How the anniversary of Jan. 6 insurrection was commemorated in the U.S.

On the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 insurrection in the U.S., here’s how the event is being remembered:

• As the House of Representatives held a moment of silence for the police officers who died as a result of the riot, only two Republicans appeared to be present: Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, former vice-president Dick Cheney.
• Democratic members of Congress shared testimonials about their experiences during the riot.
• Former President Donald Trump’s new media venture plans to launch its social media app Truth Social on Feb. 21, according to an Apple Inc App Store listing.
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer began a day of reflections by recounting his own narrow escape from the Capitol mob on Jan. 6, 2021. Meanwhile, the House observed a moment of silence and historians, along with the cast of Hamilton, joined a commemoration on Capitol Hill.
• U.S. President Joe Biden delivered what he declared was the “God’s truth” marking the first anniversary of the insurrection.
• On anniversary of U.S. Capitol riot, public fears repeat performance while suspects still roam free. The Globe’s U.S. Correspondent Adrian Morrow looks at where the key groups – from the rioters to Donald Trump and the Capitol police – stand.

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Jan. 6, 4:11 p.m. ET

Only two Republicans appeared to be present at moment of silence for police officers who died as a result of the riot

As the House of Representatives held a moment of silence for the police officers who died as a result of the riot, only two Republicans appeared to be present: Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney and her father, former vice-president Dick Cheney.

Ms. Cheney has been largely shunned by her own caucus after voting to impeach Mr. Trump and agreeing to serve as vice-chair of the committee investigating the attack on the Capitol.

“I think a party that is in thrall to a cult personality is a party that is dangerous to the country,” she said outside the chamber.

Her father, himself a former congressman, criticized the lack of leadership in his own party.

“It’s not a leadership that resembles any of the folks that I knew when I was here,” he said.

Republicans almost entirely avoided the commemoration at the Capitol. Many instead attended the funeral in Atlanta of former senator Johnny Isakson.

– Adrian Morrow

Jan. 6, 4:03 p.m. ET

Democratic members of Congress shares testimonials about their experiences during the riot

A string of Democratic members of Congress gave testimonials Thursday afternoon about their experiences during the riot.

Colin Allred, a Texan and former NFL linebacker, said he was prepared that day to physically fight off the insurrectionists had he not had time to escape. He said he thought of his young son and pregnant wife at home. “Had those officers not held that line,” he said of Capitol Police, “I would not have met my son.”

Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut described clambering over and under railings to escape through the House gallery while fumbling with a gas mask. “Our nation gazed into the abyss,” she said.

Sara Jacobs of California, who was in her first week as a member of Congress, said she took cover under her chair and fashioned weapons out of her high heels to defend herself against the mob. “I never thought the most dangerous place I could be was in the United States Capitol,” she said.

Pramila Jayapal, who was recovering from knee surgery, said she believed that day that rioters would catch up with her as she tried to escape down a back staircase.

“I remember not knowing whether I would make it out of our seat of democracy alive,” she said.

Madeleine Dean of Pennsylvania teared up as she recalled the sound of insurrectionists breaking the glass on the door to the chamber and trying to break it down, while police barricaded it with furniture and pointed drawn guns at it.

Stacey Plaskett, from the U.S. Virgin Islands, said the insurrection was the work of “a man and his cronies drunk with power, and intent on keeping the spigot of that power open” and described the rioters as “the hordes of hell unleashed by Donald Trump.”

– Adrian Morrow

Jan. 6, 3:42 p.m. ET

Trump to launch his social media app in February, Apple’s App Store listing shows

Former President Donald Trump’s new media venture plans to launch its social media app Truth Social on Feb. 21, according to an Apple Inc App Store listing.

TRUTH Social, the Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) alternative to Twitter, is available for pre-order before going live on the U.S. Presidents’ Day holiday. Similar to Twitter, the app offers features to follow other people and trending topics, according to demo photos.

The app’s launch would come 13 months after Meta Platforms Inc’s Facebook and Twitter banned Trump for encouraging his supporters to participate in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol based on unsubstantiated claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

– Reuters

Jan. 6, 2:36 p.m. ET

Historians, touring cast of Hamilton appear before Jan. 6 commemorations

It wasn’t only members of Congress taking part in January 6 commemorations on Capitol Hill: a panel of historians and the cast of Hamilton also made appearances.

At a lunch-hour event, Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a surprise appearance by Lin-Manuel Miranda and the touring cast of the hit Broadway musical. Appearing via video link, they performed Dear Theodosia, a number in which Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton connect their hopes for their children with their hopes for their country.

“We’ll bleed and fight for you/We’ll make it right for you/If we lay a strong enough foundation,” the men sing.

In a subsequent conversation between congressional librarian Carla Hayden and historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham, the trio rehashed other instances in which U.S. democracy was in peril, from the Civil War to the Great Depression to the Second World War to the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy.

“In my lifetime, this is the hardest moment for democracy,” Ms. Kearns Goodwin said.

– Adrian Morrow

Jan. 6, 1:33 p.m. ET

U.S. House marks anniversary of Jan. 6 with moment of silence

“Today one year ago, the Capitol and those who work within it were targeted in a violent insurrection that sought to undermine democracy. As we acknowledge the horrors of that day, we honor the heroism of so many,” Pelosi said.

Four people died in the hours-long chaos at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 after former President Donald Trump urged supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell.” One police officer died on that day after battling rioters and four later died by suicide. Around 140 police officers were injured. U.S. prosecutors have brought criminal charges against at least 725 people.

– Reuters

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Jan. 6, 11:56 a.m. ET

U.S. Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer reflects on mob attacks, one year later

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer kicked off a day of reflections from lawmakers by recounting his own narrow escape from rioters during the attack on the Capitol.

A police officer grabbed him by the collar and tried to lead him off the Senate floor to safety, he recalled, but they inadvertently wound up in the path of the mob and had to run in the other direction.

Mr. Schumer was “within 30 feet of these nasty, racist, bigoted insurrectionists. Had someone had a gun, had two of them blocked off the door, who knows what would have happened,” he told the Senate Thursday morning. One member of the mob, on seeing Mr. Schumer, exclaimed “there’s the big Jew, let’s get him,” he said.

“When democracies are in danger, it often starts with a mob. That’s what happened a year ago here in this building, a mob attack,” he said.

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar paid tribute to police officers who defended the building, including five who subsequently died. She also recounted the actions of Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer who singlehandedly confronted a group of rioters and drew them away from a Senate entrance, buying time for senators to escape.

Ms. Klobuchar also took aim at efforts by legislators in swing states to pass laws making it harder to vote and easier for politicians to throw out election results.

“What was not accomplished with bear spray and bayonets has now been passed on to others,” she said, describing it as a “concerted effort to undermine our democracy.”

— Adrian Morrow

Jan. 6, 11:20 a.m. ET

Former U.S. president Donald Trump maintains grip on Republican party despite violent insurrection

One year later, former U.S. president Donald Trump is hardly a leader in exile. Instead, he is the undisputed leader of the Republican Party and a leading contender for the 2024 presidential nomination.

Trump is positioning himself as a powerful force in the primary campaigns that will determine who gets the party’s backing heading into the fall midterms, when control of Congress, governor’s offices and state election posts are at stake. At least for now, there’s little stopping Trump as he makes unbending fealty to his vision of the GOP a litmus test for success in primary races, giving ambitious Republicans little incentive to cross him.

Rather than expressing any contrition for the events of Jan. 6, Trump often seems emboldened and has continued to lie about his 2020 election loss. He frequently — and falsely — says the “real” insurrection was on Nov. 3, the date of the 2020 election when Democrat Joe Biden won in a 306-232 Electoral College victory and by a 7 million popular vote margin.

– The Associated Press

Jan. 6, 9:49 a.m. ET

U.S. President Joe Biden takes aim at Trump’s ‘big lie’ marking the first anniversary

U.S. President Joe Biden is taking aim at Donald Trump’s “big lie” that the 2020 election was fraudulent, blaming the former president for inciting a mob that “held a dagger at the throat of America, at the throat of American democracy,” during the attack on the Capitol one year ago.

On anniversary of U.S. Capitol riot, public fears repeat performance while suspects still roam free

In a speech marking the anniversary of the January 6 riot, Mr. Biden cast the insurrection as the culmination of Mr. Trump’s failed efforts to have his election defeat by Mr. Biden invalidated. And he called on his country to fight back against efforts by Mr. Trump’s Republicans to make it easier for politicians to overturn elections.

“For the first time in our history, a president had not just lost an election, he tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power as a violent mob breached the Capitol,” the President said outside the House of Representatives chamber Thursday morning. “His bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy…he can’t accept that he lost.”

Mr. Biden spent much of his speech refuting Mr. Trump’s “web of lies” about the election, which he continues to promulgate. The President pointed out that a string of investigations have turned up no evidence of widespread fraud, and numerous judges appointed by Mr. Trump have ruled the election was valid. An Ipsos poll this week found that 71 per cent of Republican voters continue to incorrectly believe that Mr. Trump won the election.

The disturbing reality is that millions of Canadians support Trump

Acknowledging that the country remained deeply divided a year after the attack, Mr. Biden called for stalled voting reforms to pass Congress. He also warned of the dangers of laws Republicans in several swing states are passing that could subvert democratic elections. One law in Georgia, for instance, allows a partisan commission to fire local elections officials, while Arizona legislators are considering giving themselves the power to revoke presidential election results.

“Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people?” Mr. Biden said. “We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation.”

Vice President Kamala Harris compared the storming of the Capitol to the bombing of Pearl Harbour and the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Ms. Harris, who was senator at the time of the insurrection, recalled her staff using filing cabinets as barricades to keep out the mob.

“We all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy were successful,” she said. “The very fact of how close we came to an election overturned, that reflects the fragility of democracy.”

Mr. Trump called his supporters to Washington that day, and urged them at a rally near the White House to “fight like hell” to overturn the election. A mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters then descended on the Capitol, where Congress was certifying Mr. Biden’s election victory. Rioters beat up police officers, trashed the building and hunted fleeing lawmakers.

So far, 725 people have been charged in connection with the riot. A congressional committee has uncovered details about what Mr. Trump and his advisors were doing before and during the attack. Some advisors discussed scenarios for overturning the election. Mr. Trump watched the violence unfold on television and for hours ignored pleas from lawmakers and his own children to intervene.

Jan. 6 Capitol riot suspects still sought by the FBI a year later

Attorney-General Merrick Garland said this week that there were more arrests to come. And he suggested that his prosecutors were investigating potential orchestrators of the attack.

“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under the law,” he said. “Whether they were present that day, or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”

— Adrian Morrow

Biden’s speech both rallying cry and cry of despair over the persistence of Capitol riot divisions

Jan. 5, 10:09 p.m. ET

On anniversary of U.S. Capitol riot, public fears repeat performance while suspects still roam free

U.S. Attorney-General Merrick Garland is promising to bring more perpetrators of last year’s attack on the Capitol to justice, and he is suggesting that coming charges may include those who orchestrated the riot.

On the eve of the insurrection’s first anniversary, Mr. Garland warned that the more than 700 prosecutions undertaken by his department in relation to that day “will not be our last.”

So far, prosecutors have laid a slew of charges – ranging from obstructing Congress to seriously injuring police officers – against alleged rioters.

Investigations have uncovered details of the actions of Mr. Trump and his advisers before and during the insurrection. Two of his former advisers stand accused of contempt of Congress for failing to co-operate with the probe.

But the ex-president himself has continued to push the conspiracy theories that fuelled the attack, claiming in e-mail blasts and speeches that the 2020 election was “rigged” and the “Crime of the Century.” Recent polling shows a strong majority of his supporters still believe that he actually won. And the Republican Party remains in his thrall, pursuing an aggressive strategy to make it possible for Republican officials to overturn future election results.

It is all stoking fears among many Americans that, despite Mr. Garland’s promises of justice, the prospect for a repeat of the riot is very real.

- Adrian Morrow

Jan. 5, 1:04 p.m. ET

Twitter creates monitoring team to prepare for Jan. 6 Capitol riot anniversary

Twitter Inc has created a new team to review the social networking site for harmful content associated with the event, the company told Reuters on Tuesday.

Social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook were accused of enabling extremists to organize the siege on Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of Republican then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol to block Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.

- Reuters

Jan. 5, 12:43 p.m. ET

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland vows to hold anyone involved in Jan. 6 Capitol attack accountable

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday vowed to hold accountable anyone who was involved in the deadly Capitol attack by former President Donald Trump’s supporters in remarks made the day before the one-year anniversary of the violence.

The Justice Department, headed by Garland, has charged more than 725 people with crimes arising from the riot ranging from disorderly conduct to assaulting police to conspiracy. Of those people, about 165 have pleaded guilty and at least 70 have been sentenced.

“The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law – whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy,” Garland said in a speech.

- Reuters

Jan. 5, 8:06 p.m. ET

Trump cancels press conference in Florida scheduled for Jan. 6

On Tuesday, former President Donald Trump said he was cancelling a press conference he had planned to hold in Florida on the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by his supporters.

Trump said he would instead be discussing his grievances at a rally he has planned in Arizona later this month. Trump had been expected to use the press conference to rail against the congressional committee investigating the events of Jan. 6, when a mob of his supporters violently stormed the Capitol in an effort to halt the peaceful transfer of power, and to repeat his lies about the 2020 election.

- The Associated Press

More reading:

• News: Jan. 6 Capitol riot suspects still sought by the FBI a year later
• Opinion: With Donald Trump lurking, is the U.S. sleepwalking toward calamity?
• Opinion: A historic Canadian insurrection has uncanny parallels with the Capitol riot
• Analysis: In a deeply divided U.S., Americans struggle over how to commemorate Jan. 6
• From the archives: What the pro-Trump mob did and how Congress responded
• From the archives: In photos: A look back at the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol

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