California Democrats Remember Jan. 6, Call to Protect Democracy

California Democrats are marking the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol by raising alarms about what they call a continued and growing threat to democracy under President Donald Trump.

Members of Congress from the Golden State spoke Tuesday around Washington, reflecting on the scenes of the day, while honoring law enforcement officers who defended the Capitol building, and announcing new bills focused on the rioters who descended on the area that day.

The elected leaders also castigated Trump for continuing to uphold the “big lie” that he won the 2020 election and for shifting blame for the violence of the day away from himself.

“We will not let history be rewritten. The truth is that five years ago today, insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in an unprecedented attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power,” Sen. Alex Padilla said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

“The deadly Jan. 6 attack will forever remain an ugly stain on American history. And yes, thanks to the bravery of U.S. Capitol police and other law enforcement officers who risked their lives, including five officers who tragically lost their lives, the assault on our democracy failed,” he said.

While on the floor, Padilla repeated a call to install a plaque at the Capitol honoring law enforcement officers who protected the building on Jan. 6, which he said Republican Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is thwarting.

Padilla, along with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, introduced two new pieces of legislation aimed at preventing federal payouts to hundreds of rioters who stormed the building that day.

Some of them were convicted of assaulting or injuring police officers and are now seeking compensation from the government for the harm they claim they faced during their arrests and prosecutions, before ultimately being pardoned by Trump.

Trump on Tuesday, during a Republican retreat in Washington, instead cast blame on Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi for the violent takeover of the Capitol building.

The White House also launched a website featuring the San Francisco Democrat and others who served on the Jan. 6 Select Committee, saying 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.”The website also criticized Capitol police officers for “inconsistent and provocative tactics” that “turned a peaceful demonstration into chaos.”

Meanwhile, at an unofficial hearing held by House Democrats, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a South Bay Democrat who served on the Select Committee, said it’s clear Trump is responsible for the attack on the Capitol.

“No matter how much President Trump and his allies seek to rewrite the past and cover up this stain on our history, the American people remember. With over a million documents and hundreds of hours of footage from our investigation, it is one of the most documented crimes in American history,” she said.

“I think it’s important that we see Jan. 6 for what it is: an illegal effort to overturn the Constitution, so Trump could have unlimited power,” Lofgren said.

Sen. Adam Schiff, also a member of the committee, said on the Senate floor that as he fled the Senate chambers in underground tunnels on Jan. 6, he recalled thinking back to Sept. 11, 2001, shortly after he was first elected.

“I remember … how we had gathered on the steps of the Capitol, Democrats and Republicans, to sing God Bless America. That tragedy had been unifying for the country,” Schiff said. “And I remember thinking on Jan. 6th, as I walked through those tunnels, that this tragedy would not be unifying.”

Schiff said part of what saved democracy in 2021 was Republicans who were willing to stand up to Trump and defend the election results as legitimate. But he said similarly, the danger to democracy now is growing due to “die-hard partisans” and denialists.

“Pushing out election workers, trying to rewrite election laws, trying to seed doubt in the election system so that if necessary, if they lose the next election, they can try to deny and overturn that too,” Schiff said.

“We thought democracy was inevitable. We were wrong,” he said. “We have the same obligation as those that went before us to preserve this incredible legacy we’ve been given by our founders.”