(WASHINGTON) — House investigators looking into the siege of the U.S. Capitol a year ago have contacted a former spokesman for the Oath Keepers militia, seeking to interview him about his time with the militia group and its founder, Stewart Rhodes, according to the former Oath Keeper, Jason Van Tatenove, and a congressional source familiar with the matter.
The request to interview Van Tatenhove, who says he left the Oath Keepers by 2018, suggests that House investigators are casting a wide net as they gather information about Rhodes as they wait to see if he will cooperate with their probe.
Van Tatenhove told ABC News that he plans to answer the panel’s questions, but he is first seeking legal counsel.
According to congressional sources, House investigators have been discussing Van Tatenhove for much of the day, after ABC News featured him in its new documentary “Homegrown: Standoff to Rebellion,” now on Hulu, and in a story online about his ongoing efforts to “atone” and “make amends” for his time with the Oath Keepers.
Investigators issued a subpoena to Rhodes two months ago, seeking testimony and documents from him, but Rhodes has yet to appear before them or provide documents.
“Prior to January 6th, Mr. Rhodes repeatedly suggested the Oath Keepers should engage in violence to ensure their preferred election outcome,” the committee said in a statement when issuing the subpoena. “On January 6th, Mr. Rhodes was allegedly in contact with several of the indicted Oath Keepers members before, during, and after the Capitol attack, including meeting some of them outside the Capitol.”
Rhodes, however, has said he wasn’t on Capitol grounds until after the violence began, and there’s no evidence he entered the Capitol building. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Nevertheless, according to an ABC News count, more than 20 people charged in the federal investigation of the Jan. 6 riots have alleged ties to the Oath Keepers.
The chairman of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., recently told ABC News that in order to “put the pieces of the puzzle together,” an upcoming hearing will explore the role of the Oath Keepers and other far-right organizations on Jan. 6.
Now an artist and writer in Colorado, Van Tatenhove served as a spokesman for the Oath Keepers between 2014 and 2018. He published stories and posted videos online that promoted claims of federal government overreach and highlighted Oath Keepers’ efforts to intervene in politically-charged matters around the country.
However he now describes much of what he promoted as dangerous “propaganda” that can create violent confrontations.
“And I think we saw the culmination of that come Jan. 6, when the Capitol riots happened,” he said.
Van Tatenhove left the group after it took what he said was “a very hard right turn,” associating with white nationalists and Holocaust deniers at the start of Donald Trump’s presidency.
“I became a propagandist for what they were doing. I feel awful about that now,” Van Tatenhove said.
Rhodes has insisted over the years that his organization is nonpartisan and that it only seeks to help people ensure their rights are protected.
ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — One year after the Jan. 6 insurrection, Maryland Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin reflected on the whirlwind period between the death of his 25-year-old son and the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump following the attack.
Raskin’s son, Tommy Raskin, died by suicide on New Year’s Eve 2020. The day after his son was buried, Raskin was on Capitol Hill when supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol.
“The day after we buried Tommy in a small family COVID-19 graveside service, we had the violent insurrection at the Capitol and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 presidential election by Donald Trump,” said Raskin, who wrote about the experience in his new book, “Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy.”
Soon after, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Raskin to be the lead impeachment manager in Trump’s impeachment trial.
“Speaker Pelosi asked me to be the lead impeachment manager over in the Senate for the trial, and I describe in the book, how to me that was throwing me a lifeline because I felt like I was drowning and that I might not ever do anything again,” said Raskin.
Raskin told ABC News Live that he felt compelled to take the role in honor of his late son.
“I felt like I had an obligation to do it, that Tommy would be completely with me the whole way,” said Raskin. “And this was a chance to try to stand up and articulate, not just my love, but our family’s love, of our Constitution and our freedom and our democracy and the idea of human rights — the opposite of everything that was on display on Jan. 6.”
Raskin is also a member of the Jan. 6 House select committee and is tasked with investigating the cause and who was behind the Jan. 6 insurrection, among other things.
After a year of gathering evidence and conducting voluntary interviews, he said he’s confident the committee will be able to produce results and prevent another attack in the future.
“We are getting the evidence we need in order to tell a comprehensive and fine-grained portrait about what took place and how it happened and what we need to do to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” said Raskin.
Unfortunately, Raskin believes that Jan. 6 wasn’t the end of something, but rather the beginning. He said he’s concerned about what political scientists call a “self-coup” on American democracy.
“Donald Trump decided to try to seize the presidency, and so there was a riot surrounding an insurrection, surrounding a coup against Vice President [Mike] Pence, who on that day was a great constitutional patriot and refused to bow down to Donald Trump,” said Raskin. “The apparatus of insurrection is in place every day in lots of states across the country to try to guarantee the victory of Donald Trump if and when he comes back again in 2024.”
Also, a year since his son’s death, Raskin has become a vocal advocate for mental health. He said his son had long struggled with depression and that his son had left a note before he died that read: “Please forgive me. My illness won today.”
“[Tommy] was overcome with this disease, and it’s no less of a disease than cancer or leukemia,” said Raskin. “Depression kills, and so we need to get people into treatment and get people the best medical treatment possible and then to continue to talk and to listen to people.”
(WASHINGTON) — Thursday marks one year since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Democrats plan to observe the anniversary with somber tributes at the building that’s the symbol of American democracy.
The events in Washington will include a moment of silence, a panel discussion with historians, first-hand testimonies from lawmakers and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are scheduled to make remarks at the Capitol where the White House says the president will address the “singular responsibility” former President Donald Trump had “for the chaos and carnage” witnessed and commemorate law enforcement officers who protected the lives of lawmakers last year. No Republican leaders are expected to attend the ceremonies.
ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of Thursday’s events at the Capitol and examine the continuing fallout for American democracy one year since the Jan. 6 siege.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 06, 10:34 am
Biden explains why he didn’t call Trump out by name in speech
After his strongest speech to date laying blame at Trump for violence at the Capitol, reporters pressed Biden on his way out of the building why he did not mention the former president by name, and he argued that he didn’t want to make it into a “contemporary political battle” between the two of them.
“I think we just have to face the facts of what happened. Draw a clear picture for the American people. It’s not about me, it’s not about the vice president, it really isn’t. That’s the thing that bothers me the most about the attitude that seems emerging in some degree in American politics,” Biden said. “It’s about the system, and somebody who decides to put himself above everything. And, so, I did not want to turn it into a contemporary political battle between me and the president. It’s way beyond that.”
A reporter followed up, “Does calling him out divide more than it heals, though?”
“No no, look. The way you have to heal — you have to recognize the extent of the wound. You can’t pretend. This is serious stuff. And a lot of people — understandably — want to go — you know, ‘I’d just as soon not face it.’ You’ve got to face it. That’s what great nations do. They face the truth, deal with it, and move on,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Sarah Kolinovsky
Jan 06, 10:26 am
Biden lays out 3 ‘big lies’ from Trump, vows to stand for truth
Laying out the three “big lies” he said the former president has tried to sell around the 2020 election — that the election was stolen, the results couldn’t be trusted, and that those who stormed the Capitol a year ago were patriots — Biden tore into Trump as a loser in denial in his remarks.
“So at this moment, we must decide what kind of nation are we going to be? Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth, but of the shadow of lies?” he said. “The way forward is to recognize the truth, and to live by it.”
Asking Americans to recall the scenes from last year, Biden described in detail the attacks on law enforcement, the gallows erected to “Hang Mike Pence” and chants to harm Pelosi, before turning to President Trump’s inaction.
“What did we not see? We didn’t see a former president who had just rallied the mob to attack sitting in the private dining room off the oval office in the White House watching it all on television. And doing nothing. For hours. As police were assaulted. Lives at risk. The nation’s capital under siege,” Biden lamented.
“I did not seek this fight brought to this Capitol one year ago today. But I will not shrink from it either. I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation,” he said. “And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle and Justin Gomez
Jan 06, 10:24 am
Biden rejects Trump’s characterization of mob as ‘patriots’
In front of the presidential seal, flanked by two American flags, inside the Capitol’s Statuary Hall — a rare place for a president to speak but from where pro-Trump rioters stormed last year — Biden directly blamed Trump for last year’s violence and rejected the former president’s characterization of the mob as “patriots.”
“Is that what you thought when you looked at the mob ransacking the Capitol, destroying property — literally defecating in the hallways — rifling through the desks of senators and representatives, hunting down members of Congress? Patriots? Not in my view,” he said in a firm tone.
“To me, the true patriots were the more than 150 Americans who peacefully expressed their vote at the ballot box,” Biden continued.
“The former president — who lies about this election — and the mob that attacked this Capitol could not be further away from the core American values. They want to rule or they will ruin — ruin what our country fought for at Lexington and Concord, at Gettysburg and Omaha Beach, Seneca Falls, Selma, Alabama,” he said, invoking ideals of American democracy.
Rejecting Trump’s election lies one by one, Biden repeated that despite the former president building his false case over months that there is “zero proof the election results are inaccurate.”
Jan 06, 9:52 am
Biden calls Trump plot to overturn the election a ‘dagger at the throat of America’
Without mentioning Trump by name, Biden blamed him over and over again for the violence that erupted at the Capitol last year and the serious danger his “web of lies” poses to the country.
“Those who stormed this Capitol, and those who instigated and incited, and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America and American democracy,” Biden said about Trump and his allies.
Biden hinted at how plotting to try to take the election from him — and more so, the will of American voters — began well in advance of Jan. 6 as Trump sewed doubt in the election with his supporters as it neared.
“They didn’t come here out of patriotism or principle. They came here in rage — not in service at American rather and service of one man. Those who incited the mob — the real plotters — were desperate to deny the certification of this election,” Biden said.
“The former president and his supporters have decided the only way for them to win is to suppress your vote and subvert our elections, it’s wrong, it’s undemocratic and frankly, it’s unAmerican,” Biden said, appearing to speak both directly about Trump, leaning into the camera, and to the American people.
He said Americans “cannot allow ourselves” to be a kind of nation that stands for lies and by a former president that has violently rejected a peaceful transfer of power.
Jan 06, 9:33 am
Biden slams Trump for spreading ‘web of lies’ around election loss
In his most forceful remarks yet against Trump, Biden called out the former president — without using his name — for weaving what he called a “web of lies” around the 2020 election and attacking American democracy as no other leader has before.
“We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie,” Biden said. “And here’s the truth: The former president of the United States of America has created spread a web of lies about the 2020 election. He’s done so because he values power over principle — because he sees his own interest is more important than his country’s interest and America’s interest — because his bruised ego matters more to him than our democracy or our Constitution.”
“He can’t accept he lost,” Biden said. “He can’t accept he lost even though that’s what 93 United States senators, his own attorney general, his own vice president, governors and state officials and every battleground state, all said, he lost.”
Establishing Trump as a “defeated former president — by a margin of 7 million votes in a free and fair election,” Biden defended his win against Trump and his supporters by laying out the facts of the election.
Jan 06, 9:21 am
Harris ties ‘fragility of democracy’ to push for voting rights legislation
A somber Vice President Kamala Harris, in remarks ahead of Biden, said what the “extremists who roamed these halls targeted” last year when was not only an attack on the lives of elected leaders and the 2020 election.
“What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. What they were assaulting. were the institution’s the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend,” she said.
The vice president, who was at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6 last year, reflected on what she called “the dual nature of democracy: its fragility and its strength.”
“The strength of democracy is the rule of law,” she said. “And the fragility of democracy is this. That if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand. It will falter and fail.”
She ended her remarks with a call to pass Democrats voting rights bills in the Senate as restrictive voting laws are enacted across the country.
“But we, the American people, must also do something more. We cannot sit on the sidelines. We must unite in defense of our democracy,” she said.
Jan 06, 9:16 am
Biden arrives at the Capitol
Arriving on Capitol Hill, reporters asked the president ahead of his remarks how he was feeling heading into the day.
The president, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, appeared to respond, “Praying that we will never have a day like we had a year ago today.”
Notably, he did not respond when asked if he held Trump personally responsible for the attack.
The three walked towards Statuary Hall, which rioters stormed through one year ago.
Jan 06, 9:02 am
Excerpts from Biden’s prepared remarks on Jan. 6
To mark one year since a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed through the Capitol — including Statuary Hall where Biden will soon speak — and attempted to breach the House chamber in an attempt to undo the 2020 election, in his remarks this morning, Biden will say that Americans are facing a moment when “we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be.”
“Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?” Biden will say according to speech excerpts released by the White House.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it,” the excerpt read.
While Biden is not expected to mention the former president by name, the White House said he will lay out the “singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw.”
Upon Biden’s arrival to the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer greeted him. The pair flanked the president as they walked towards Statuary Hall.
Jan 06, 8:46 am
Fortified fencing, massive force, not part of anniversary scene
Armored military vehicles, concertina wire atop non-scalable fencing and the massive show of force that fortified Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the violent attack on democracy last Jan. 6 are not defining Thursday’s anniversary.
The security posture in Washington, by comparison, appears fairly ordinary. The temporary fencing that ringed the Capitol for more than six months, and again briefly for a September demonstration has not returned, though that could change quickly if conditions warrant, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in a recent interview.
In a briefing Tuesday, Manger said his office was aware of several events planned for the day but that “most of them aren’t of much concern to us.”
“There’s no intelligence that indicates that there would be any problems,” he said.
Jan 06, 8:30 am
By the numbers: DOJ investigates Jan. 6
At least 704 accused rioters have been charged by the Department of Justice, according to an ABC News count. At least 172 have pleaded guilty to their changes.
The FBI is still seeking 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, according to the DOJ, including over 250 who assaulted police officers.
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin, Alexander Mallin and Will Steakin
Jan 06, 8:06 am
Capitol Police union praises officers’ ‘dedication and commitment’
The union representing United States Capitol Police officers praised the “dedication and commitment” of those who protected the Capitol building one year ago.
“Today, we recognize the dedication and commitment to mission of the men and women who put their own lives and safety on the line to defend the U.S. Capitol,” Gus Papathanasiou, chair of the union, said in a statement Thursday. “We especially pay tribute to Officer Sicknick who died after being injured during the rioting, and to Officer Liebengood who tragically took his own life after the attack.”
According to Papathanasiou, 80 Capitol Police officers sustained injuries that day, with some so serious they are still not back at work. He said members of the force remain “committed to our mission,” but that comes with an increase in officers as well as improved intelligence and communications between officers and leadership.
Papathanasiou noted that the legacy of Jan. 6 — from a policing perspective — should be a police force that is better prepared, with an eye toward readiness if an attack of such scale ever occurred again.
“Going forward, this Union will work with the Department to ensure those sacrifices will not be in vain,” he added. “We must ensure that the events of January 6th are never repeated.”
(WASHINGTON) — Thursday marks one year since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Democrats plan to observe the anniversary with somber tributes at the building that’s the symbol of American democracy.
The events in Washington will include a moment of silence, a panel discussion with historians, first-hand testimonies from lawmakers and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are scheduled to make remarks at the Capitol where the White House says the president will address the “singular responsibility” former President Donald Trump had “for the chaos and carnage” witnessed and commemorate law enforcement officers who protected the lives of lawmakers last year. No Republican leaders are expected to attend the ceremonies.
ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of Thursday’s events at the Capitol and examine the continuing fallout for American democracy one year since the Jan. 6 siege.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 06, 8:30 am
By the numbers: DOJ investigates Jan. 6
At least 704 accused rioters have been charged by the Department of Justice, according to an ABC News count. At least 172 have pleaded guilty to their changes.
The FBI is still seeking 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, according to the DOJ, including over 250 who assaulted police officers.
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin, Alexander Mallin and Will Steakin
Jan 06, 8:06 am
Capitol Police union praises officers’ ‘dedication and commitment’
The union representing United States Capitol Police officers praised the “dedication and commitment” of those who protected the Capitol building one year ago.
“Today, we recognize the dedication and commitment to mission of the men and women who put their own lives and safety on the line to defend the U.S. Capitol,” Gus Papathanasiou, chair of the union, said in a statement Thursday. “We especially pay tribute to Officer Sicknick who died after being injured during the rioting, and to Officer Liebengood who tragically took his own life after the attack.”
According to Papathanasiou, 80 Capitol Police officers sustained injuries that day, with some so serious they are still not back at work. He said members of the force remain “committed to our mission,” but that comes with an increase in officers as well as improved intelligence and communications between officers and leadership.
Papathanasiou noted that the legacy of Jan. 6 — from a policing perspective — should be a police force that is better prepared, with an eye toward readiness if an attack of such scale ever occurred again.
“Going forward, this Union will work with the Department to ensure those sacrifices will not be in vain,” he added. “We must ensure that the events of January 6th are never repeated.”
(WASHINGTON) — Thursday marks one year since the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Democrats plan to observe the anniversary with somber tributes at the building that’s the symbol of American democracy.
The events in Washington will include a moment of silence, a panel discussion with historians, first-hand testimonies from lawmakers and a prayer vigil on the Capitol steps.
President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are scheduled to make remarks at the Capitol where the White House says the president will address the “singular responsibility” former President Donald Trump had “for the chaos and carnage” witnessed and commemorate law enforcement officers who protected the lives of lawmakers last year. No Republican leaders are expected to attend the ceremonies.
ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of Thursday’s events at the Capitol and examine the continuing fallout for American democracy one year since the Jan. 6 siege.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 06, 9:21 am
Harris ties ‘fragility of democracy’ to push for voting rights legislation
A somber Vice President Kamala Harris, in remarks ahead of Biden, said what the “extremists who roamed these halls targeted” last year when was not only an attack on the lives of elected leaders and the 2020 election.
“What they sought to degrade and destroy was not only a building, hallowed as it is. What they were assaulting. were the institution’s the values, the ideals that generations of Americans have marched, picketed, and shed blood to establish and defend,” she said.
The vice president, who was at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6 last year, reflected on what she called “the dual nature of democracy: its fragility and its strength.”
“The strength of democracy is the rule of law,” she said. “And the fragility of democracy is this. That if we are not vigilant, if we do not defend it, democracy simply will not stand. It will falter and fail.”
She ended her remarks with a call to pass Democrats voting rights bills in the Senate as restrictive voting laws are enacted across the country.
“But we, the American people, must also do something more. We cannot sit on the sidelines. We must unite in defense of our democracy,” she said.
Jan 06, 9:16 am
Biden arrives at the Capitol
Arriving on Capitol Hill, reporters asked the president ahead of his remarks how he was feeling heading into the day.
The president, flanked by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, appeared to respond, “Praying that we will never have a day like we had a year ago today.”
Notably, he did not respond when asked if he held Trump personally responsible for the attack.
The three walked towards Statuary Hall, which rioters stormed through one year ago.
Jan 06, 9:02 am
Excerpts from Biden’s prepared remarks on Jan. 6
To mark one year since a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed through the Capitol — including Statuary Hall where Biden will soon speak — and attempted to breach the House chamber in an attempt to undo the 2020 election, in his remarks this morning, Biden will say that Americans are facing a moment when “we must decide what kind of nation we are going to be.”
“Are we going to be a nation that accepts political violence as a norm? Are we going to be a nation where we allow partisan election officials to overturn the legally expressed will of the people? Are we going to be a nation that lives not by the light of the truth but in the shadow of lies?” Biden will say according to speech excerpts released by the White House.
“We cannot allow ourselves to be that kind of nation. The way forward is to recognize the truth and to live by it,” the excerpt read.
While Biden is not expected to mention the former president by name, the White House said he will lay out the “singular responsibility President Trump has for the chaos and carnage that we saw.”
Upon Biden’s arrival to the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer greeted him. The pair flanked the president as they walked towards Statuary Hall.
Jan 06, 8:46 am
Fortified fencing, massive force, not part of anniversary scene
Armored military vehicles, concertina wire atop non-scalable fencing and the massive show of force that fortified Capitol Hill in the aftermath of the violent attack on democracy last Jan. 6 are not defining Thursday’s anniversary.
The security posture in Washington, by comparison, appears fairly ordinary. The temporary fencing that ringed the Capitol for more than six months, and again briefly for a September demonstration has not returned, though that could change quickly if conditions warrant, Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in a recent interview.
In a briefing Tuesday, Manger said his office was aware of several events planned for the day but that “most of them aren’t of much concern to us.”
“There’s no intelligence that indicates that there would be any problems,” he said.
Jan 06, 8:30 am
By the numbers: DOJ investigates Jan. 6
At least 704 accused rioters have been charged by the Department of Justice, according to an ABC News count. At least 172 have pleaded guilty to their changes.
The FBI is still seeking 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, according to the DOJ, including over 250 who assaulted police officers.
-ABC News’ Olivia Rubin, Alexander Mallin and Will Steakin
Jan 06, 8:06 am
Capitol Police union praises officers’ ‘dedication and commitment’
The union representing United States Capitol Police officers praised the “dedication and commitment” of those who protected the Capitol building one year ago.
“Today, we recognize the dedication and commitment to mission of the men and women who put their own lives and safety on the line to defend the U.S. Capitol,” Gus Papathanasiou, chair of the union, said in a statement Thursday. “We especially pay tribute to Officer Sicknick who died after being injured during the rioting, and to Officer Liebengood who tragically took his own life after the attack.”
According to Papathanasiou, 80 Capitol Police officers sustained injuries that day, with some so serious they are still not back at work. He said members of the force remain “committed to our mission,” but that comes with an increase in officers as well as improved intelligence and communications between officers and leadership.
Papathanasiou noted that the legacy of Jan. 6 — from a policing perspective — should be a police force that is better prepared, with an eye toward readiness if an attack of such scale ever occurred again.
“Going forward, this Union will work with the Department to ensure those sacrifices will not be in vain,” he added. “We must ensure that the events of January 6th are never repeated.”
Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — America’s faith in the integrity of the election system remains shaken by the events of Jan. 6, with only 20% of the public saying it’s very confident about the system, a new ABC/Ipsos poll finds. This is a significant drop from 37% in an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in the days after the insurrection last year.
The lack of strong confidence in the country’s ability to conduct an honest election crosses partisan lines. Among Democrats, whose party leaders have been struggling to legislatively protect what they believe to be deteriorating voting rights across the country, 30% say they are very confident in the U.S. election systems overall. Regarding independents, only 1 in 5 consider themselves “very confident” in the nation’s elections.
Even fewer Republicans (13%) are very confident, with a considerable majority (59%) having little faith in the system, responding that they either are “not so confident” or “not confident at all,” a snapshot of growing skepticism a year after the harrowing attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The ABC/Ipsos poll, which was conducted by Ipsos in partnership with ABC News using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, also found that when asked to mention one word to describe what happened on Jan. 6, an overwhelming majority of Americans (68%) responded with a critical description. In fact, only one of the top 10 one-word responses suggest sympathy toward the events. That term, “setup,” was the eighth-most frequent response. Overall, the top five words used to describe Jan. 6 were insurrection, treason, riot, chaos and disgust.
And while earlier data reported by ABC/Ipsos found that large shares of Republicans felt that Joe Biden’s election was not legitimate alongside feelings that those present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 may have been attempting to protect democracy, rather than threaten it, GOP respondents also communicated very few warm feelings about the riots themselves when asked what word comes to mind to describe what happened that day.
The most frequently used one-word responses among Republicans were critical, with “chaos,” “disgust,” “disgrace” and “crazy” as top terms. Democrats’ language was far more dire, with the lion’s share choosing the term “insurrection,” “treason” and “terrorism.”
Among the very few sympathetic terms regarding the Jan. 6 attacks were “fake,” “protest” and “setup.” Less than 2% of respondents mentioned these.
The ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted after a discordant year packed with both news and noise, with some part of that being former President Donald Trump’s continuous false claim that the November general election was stolen from him. Other close allies in his party, like Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, have parroted this falsehood at a national level.
While the attempt to siege the Capitol on Jan. 6. was foiled, the attack — and the subsequent attempt to recast the narrative in the intervening months — did not come without consequences, according to political scientist William Howell.
“Widespread distrust in our electoral system overlays deep divisions over our democracy. Republicans lack confidence, in no small part, because of lies propagated by their leaders. And Democrats lack confidence because of ongoing efforts of Republicans to politicize the administration of elections. This is a bad equilibrium,” Howell, professor of political science at the University of Chicago, said in a statement to ABC News.
This ABC News/Ipsos poll was conducted using Ipsos Public Affairs’ KnowledgePanel® Dec. 27 to 29, 2021, in English and Spanish, among a random national sample of 982 adults with oversamples of Black and Hispanic respondents. Results have a margin of sampling error of 3.5 points, including the design effect. Partisan divisions are 29-25-36%, Democrats-Republicans-independents. See the poll’s topline results and details on the methodology here.
ABC News’ Dan Merkle and Ken Goldstein contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The early collection of historical artifacts collected by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History documenting the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 , includes a flak jacket worn by a journalist when she was attacked and signs with violent rhetoric.
“Off with their heads,” one sign reads, echoing the chilling words chanted by rioters who stormed the Capitol and threatened the lives of lawmakers.
“Those are heavy signs. They clearly took some time to repaint, and someone came with bolts and tools to attach them to street poles. So, they were not walking around carrying those. They wanted them to be someplace where people could see them and presumably thought that they would stay there for a long time,” Claire Jerry, curator of political history at the museum told ABC News, describing the sign and others in the collection with words stenciled and spray-painted on large, thick sheets of metal.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
The museum collected several artifacts in the days immediately following the attack. As they often do, especially in the nation’s capital city, they sent out a rapid response team to pick up and preserve discarded material on the National Mall and around the Capitol buildings. Jerry said in some cases, her staff tried to stay ahead of cleaning crews to gather significant material that otherwise might have been lost.
Museum staff says it’s been a challenge to bring in new artifacts this last year, because of COVID-19 restrictions and extensive, ongoing law enforcement investigations. But the team was quick to talk about the historical significance of that day as it related to the nation’s politics, and the 2020 campaign and election.
“This peaceful transfer of presidential authority, the mainstay of the American democracy since 1800, was intentionally interrupted as thousands of rioters, many carrying Trump banners and signs, violently broke through police security and entered the Capitol. This was the first time that the Capitol had been breached on a large scale since the War of 1812 when British troops attacked the city,” museum staff wrote in a press release this week.
Over 700 criminal cases have been brought against rioters and nearly 200 individuals have already pleaded guilty. Dozens of law enforcements officials were injured during the attack, many of them hospitalized and out of work for months.
“The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and on the foundation of the United States’ democratic republic, revealed the fragility of our political system,” said Anthea M. Hartig, the museum’s Elizabeth MacMillan director. “As the nation’s flagship history museum, our staff is committed to documenting and, most importantly, preserving this history for future generations to understand how the events of that fraught day unfolded and to track their ongoing impacts.”
Included in the collection is a group of National Guard insignia from units from around the country who responded in days after the attack, as well as a flak jacket worn by a freelance photographer when she was attacked by a female rioter on the Capitol ground the evening of Jan. 6.
The attacker’s knife blade pierced straight through the heavy material of journalist Madeleine Kelly’s jacket. The attack was clearly violent and forceful. Kelly credits the jacket with keeping her safe, if not saving her life.
“We know from video and from photographs that the press was literally attacked. There were stashed cameras, and this is an important story to tell,” Shannon Perich, photography curator, told ABC at the museum. The vest is displayed on a mannequin that is designed to be close to Kelly’s size.
“Her physicality was not threatening, but she was taking photographs and that was threatening. And this is an interesting story to think about the power of photography in that way,” Perich added.
(WASHINGTON) — It was hardly the first week any of us imagined: A violent mob storming the United States Capitol, chanting for the vice president to be hanged, leaving behind a trail of shattered glass, blood and debris. The first 100 hours on the job were filled with chaos, confusion and a new set of challenges.
For most freshman lawmakers, the Jan. 6 attack meant running for safety in a building they hardly knew. For me, as ABC’s incoming congressional correspondent, it meant covering a historic and deadly insurrection as one of my first assignments on the beat.
Third day on the job: ‘Oh, is this your first coup?’
Just three days after being sworn into office, the freshman class of lawmakers found themselves hiding for cover. “It was a day of terror,” Democratic Rep. Jamaal Bowman said. “I remember feeling numb and in shock.”
Democratic Rep. Mondaire Jones was down on the House floor as the mob of Trump supporters closed in on the chamber. Members were instructed to grab escape hoods — emergency gas masks — and swiftly move to a secure location.
“Oh, is this your first coup?” Jones recalled another member mentioning to him in jest once they reached a secure location.
The U.S. Capitol is well over 1.5 million square feet with 600 rooms, underground tunnels and corridors that stretch miles. It’s hardly a building you can learn your way around in a few days — let alone during an insurrection. “You don’t have a sense of direction because you’re only three days on the job,” Bowman said. “I definitely didn’t know where the cafeteria was or the most efficient way to get into the Capitol.”
For Bowman, the chaos that unfolded that day would define the weeks and months that followed; and when I asked if he still feels the weight of Jan. 6 one year later, his answer was definitive. “As you were asking the question, I felt the tension in my neck and shoulders,” he said. “Yes, every single day I feel it. Every day I walk out of my house, I feel it.”
The unwatchable video: ‘It brought me to my knees’
If there was a “honeymoon phase” for the freshman class, it didn’t last long. Their first three Wednesdays in office would be unlike any others in American history: an insurrection, an inauguration and an impeachment. The Capitol became a fortress with miles-long fencing wrapped around the complex, military vehicles guarding the streets and an armed National Guard standing at the ready.
For weeks, many lawmakers had no idea how close they had come to the violent mob — but that all changed during the impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. The never-before-seen video of the attack was raw and graphic. It sent shockwaves throughout the Capitol.
For Republican Rep. Nancy Mace, much of it was unwatchable. “I couldn’t get through the video that the Democrats put together for impeachment, I got through about half of it. I could not watch it. It made me physically ill, it made me sick to my stomach, it brought me to my knees,” Mace told me, weeks after the insurrection.
During our interview, I nodded silently. The images were searing and still keeping me up at night. I remembered the moment things took an even more dramatic turn during the insurrection, when there were reports of gunfire inside the Capitol. Before we knew it, paramedics raced past our team, rushing a woman out on a gurney. Blood covered her face and gushed down her body. Her eyes were barely open, and as they carried her away, she stared back at the building she breached.
Almost every day, I enter through the building’s doors, perhaps one of the things I’ve struggled with most is not having any memories of the Capitol prior to Jan. 6. Most things I pass every day — windows, entrances, plazas, cafeterias — trigger memories from that day.
Over the course of several hours, we watched as medics scrambled to triage bruised and bloody officers. In the months to come, I would personally come to learn the names, faces and stories behind those images.
More than 130 days after the Capitol siege, the National Guard ended their mission. Their presence became unusually “normal,” and now, at times, I still find myself looking around for them.
One year removed: The day that changed Congress
One year after the Jan. 6 insurrection, the Capitol is still reeling from the violence. The attack only deepened fraught political divides, eroding trust between members who were caught in the crosshairs.
Freshman Republican Rep. Troy Nehls came face to face with rioters pounding on the door of the House chamber. “The door started shaking violently. And then the glass shattered. I saw a young man and he was looking at me and I was looking at him and he said, ‘You’re from Texas, you should be with us.’ And I told him this was ‘un-American, what you’re doing,” Nehls told ABC News.
Hours later, when the lawmakers returned to the chamber to certify the election results for President Joe Biden, Nehls was one of 147 Republicans who voted against it.
Tensions between parties have worsened. Shouting matches have erupted in the hall and deeply personal attacks have prompted members to relocate offices. Some Democrats have drawn a line — outright refusing to work with Republicans who voted against certifying the election. The House took rare action and issued a formal rebuke of a Republican who posted an animated video depicting him killing a fellow member of Congress and attacking the president.
Threats against lawmakers have peaked to record levels: 9,600 reported in 2021, according to Capitol Police. The number has more than doubled in the last four years. A year later, the lawmakers who stood shoulder to shoulder through the violence and chaos still can’t agree on how to define the events that occurred.
(WASHINGTON) — Just days before the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack at the United States Capitol, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said domestic violent extremism remains one of “the greatest terrorism related threats” the country faces.
“Over the past year, we in the Department of Homeland Security have improved and strengthened our approach to combating this dynamic, evolving threat,” Mayorkas told reporters at a briefing on Tuesday. He detailed some of the steps the department has taken, such as convening conference calls to discuss emerging threats and sharing intelligence bulletins of which he said DHS has sent more than 80 on domestic violent extremists alone.
At the same time, he said there are no credible threats ahead of the Jan. 6 anniversary.
Those who attacked the Capitol last year included groups that align with the department’s definition of domestic violent extremism.
Mayorkas said DHS is “very focused” on the “lone-wolf actor,” something proving hard to stop, or a “loose affiliation” of people to one group.
“We are operating at a heightened level of vigilance because we are at a heightened level of threat,” the secretary said. “The threat of domestic violent extremists is a very grave one.”
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
“This was an assault that requires attention,” Mayorkas said, adding it has gotten the proper response which is to investigate what occurred. He said encrypted messaging apps make things more challenging to investigate, and stressed it is all being done with civil liberties in mind.
He said there are wha he called two “predicates” that define domestic violent extremists.
“One of the predicates is ideologies of hate. And the second predicate is false narratives,” he said. “And that is where misinformation comes into play. What is important in defining domestic violent extremism” he said, is “standing by and adhering to our values of free speech is not the ideologies of hate.”
Mayorkas stressed that it isn’t the false narratives themselves “but rather their connectivity to violence that creates the threat to which we are obligated to respond. That is what is what domestic violent extremism is about is the connectivity between false narratives and ideologies of hate to violence.”
When asked by ABC News , Mayorkas couldn’t point out specific examples of cases in which they’ve disrupted domestic violent extremism activity or speech because some are ongoing criminal cases.
Mayorkas, though, did not mince words speaking to the American people about assurances he can provide regarding another Jan. 6-style attack.
“We in the Department of Homeland Security, along with our state, local tribal territorial partners, as well as our partners and courts across the federal government are dedicated 24 hours a day seven days a week to ensure that another January 6 does not occur.”
(WASHINGTON) — “From the way I sleep, eating breakfast, making sure I don’t hurt myself putting my shirt on. The way I walk, the way I play with my son. The phone calls from the Justice Department, from the FBI, from the department, asking ‘do I recognize this individual?’… It hasn’t been easy,” Gonell told ABC “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir last month.
Watch more TONIGHT on “World News Tonight” at 6:30 p.m. ET
A Capitol Police officer and Iraq War veteran, he was on Capitol Hill that day when thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the halls of Congress, looking to overturn the presidential election.
“They were pulling me by my leg, by my shield, by my shoulder strap,” Gonell told Muir.
Gonell and his fellow officers were outnumbered. By the time the rioters left the building, he would be one of dozens officers injured in the first attack on the U.S. Capitol since 1814: Gonell was sprayed with chemicals and crushed by the crowds — his left shoulder and one of his feet later requiring surgery.
When he got home early morning Jan. 7, he was afraid the chemicals on his uniform and skin would injure his wife, as she tried to hug him.
“All she wanted to do was hug me because she had been watching TV since it started. And I knew that if I would hug her, then all those chemicals would transfer to her,” he told Muir.
On Jan. 6, ABC News Live will provide all-day coverage of events marking one year since the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the continuing fallout for American democracy.
As the country marks one year since that insurrection, and with investigations into the planning and execution of that attack ongoing, Muir sat down with Sgt. Gonell, his fellow Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, and Metropolitan Police officer Daniel Hodges — all of whom were at the Capitol on Jan. 6 of last year.
It was the first time the three officers sat down for an interview since they, and former Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone, detailed the horror they endured on Jan. 6 during a congressional hearing six months after the attacks.
The wounds are still raw.
“I think it’s just as simple as I work in a crime scene,” Dunn told Muir. “Going to work at the Capitol every day, it’s a constant reminder of what happened…I return to the crime scene every single day. And what more memory do you get than just going to the scene of the crime every day?
Dunn testified to the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 that he was called racial slurs by the rioters as they stormed the Capitol.
“Is this America?,” Dunn recalled asking a fellow officer during the interview with Muir. “How could something like that happen at the U.S. Capitol, the pinnacle of democracy?”
ABC’s Rachel Scott, Ely Brown and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
