Tuesday with a false telling of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, underscoring President Donald Trump’s years-long effort to reshape the narrative surrounding the day when a mob of his supporters violently overran the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.

The White House website criticizes Democrats and some Republicans for engaging in what Trump has called a “witch hunt” against him after the Jan. 6 attack. Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023 on four criminal counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, in a case investigating his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.

Former special counsel Jack Smith, who led the federal prosecution of Trump, told a House committee last month that the president bears the bulk of the blame for instigating the attack and emphasized that crimes occurred at the Capitol that day for Trump’s benefit.

Trump’s rhetoric led to a rampage inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob came within seconds of encountering Vice President Mike Pence, trapped lawmakers and vandalized the home of Congress in the worst desecration of the complex since British forces burned it in 1814. Five people died in the Jan. 6 attack or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted.

Following Trump’s second term

Smith dropped the case after Trump was reelected in 2024, citing federal regulations that prohibit prosecutions against sitting presidents.

“The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy,” Smith testified to lawmakers last month, according to a transcript released by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee. “These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him.”

Trump also was impeached following the attack, but the Senate acquitted him during the subsequent trial. The attack — and Trump’s involvement — became the focus of a bipartisan House committee, whose members are prominently featured on the White House’s new website.

Among the five deaths was that of U.S. Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick, who perished the following day after being assaulted in the riot. Among numerous false claimsin its recounting of Jan. 6, the White House website claims that “Zero law enforcement officers lost their lives,” making no mention of Sicknick. The riot also left about 140 members of law enforcement injured. Years later, the trauma of defending the Capitol that day has continued to dog many officers.

White House representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday afternoon.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: White House publishes website that rewrites history of Jan. 6 attack – The Washington Post

“Not a peaceful protest”: Part 2 of 2 : Trump’s Terms – NPR

Trump’s Terms

“Not a peaceful protest”: Part 2 of 2

December 30, 2025, 11:00 AM ET 42-Minute Listen Transcript

In this NPR investigation, we look at how President Trump and his allies are rewriting history related to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

You can find the first part of “Not a Peaceful Protest” here. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump’s Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

Editor’s Note: You can find my post of Part 1 here.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: “Not a peaceful protest”: Part 2 of 2 : Trump’s Terms : NPR

“Not a peaceful protest”: Part 1 of 2 : Trump’s Terms – NPR

Trump’s Terms

“Not a peaceful protest”: Part 1 of 2

December 29, 2025,11:00 AM ET 43-Minute Listen Transcript

In this NPR investigation, we look at how President Trump and his allies are rewriting history related to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

You can find the second part of “Not a Peaceful Protest” here. Support NPR and hear every episode of Trump’s Terms sponsor-free with NPR+. Sign up at plus.npr.org.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: “Not a peaceful protest”: Part 1 of 2 : Trump’s Terms : NPR

Seeing Things – January 6th Is Still Happening In Real Time – Liza Donnelly

I’m serious today because this is deadly serious, January 6th Is Still Happening In Real Time

By Liza Donnelly, Jan 06, 2026

Above is drawing I did as I watched the insurrection unfold on television on January 6th, 2020. It was terrifying.

Later that day, during a live broadcast, I did the above on paper, from memory, live on Instagram. Police officer Eugene Goodman was the man who stopped insurrectionists from further entering the depths of the Capital; I remember watching him, in awe, and was so moved by his bravery. He may have single handedly saved the lives of some Senators, Congress people and Vice President Mike Pence.

For some years after that horrific violent coup attempt, we were hopeful that it was an isolated event. But as I began to see how Trump continue his election-denying, and more and more people were willing to lie about it and join his side, it was clear to me that we were in big trouble. I saw that what was going to happen was that Trump and anyone who attached themselves to him with these lies, was going to try to affect a coup from within the government. Then he was re-elected on more lies, swindling his followers into thinking he was all for them.

We are living a slow, internal coup right now. Vote in ALL elections, protest and call your reps.

The Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has vowed to return to the country as soon as possible and she rejected the authority of the interim president backed by the US after it forcibly removed Maduro. She wants to return and hold elections.

Many people in Venezuela expected her to return as the leader of the country after Maduro was captured. Today, Machado publicly praised Trump for capturing Maduro, who was an illegitimate leader of the country following the previous elections which he lost. But Trump sidelined Machado as a potential leader, saying she has no support in her country; a flat out lie. She is hugely popular. Some are suggesting that because Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last year (for her opposition work against Maduro), and Trump desperately wanted to get it, that his ego will not let her return to the country. Trump wants to run Venezuela, and hopes to threaten those in power now to do what he wants. He probably thinks that Machado is not someone he can trust to do his bidding.

There was a briefing yesterday for the Congressional Gang of Four about the Venezuela military action. It left members with more questions, and we don’t know yet what those opposed to Trump’s warmongering will do.

“This business of coming over and just talking to some of us, I think is a special kind of stupid,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in an interview Monday. “They need to sit down with every member of the Senate and explain what’s going on.”

As that briefing was going on, Trump advisor Stephen Miller was on CNN in an interview was at times very contentious, Miller yelling at Tapper, and saying some outrageous things. The premise of his comments were that the United States has the right, because of the fact that we are a superpower, to take over countries in the Western Hemisphere for our security. Power over diplomacy.

Below is a clip that will show you, as well as the full exchange. Miller stated that we have “a right to Greenland.” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark urged Mr. Trump on Sunday to “stop the threats” to annex Greenland, in effect attacking a NATO ally.

Miller:

“We live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world since the beginning of time.”

“We set the terms and conditions,” Mr. Miller said. “We have a complete embargo on all of their oil and their ability to do commerce. So for them to do commerce, they need our permission. For them to be able to run an economy, they need our permission. So the United States is in charge. The United States is running the country.”

“The future of the free world depends on America being able to assert ourselves and our interests without apology. This whole period that happened after World War II when the United States began apologizing, groveling and begging…” then Jake Tapper cut him off saying “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You’re looking at it the wrong way Jake. This neoliberalism idea that the United states should go around the world demanding elections everywhere!”

This is imperialism.

https://www.tiktok.com/@cnn/video/7592063639100624141?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Here’s the whole interview:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLFkQbPWWDI

Source: https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/kLFkQbPWWDI?rel=0&autoplay=0&showinfo=0&enablejsapi=0

The Pentagon moved to punish retired Navy captain and Senator Mark Kelly for an “anti-Trump video” he was a part of (it was not anti-Trump), calling it “seditious behavior.” They want to cut his military pay of $6000/month.

“Pete Hegseth wants to send the message to every single retired servicemember that if they say something he or Donald Trump doesn’t like, they will come after them the same way,” Kelly said. “It’s outrageous and it is wrong. There is nothing more un-American than that.”

Here is the video: https://youtube.com/shorts/Fk9Gh3qwW4I?si=QlMPl9Xraza6tytc

I’ll end with one more thing about January 6th. Today on Capitol Hill, Pamela Hempel spoke at a hearing that Democrats held to mark the 5th anniversary of January 6th. She was one of the 1600 insurrectionists who were pardoned by Trump, but she refused the pardon and served time in prison.

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A post shared by C-SPAN (@cspan)

Direct link to above: View this post on Instagram, A post shared by C-SPAN (@cspan) … C-SPAN on Instagram: “Pamela Hemphill, a Jan. 6 participant who…

She said at the hearing today:

“Once I got away from the Maga cult and started educating myself about January 6th, I knew what I did was wrong. I am guilty and I own that guilt I had fallen for the president’s lies.”

A remarkable woman of conscience. I wish we had some like her among congressional Republicans, then we could end this madness.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: January 6th Is Still Happening In Real Time

Civil Discourse – The Dangerous Revision Of Jan 6 History On The Official WH Website – Joyce Vance

Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance

The Dangerous Revision Of Jan 6 History On The Official WH Website

By Joyce Vance, Jan 06, 2026

As I wrote to you last night, five years on from January 6, Donald Trump is trying to rewrite the history of the insurrection. The White House published a new website today, detailing their version of the timeline of the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. He accuses Democrats, pictured in black and white across the top of the page along with Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, of promoting a “gaslighting narrative” of the day’s events.

The new page starts with the claim that, “President Trump took decisive action to pardon January 6 defendants who were unfairly targeted, overcharged, and used as political examples. They were not protected by the leaders who failed them. They were punished to cover incompetence.” It goes on to assert that his pardons ended “years of harsh solitary confinement, denied due process, and family separation for exercising their First Amendment rights.” The website fails to acknowledge that these criminal defendants were charged by grand juries, convicted at trial, or in many cases, convicted after they pled guilty, and had full appeal rights.

Trump concludes: “The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters 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. In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection,” which the website says was the certification of the 2020 election that the White House describes as “fraud-ridden” and for allegedly “weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters.” The courts resoundingly rejected Trump’s claims of a stolen election, with even the Supreme Court ruling against him.

The website turns to the blame game—trying to foist off responsibility for January 6 on Nancy Pelosi and Democrats—and offers a timeline that emphasizes Trump’s call for peaceful protest.

A video taken by Pelosi’s daughter is included for the stunning proposition that she accepted blame for the attack on the Capitol. It’s selectively edited video and a debunked claim, indeed, an insincere one for the man who ignored pleas for help from members of his own party and watched the chaos unfold on television when he could have put a stop to it. As Pelosi’s office put it at the time, “Numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed again and again that Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination on January 6th.” But there it is, on the White House’s official website.

In a speech this morning at the House GOP retreat, held at the newly renamed “Trump Kennedy Center,” Trump, referring to the speech he gave on the Ellipse five years ago, alleged that “the news never reported the words ‘walk or march peacefully and patriotically to the Capitol.’” As far as I recall, those words were widely reported, along with everything else the president said and tweeted at the time, in full context. Trump’s claim that he called for an entirely peaceful protest that day is offset by Jack Smith’s recent testimony that the evidence he compiled established Trump’s complicity. “The evidence here made clear that President Trump was by a large measure the most culpable and most responsible person in this conspiracy. These crimes were committed for his benefit. The attack that happened at the Capitol, part of this case, does not happen without him. The other co-conspirators were doing this for his benefit.”

Read the full transcript of Trump’s speech to the crowd on January 6, 2021, here [https://www.rev.com/transcripts/donald-trump-speech-save-america-rally-transcript-january-6] and make your own assessment. The full context is important, especially with the president installing a sanitized version on the White House website, a slanted version that includes the word he was doubtless encouraged to insert about peacefulness, for the obvious reason that the speech was one that otherwise exhorted the crowd to take action. “We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” the president told the crowd in the first seconds of his address.

Trump also said:

• “Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal. Today I will lay out just some of the evidence proving that we won this election, and we won it by a landslide. This was not a close election.”
• “By the way, does anybody believe that Joe had 80 million votes? Does anybody believe that? … There’s never been anything like this. We will not let them silence your voices. We’re not going to let it happen. Not going to let it happen.”
• [The crowd then breaks in, chanting, “Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!” Trump does not discourage this.]
• “We’re going walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators, and congressmen and women … You have to show strength, and you have to be strong … We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated, lawfully slated. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections.”
• “Looking out at all the amazing patriots here today, I have never been more confident in our nation’s future. Well, I have to say we have to be a little bit careful. That’s a nice statement, but we have to be a little careful with that statement. If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country, because it’s illegal when the votes are illegal, when the way they got there is illegal, when the States that vote are given false and fraudulent information.”
• “So we’re going to, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue, I love Pennsylvania Avenue, and we’re going to the Capitol and we’re going to try and give … The Democrats are hopeless. They’re never voting for anything, not even one vote. But we’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

This morning, Nancy Pelosi tweeted, “We must speak plainly: January 6th was an attempted coup. It was an effort to nullify millions of lawful votes and subvert the will of the American people. But the attack failed because of the courage of public servants who gave proof through the night that our flag was still there by refusing to bend to pressure, threats, or intimidation. On that day, the Constitution held and we kept the Republic.”

Trump is trying to take it away again, this time with a rewrite of history that is worthy of George Orwell’s 1984. Our job as citizens is clear. We have to remain committed and refuse to let that happen. Facts are powerful. If the truth wasn’t so damaging, Trump wouldn’t be going to this much trouble to rewrite it. That he has public resources and a president’s bully pulpit to do it with is shameful and dangerous.

Last night I wrote to you about the Virginia museum curator, Bill Martin, who insisted on exhibits that put on display a shameful history of teaching fourth graders in the state that slavery was a good time with happy slaves, a gross misrepresentation of reality. Mr. Martin stood for the truth and dislodged and exposed that narrative so it could not be reinstated. We have to do that with Trump’s newest effort to rewrite the history of January 6. Trump may temporarily control government websites and museums, but we control the public narrative on the ground—we are everywhere across the country.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: The Dangerous Revision Of Jan 6 History On The Official WH Website

Letters from an American – January 5, 2026 (Monday) – Heather Cox Richardson

Letters from an American, January 5, 2026 (Monday)

By Heather Cox Richardson, Jan 05, 2026

Five years ago, on January 6, 2021, more than 2,000 rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop the process of counting the electoral votes that would make Democrat Joe Biden president of the United States. They tried to hunt down House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and chanted their intention to “Hang Mike Pence,” the vice president. They fantasized that they were following in the footsteps of the American Founders, about to start a new nation. Newly elected representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO) wrote on January 5, 2021: “Remember these next 48 hours. These are some of the most important days in American history.” On January 6 she wrote: “Today is 1776.”

In fact, it was not 1776 but 1861, the year insurrectionists who had tried to overthrow the government in order to establish minority rule tried to break the U.S. The rioters wanted to take away the right at the center of American democracy—our right to determine our own destiny—in order to keep Donald J. Trump in the White House, making sure the power of elite white men could not be challenged. It was no accident that the rioters carried a Confederate battle flag.

Since the 1980s, Republicans pushed the idea that a popular government that regulates business, provides a basic social safety net, promotes infrastructure, and protects civil rights crushes the individualism on which America depends. As cuts to regulation, taxation, and the nation’s social safety net began to hollow out the middle class, Republicans pushed the idea that the country’s problems came from greedy minorities and women who wanted to work outside the home. More and more, they insisted that the federal government was stealing tax dollars and destroying society, and they encouraged individual men to take charge of the country.

After the Democrats passed the 1993 National Voter Registration Act, more commonly known as the motor voter law, enabling people to register to vote at motor vehicle departments, Republicans increasingly insisted Democrats were cheating the system by relying on the votes of noncitizens, although there was never any evidence for this charge.

As wealth continued to move upward, the idea that individuals and paramilitary groups must “reclaim” America from undeserving Americans who were taking tax dollars and cheating to win elections became embedded in the Republican Party. By 2014, Senator Dean Heller (R-NV) called Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters “patriots” when they showed up armed to meet officials from the Bureau of Land Management who tried to impound Bundy’s cattle because he owed more than $1 million in grazing fees for running cattle on public land.

The idea of reclaiming the country for white men by destroying the federal government grew, along with the idea that Democrats could win elections only by cheating. In 2016, Trump insisted that his female Democratic opponent belonged in jail and that he alone could save the country from the Washington, D.C., “swamp.” Other Republican leaders who had initially shunned him began to support him when it became clear that he could mobilize a new crop of disaffected voters who could put Republicans into office.

And they continued to support him, claiming initially that he could be kept in check by establishment Republicans like his first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, who moved from leading the Republican National Committee to the White House for the first six months of Trump’s first term. In his first months in office, Trump delivered the tax cut Republican leaders wanted, as well as the appointment of one out of every four federal judges, including three Supreme Court justices, who would protect the Republican project in the courts.

But the idea that Trump could be kept in check fell apart in September 2019, when it appeared he was trying to rig the 2020 election. A whistleblower revealed that Trump had called the newly elected president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, in July 2019 to demand that Zelensky smear former vice president Joe Biden, who was beating Trump in most polls going into the 2020 election season. Until Zelensky did so, Trump said, the administration would not release the money Congress had appropriated to fund Ukraine’s fight against Russia, which had invaded Ukraine in 2014.

The attempt to withhold congressionally appropriated funds in order to tilt an election was a glaring violation of the 1974 Impoundment Control Act codifying the executive branch’s duty to execute the laws Congress passed. In the congressional investigation that followed, witnesses revealed that Trump’s cronies were running a secret scheme in Ukraine to undermine official U.S. policy and benefit Trump’s allies.

Republicans in 1974 had turned against President Richard Nixon for far less, but although Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) said not a single Republican senator believed Trump, they stood behind him nonetheless. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told his colleagues: “This is not about this president. It’s not about anything he’s been accused of doing…. It’s about flipping the Senate.”

But once acquitted, Trump cut loose from any oversight. He sought revenge and insisted that “[w]hen somebody is President of the United States, the authority is total.” “The federal government has absolute power,” he said, and he had the “absolute right” to use that power if he wanted to.

As early as 2019, Trump had “joked” about staying in power regardless of the 2020 election results, and on October 31, Trump’s ally Steve Bannon told a private audience that Trump was going to declare that he had won the 2020 election no matter what. Trump knew that Democratic mail-in ballots would show up in the vote totals later than Republican votes cast on Election Day, creating a “red mirage” that would be overtaken later by Democratic votes.

“Trump’s going to take advantage of it,” Bannon said, by calling the election early and saying that the later votes were somehow illegitimate. “That’s our strategy. He’s gonna declare himself a winner.” Bannon continued: “Here’s the thing. After then, Trump never has to go to a voter again…. He’s gonna say ‘F*ck you. How about that?’ Because…he’s done his last election.”

Early returns on Election Night 2020, November 3, showed Trump ahead. But, more quickly than anyone expected, Democratic votes turned the key state of Arizona blue, and the Fox News Channel called the race for Biden. Furious, Trump took to the airwaves at about 2:30 the next morning and declared he had won, although ballots were still being counted and several battleground states had no clear winner. “We won’t stand for this,” he told supporters, assuring them he had won. “We’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court, we want all voting to stop.”

Continue/Read Original Article Here: January 5, 2026 (Monday) – by Heather Cox Richardson

NPR investigation shows how the government tried to erase information about January 6

NPR investigation shows how the government tried to erase information about January 6

By Tom Dreisbach, Ayesha Rascoe, Published January 4, 2026 at 7:56 AM EST

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AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has actively tried to erase government information about the January 6, 2021, attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol. Now on the fifth anniversary of the attack, NPR is preserving the history of that day. We’ve created a public archive, featuring hundreds of videos submitted as evidence, a timeline of events and our own searchable database of those cases, plus a two-part podcast on that day and the aftermath. NPR investigations correspondent Tom Dreisbach joins us now. Good morning.

TOM DREISBACH, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.

RASCOE: A lot of people saw footage from January 6 live, or they watched the hearings in Congress. What more was there to uncover about this story?

DREISBACH: Well, part of the reason we’re undertaking this project is ’cause we’re at this really striking moment with the public’s understanding of what actually happened. You know, the government is actively trying to rewrite this history.

Five years ago, right after it happened, there was kind of a consensus. Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz called it an act of domestic terrorism. So did the FBI. Even Trump himself said the rioters, quote, “defiled the seat of democracy” and must, quote, “pay.” Five years later, Trump has now given mass pardons to more than 1,500 January 6 rioters. And those pardons applied to all of the most violent people, people who brutally assaulted police officers. Trump even calls them great patriots. And when he was asked why he included the violent rioters who assaulted cops, he denied that they had committed violence. Here’s what he said last year.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I pardoned J6 people who were assaulted by our government. That’s who assaulted. And they were treated unfairly. There’s never been a group of people in this country, outside of maybe one instance I can think of, but I won’t get into it, that were treated more horribly than the people of J6. So, no, I didn’t assault. They didn’t assault. They were assaulted.

DREISBACH: In reality, hundreds of defendants did commit violent assaults. But the administration is trying to change reality as people understand it. The Justice Department deleted records of those cases. They scrubbed references to January 6 as a riot. They fired dozens of prosecutors who worked on those cases, and they even hired a former January 6 defendant at the Justice Department, a guy who called cops Nazis and loudly yelled that the rioters should kill the cops. So with all those actions to rewrite this history, we thought it was really important to just ground people in the facts. And with all these 1,500 court cases, we have this massive trove of evidence, thousands of videos that we reviewed that show parts of the riot that most people have never seen.

RASCOE: So what can you tell us about what you found in those records?

DREISBACH: Well, part of it is just busting some of the myths that I hear all the time, even today. One of those most persistent myths is that, oh, it was just a rally and some people got riled up. But the evidence shows people planning for violence, bringing weapons. There’s this video of one rioter. His name was Russell Taylor, and he sent this video to his friend.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RUSSELL TAYLOR: All right, guys, getting my loadout bag. I got the carbon fiber knuckles, matching hatchets and a little bit of excitement.

(SOUNDBITE OF STUN GUN BUZZING)

DREISBACH: That sound was a stun gun, and Taylor later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct Congress. Other rioters brought loaded guns – firearms. And then on January 6, when rioters actually did use violence, a lot of them were talking about how it was time for revolution, for civil war, to hang Mike Pence, the then-vice president, and Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House at the time. And here’s just a few things that rioters said. These are all taken from the court exhibits.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #1: If the government is no longer for the people, it is your right, nay, it is your duty to overthrow that government.

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #2: That’s right.

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #3: They attacked us first, so we stormed the building.

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #4: Traitors will be shot. Pence…

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #5: We’re coming.

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #4: …We’re coming. We…

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #5: This is war.

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER #4: It’s war.

DREISBACH: We should say here that leaders of two extremist groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, they were convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States. They received the most serious prison sentences of any defendants, and then Trump came to office and freed them all.

RASCOE: It’s been almost a year since the rioters received pardons. What are they doing now?

DREISBACH: You know, it’s such a big group of people, more than 1,500 defendants, so it really varies. Some are threatening revenge, like the former leader of the Proud Boys. His name is Enrique Tarrio. Some are really just struggling to get by. They can’t find work. One of them told me he had the scarlet eye of insurrection on him. But several have gotten into more legal trouble. One man is facing criminal charges for allegedly threatening to kill Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader. Another man has been charged with child molestation, and one of his victims is allegedly an 11-year-old. I asked the Trump administration about those cases, and a White House spokeswoman told me we were spreading, quote, “left-wing talking points” and that the defendants, they said, were aggressively over prosecuted for political purposes.

RASCOE: What about the police who defended the Capitol? People might have heard the statistic that a hundred and forty police officers were injured in the attack. What does the evidence that you looked at show when it comes to the police officers?

DREISBACH: First and foremost is just the brutality of the violence. You know, there’s countless videos and images of officers struggling to breathe from pepper sprays or what’s called bear spray. They’re collapsed on the ground, or they’ve been beaten and they’re trying to wrap up bloodied and broken fingers. Some of the most difficult parts of that day for officers was just not knowing if they would make it home alive. One of the injured officers provided this victim impact statement in one of the court cases, and it’s really stuck with me. He said, quote, “one of the hardest moments of my life was returning home and seeing my wife at 2:30 a.m. weeping in despair and relief, knowing that I made it home.”

Another officer described excruciating back pain that he still has from his injuries, which means he can’t play with his kids anymore. And then there’s so much mental trauma that you hear about from the officers. For this project, I talked with Daniel Hodges. He’s a D.C. police officer. He was repeatedly assaulted through the day on January 6. Rioters punched him, kicked him, tried to gouge out his eyes and crushed him inside a doorway. And I asked him how that experience has changed him.

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Continue/Read Original Article: https://www.whro.org/2026-01-04/npr-investigation-shows-how-the-government-tried-to-erase-information-about-january-6

Jonathan Karl Reveals Mike Pence’s Dramatic Handwritten Notes From January 6, 2021 – YouTube

Editor’s Note: I missed this Late Show broacast last night, but may TiVo caught it for me. I watched today, damn good reporter, damn good new book. If Trump hates him, he is doing something very right –hunting the truth. Watch and see… –DrWeb

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See Also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_6_United_States_Capitol_attack

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Jonathan Karl Reveals Mike Pence’s Dramatic Handwritten Notes From January 6, 2021 – YouTube

#2025 #america #books #donaldTrump #education #formerVicePresident #handwrittenNotes #health #history #january6 #january62021 #january6AttackOnUSCapitol #january6thAttorneys #jonathanKarl #libraries #library #libraryOfCongress #mikePence #opinion #politics #rememberJanuary6th #resistance #science #stephenColbert #theLateShow #trump #trumpAdministration #unitedStates #youtube

In 2018, the FBI labeled the Proud Boys an extremist group with white nationalism ties. Who are they and should they have been released from prison? #January62021 #DonaldTrump #Extremism www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPjG...

Who are the Proud Boys and the...

ProPublica: Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish?. “The Trump administration’s decision to delete a DOJ database of cases against Capitol riot defendants places those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government.”

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/02/07/memory-holing-jan-6-what-happens-when-you-try-to-make-history-vanish-propublica/

Pardoned January 6 Rioter Arrested in Texas for Soliciting Sex From a Minor

latintimes.com/pardoned-januar…

#January62021 #texas #trumppardons

January 6 Was A Terrorist Attack

#january6 #january62021 #january6insurrection #january6th2020 #neverforget #trumpterrorists #magaterrorist #politics #politicalsatire #politicalcomedy #politicalhumor #politicalmeme #politicalmemes

#Jan6 Suspect #Killed A Man With A #Machete

#News #Politics #rawnewsandpolitics #capitolattack #january62021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCx6gG0GGaY

The @seditionhunters have identified Elias Armando Calderon as a #January6 participant, and he was just arrested for allegedly #murdering a man with a #machete.

#USCapitol Arrests Update: LeBrun SENTENCED

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awy7VHdO0Bk

#january62021 #capitolattack #rawnewsandpolitics
Matthew LeBrun was sentenced for his participation in the #January6, 2021 attack and attempted #insurrection at the #UnitedStates Capitol.
#matthewlebrun

Download and read the January 6th committee report:

https://january6th.house.gov/final-report

#January62021 #politics #crime

From Brown Shirts to Red Hats: Trump's Attempted Fascist Coup

#Anarchy #Anarchism #Socialist #Socialism #January62021 #Philosophy #Economics #Politics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBKDdfzpKcA