WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump said during his debate with President Joe Biden last week that the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, involved a “relatively small” group of people who were “in many cases led in by police.”
But that’s not what happened. Thousands of his supporters were outside the Capitol that day, and hundreds broke in, many of them beating and wounding police officers in brutal hand-to-hand combat as officers tried to prevent them from storming through windows and doors. There is ample video evidence of the violence, and more than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes in connection with the riot.
Many of those who breached the Capitol repeated Trump’s false claims about election fraud, and some menacingly shouted the names of lawmakers — most notably then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to object to Biden’s legitimate victory. The rioters interrupted the certification of Biden’s victory, but lawmakers who had evacuated both chambers returned that evening to finish it.
Trump, now the presumptive GOP nominee to challenge Biden, has not only continued to mislead voters about what happened that day, but has also praised the rioters, called them “hostages,” and promised to pardon them if he is elected. A look at some of his false claims:
‘PEACEFUL AND PATRIOTIC’
CLAIM: During the debate, Trump was asked by CNN’s Jake Tapper what he would say to voters “who believe that you violated your constitutional oath by your actions, inaction on January 6, 2021, and are concerned that you will do it again?” Trump simply responded, “Well, I didn’t say that to anybody. I said it in a peaceful and patriotic way.”
THE FACTS: In a speech on the White House Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6 to thousands of supporters, Trump told the crowd to march “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol. But he also used far more inflammatory language when he spoke off the cuff in other parts of the speech, such as when he told the crowd, “We’re going to fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you don’t have a country anymore.”
Trump did not address Tapper’s question about his inaction as his supporters breached the building and injured police. More than three hours passed between the time his supporters violently breached the Capitol and Trump’s first attempt to clear the rioters. He released a video message at 4:17 p.m. that day, asking his supporters to go home but reassuring them: “We love you, you are very special.”
Some of the rioters facing criminal charges have said in court that they believed they were following Trump’s instructions on Jan. 6. And evidence presented at trial shows that far-right extremists were mobilized by a tweet from Trump inviting his supporters to a “wild” protest on Jan. 6. “He called us all to the Capitol & wants us to make it wild!!!” wrote one Oath Keepers member who was convicted of seditious conspiracy.
POLICE ‘LET THEM IN’
CLAIM: Trump said during the debate, “They’re talking about a relatively small number of people who went to the Capitol. And in many cases, they were led in by the police.” The next day, Trump said at a rally, “So many of these people were told to go in, right? The police, ‘Go in, go in, go in.'”
THE FACTS: More than 100 Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police officers were injured, some seriously, as they tried to prevent rioters from entering the Capitol. In some cases, officers retreated or stepped aside as they were overwhelmed by the violent, oncoming crowd, but there is no evidence that any rioter was “led” into the building.
In an internal memo last year, U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said the claim that “our officers assisted the rioters and acted as ‘guides’” is “outrageous and false.” Manger said police were completely overwhelmed and outnumbered, and in many cases resorted to de-escalation tactics to try to convince rioters to leave the building.
The Capitol Police said in a statement this week that “our officers performed their duties to the best of their ability under extreme circumstances to protect members of Congress. With the assistance of multiple law enforcement agencies and the National Guard, which more than doubled the number of officers on the scene, it took several hours to secure the U.S. Capitol. Ultimately, thanks to the dedication of our officers, no one they were supposed to protect was injured, and the legislative process continued.”
NATIONAL GUARD RESPONSE
CLAIM: Trump said he offered Pelosi 10,000 National Guard troops and “she now admits she turned it down.” Referring to a video Pelosi’s daughter made that day, Trump claimed Pelosi said, “I take full responsibility for January 6th.”
THE FACTS: Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that he offered to send National Guard troops to the Capitol and that his offer was rejected. He has previously said he signed an order for 20,000 troops to go to the Capitol.
Although Trump had been discussing whether to call out the National Guard before the joint session in the days leading up to January 6, he issued no such order or formal request before or during the riot. Moreover, the Guard’s arrival was delayed for hours as Pentagon officials deliberated on how to proceed.
In a 2022 interview with the Democratic-led House committee investigating the attack, Christopher Miller, then acting defense secretary, confirmed that there was no presidential order.
The Capitol Police Board decides whether to call in National Guard troops, and two members of that board — the House Sergeant at Arms and the Senate Sergeant at Arms — decided through informal conversations not to call out the Guard ahead of the joint session that was ultimately interrupted by Trump’s supporters, despite a request from Capitol Police. The House Sergeant at Arms reports to the Speaker of the House, who was then Pelosi, and the Senate Sergeant at Arms reported to then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. But Pelosi’s office has said she was never notified of the request.
The administration eventually requested security assistance after the riots began, and Pelosi and McConnell called the Pentagon, pleading for military assistance. Pence, who was in a secure location in the building, also called the Pentagon, requesting reinforcements.
In a video recently released by House Republicans, Pelosi is seen in the trunk of a car on Jan. 6, talking to an aide. In the rough video, recorded by her daughter, Pelosi angrily asks her aide why the National Guard wasn’t at the Capitol when the riots began. “Why wasn’t the National Guard there in the first place?” she asks.
“We had no accountability for what happened there and we should have, this is ridiculous,” Pelosi says, as her aide responds that security officials thought they had enough resources. “They clearly didn’t know and I take responsibility for the fact that they didn’t just prepare for more,” Pelosi says in the video.
There is no mention of a request from Trump and Pelosi has never said she took “full responsibility for January 6.”
Pelosi spokesman Ian Krager said in a statement that Trump’s repeated comments about Pelosi are revisionist history.
“Numerous independent fact-checkers have confirmed time and again that Speaker Pelosi did not plan her own assassination on January 6th,” Krager said. “The Speaker of the House is not responsible for the security of the Capitol complex — on January 6th or any other day of the week.”
‘INNOCENT’ RELIGIOUS PASTERS
CLAIM: Trump told Biden during the debate, “What they did to some people who are so innocent, you should be ashamed of yourself, what you did, how you destroyed the lives of so many people.”
THE FACTS: Following Trump’s false claims of a stolen election, rioters at the Capitol engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with police, with scores of rioters armed with weapons including guns, knives, brass knuckle gloves, a pitchfork, an axe, a sledgehammer and a bow. They also used improvised weapons including flagpoles, a table leg, a hockey stick and a stool to attack officers. Officers were bruised and bloodied, and some were dragged into the crowd and beaten. One officer was crushed in a doorframe and another suffered a heart attack after a rioter held a stun gun to his neck and repeatedly shocked him. One rioter has been charged with climbing scaffolding and firing a gun into the air during the melee.
Rioters broke through windows and doors, ransacked the Capitol and briefly occupied the Senate chamber. Senators had been evacuated minutes earlier. They also tried to enter the House of Representatives, smashing glass windows and banging on doors. But police held them back with guns drawn.
About 900 of the rioters have been convicted, with about two-thirds receiving prison sentences ranging from a few days to 22 years. Hundreds of people who entered the Capitol but did not attack police or damage the building were charged only with misdemeanors.
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Associated Press reporters Barbara Whitaker, Alanna Durkin Richer, Melissa Goldin and Jill Colvin contributed to this report.
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