Congress will gather Monday to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s election under the tightest national security level possible. Layers of tall black fencing flank the U.S. Capitol complex in a stark reminder of what happened on this day four years ago.
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Democrats release a flurry of Jan. 6 remembrance statements as the GOP remains quiet
The four year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is being marked Monday by a number of congressional Democrats, including current and former leaders as Republicans remained mostly silent as they prepare to certify the election of the man who incited that very mob.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, who was speaker when the insurrection happened, marked the occasion, saying the attack “shook our Republic to its core.”
“We must never forget the extraordinary courage of law enforcement officers on January 6th who stood in the breach and stared down the insurrectionists to protect the Capitol, the Congress and the Constitution,” the California lawmaker said in a statement.
Her successor, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries echoed her sentiment, saying the “American people must never be allowed to the forget the events” of Jan. 6. He added that “history will always remember the attempted insurrection and we will never allow the violence that unfolded in plain sight to be whitewashed.”
Reminders of Jan. 6 attack fade in the Capitol
Inside the Capitol, reminders of the violence are increasingly hard to find.
Scars on the walls have been repaired. Windows and doors broken by the rioters have been replaced. And there’s no plaque, display or remembrance of any kind.
In some ways, it’s like the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, that shook the foundations of American democracy, never happened.
▶Read more about how Jan. 6 is—and isn’t—being remembered
An eerie day at the US Capitol
On the morning of the certification, the U.S. Capitol was covered in snow with roads blocked off for miles as police hoped for a quiet day in Congress.
At certain points, there were more officers than staff as many lawmakers were expected to be absent Monday due to the inclement weather. It’s a stark difference from what transpired four years ago today as lawmakers, staff and reporters hid from a violent mob that overtook the Capitol building, leaving mayhem in their wake.
Biden says Americans shouldn’t forget the 2021 Capitol attack but there won’t be a repeat this time
President Joe Biden is decrying what he calls an “unrelenting effort” to downplay a mob of Donald Trump supporters overrunning the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to block certification of the 2020 election — seeking to contrast that day’s chaos with what he promises will be an orderly transition returning Trump to power for a second term.
In an opinion piece published Sunday in The Washington Post, Biden recalled Jan. 6, 2021, writing that “violent insurrectionists attacked the Capitol.”
“We should be proud that our democracy withstood this assault,” Biden wrote. “And we should be glad we will not see such a shameful attack again this year.”
▶Read more about Biden’s opinion piece
An overview of what will be happening at the Capitol
Under heavy security, lawmakers in the snowy Capitol will gather at 1 p.m. ET to count the electoral votes in the 2024 election and declare Donald Trump the winner.
The joint session, which takes place on Jan. 6 every four years, is the final step after the Electoral College meets in December to officially elect the winner of the White House.
At the center of the process are sealed electoral certificates from each state, which are brought into the House chamber in special mahogany boxes that are used for the occasion. Those same boxes were rushed to safety four years ago as rioters breached the Capitol.
Bipartisan representatives of both chambers will read the results out loud and do an official count. No challenges to the results are expected this year, which means the process should move quickly.
Vice President Kamala Harris, as president of the Senate, will preside over the session and certify her defeat to Trump.
Trump’s win has boosted Republicans’ faith in elections — for now
Four years ago, then-President Donald Trump urged supporters to head to the Capitol to protest Congress’ certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
“Will be wild!” Trump promised on Twitter a few weeks before Jan. 6, 2021. And it was.
This year, the only turbulence preceding the quadrennial ratification of the presidential election resulted from House Republicans fighting among themselves over who should be speaker.
▶Read more on why the calm may be illusory
Hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions are in limbo as a DC court awaits Trump’s White House return
It’s the largest prosecution in Justice Department history — with reams of evidence, harrowing videos and hundreds of convictions of the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Now Donald Trump’s return to power has thrown into question the future of the more than 1,500 federal cases brought over the last four years.
Jan. 6 trials, guilty pleas and sentencings have continued chugging along in Washington’s federal court despite Trump’s promise to pardon rioters, whom he’s called “political prisoners” and “hostages” he contends were treated too harshly.
In a statement Monday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said Justice Department prosecutors “have sought to hold accountable those criminally responsible for the January 6 attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity.”
▶ Read more about Jan. 6 prosecutions
Harris will oversee certification of her defeat to Trump four years after he sparked Capitol attack
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday is set to preside over the certification of her defeat to Donald Trump four years after he tried to stop the very process that will now return him to the White House.
In a video message, Harris described her role as a “sacred obligation” to ensure the peaceful transfer of power.
“As we have seen, our democracy can be fragile,” she said. “And it is up to each of us to stand up for our most cherished principles.”
Harris will be joining a short list of other vice presidents to oversee the ceremonial confirmation of their election loss as part of their role of presiding over the Senate. Richard Nixon did it after losing to John F. Kennedy in 1960. Al Gore followed suit when the U.S. Supreme Court tipped the 2000 election to George W. Bush.
▶ Read more about Vice President Kamala Harris
No violence expected this year, but what happens in another four years?
What’s unclear is if Jan. 6, 2021, was the anomaly, the year Americans violently attacked their own government, or if this year’s expected calm becomes the outlier. The U.S. is struggling to cope with its political and cultural differences at a time when democracy worldwide is threatened. Trump calls Jan. 6, 2021, a “day of love.”
“We should not be lulled into complacency,” said Ian Bassin, executive director of the cross-ideological nonprofit Protect Democracy.
He and others have warned that it’s historically unprecedented for U.S. voters to do what they did in November, reelecting Trump after he publicly refused to step aside last time. Returning to power an emboldened leader who’s demonstrated his unwillingness to give it up “is an unprecedentedly dangerous move for a free country to voluntarily take,” Bassin said.
Lawmakers brace for Trump’s promised Jan. 6 pardons
The fourth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has a new focus as lawmakers brace for the prospect that President-elect Donald Trump may soon pardon many of the more than 1,500 people charged with crimes for their actions related to the riot.
▶Read more about Trump’s promises to issue pardons
Congress is ready to certify Trump’s election win, but his Jan. 6 legacy hangs over the day
As Congress convenes during a winter storm to certify President-elect Donald Trump’s election, the legacy of Jan. 6 hangs over the proceedings with an extraordinary fact: The candidate who tried to overturn the previous election won this time and is legitimately returning to power.
Lawmakers will gather noontime Monday under the tightest national security level possible. Layers of tall black fencing flank the U.S. Capitol complex in a stark reminder of what happened four years ago, when a defeated Trump sent his mob to “fight like hell” in what became the most gruesome attack on the seat of American democracy in 200 years.
No violence, protests or even procedural objections in Congress are expected this time. Republicans from the highest levels of power who challenged the 2020 election results when Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden have no qualms this year after he defeated Vice President Kamala Harris.
And Democrats frustrated by Trump’s 312-226 Electoral College victory nevertheless accept the choice of the American voters. Even the snowstorm barreling down on the region wasn’t expected to interfere with Jan. 6, the day set by law to certify the vote.
▶ Read more about what to expect today