Former GOP official: House Speaker Johnson ‘scared’ of Jan. 6 plaque
Former Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger argued that putting up the plaque that commemorates the officers isn’t a difficult political problem for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.). The speaker doesn’t have to address the 2020 election. It’s merely honoring the police “who did a good job protecting the Capitol that day.” Full story
Democrats Demand Speaker Johnson Unveil a Plaque Honoring Police Officers from Jan. 6 Insurrection
Democratic lawmakers are demanding House Speaker Mike Johnson unveil a plaque honoring police officers who defended the Capitol from a violent mob seeking to overturn the 2020 election five years ago today, on January 6, 2021. The plaque was commissioned by Congress in 2022 and was required, by law, to be installed by March 2023. But it remains in a Capitol basement utility room as Republican leaders continue to block its display.
Ahead of today’s anniversary, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee released two new reports on the aftermath of the January 6 attack. They found at least 33 pardoned January 6 defendants have since been charged, arrested or convicted of new crimes. Congressmember Jamie Raskin said the pardons had created a “private militia of proven street fighters” that represent “a nightmare for American public safety.” Source
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT ON THE CAPITOL INSURRECTION
VIDEO: House Democrats hold special Jan. 6th hearing on five-year anniversary
On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, there is no official event to memorialize what happened that day, when the mob made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, battled police at the Capitol barricades and stormed inside, as lawmakers fled. The political parties refuse to agree to a shared history of the events, which were broadcast around the globe. And the official plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol has never been hung. Instead, the day displayed the divisions that still define Washington, and the country, and the White House itself issued a glossy new report with its revised history of what happened.
This Jan. 6 plaque was made to honor law enforcement. It’s nowhere to be found at the Capitol
Photo by: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
A replica plaque commemorating the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riot stands outside the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
On Jan. 6 anniversary, Speaker Johnson rejects plaque to honor police officers
The GOP leader had plenty of time to come up with an excuse for his refusal. He didn’t come up with much.
After the Jan. 6 attack, Congress agreed to install a permanent plaque to honor the law enforcement personnel who helped protect the U.S. Capitol against pro-Trump rioters. By statute, the plaque was to be placed on the western side of the building by March 2023 and list the names of those who served. That deadline lapsed almost three years ago. The plaque is done and ready to be installed, but it’s reportedly sitting in a Capitol basement utility room surrounded by tools and maintenance equipment.
Architect of the Capitol Thomas Austin confirmed during a congressional hearing last year that the only thing standing in the way of installing the plaque is the approval from House Speaker Mike Johnson’s office — approval the Louisiana Republican has not extended for reasons he’s been reluctant to explain.
Some members of Congress mount Jan. 6 plaques outside officer doors
Mike Johnson Gives Update On Jan 6 Plaque
VIDEO: Nearly 100 lawmakers display Jan. 6 plaque replicas in Congress
At the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy is nowhere to be found. About 100 members of Congress have mounted replicas outside their office doors.
GOP hides Jan. 6 memorial as rioters go on crime spree
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
Democrats | Ranking Member Jamie Raskin
Ahead of 5th Anniversary of January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, Judiciary Democrats Release New Reports Focused on the Careers of the Coup Plotters, the Rioters and the Democracy Defenders Since Jan. 6 and the Trump Pardons
January 5, 2026
Reports Find That At Least 33 Pardoned January 6th Insurrectionists Have Committed Additional Crimes Since Storming the Capitol
Other Insurrectionists, Co-Conspirators and Election Deniers Now Serve At Highest Ranks of the Department of Justice and Trump’s Administration
Those Who Defended Democracy Have Been Cast Aside, Fired and Demoted, But Are Standing Strong
Washington, D.C. (January 5, 2026)—Today, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, released two new reports ahead of the fifth anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The first report entitled, “Where Are They Now: The Perpetrators of January 6th and the Defenders of Democracy Who Stopped Them,” examines coup plotters and violent rioters who heeded President Donald Trump’s call to “stop the steal,” as well as patriotic Americans who blocked this attempted coup. Five years after the attacks on January 6, 2021, their diverging trajectories makes clear Trump’s effort to rewrite and whitewash the history of his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 presidential election.
“Where are we now as a society five years after January 6th? One significant clue is to look at where the various participants—both the perpetrators of violence against the Constitution and also its ardent defenders—are now in their lives and careers,” wrote Ranking Member Raskin in the foreword of the “Where Are They Now” report. “This Report profiles illustrative career trajectories of some of the key actors from January 6th and its run-up who were pardoned en masse by Donald Trump. It also profiles the difficult paths of several Americans who bravely answered the call of duty and stood up to insurrectionary violence and President Trump’s brazen plan to steal the election. Readers will judge for themselves the meaning of these different stories and their implications for the American future,” continued Ranking Member Raskin.
A second report, “One Year Later: Assessing the Public Safety Implications of President Trump’s Mass Pardons of 1,600 January 6 Rioters and Insurrectionists,” details the public safety consequences of President Trump’s sweeping pardons of January 6 rioters, including the hundreds who attacked and beat police officers with baseball bats, Confederate and American flagpoles, metal pipes, and bear spray. At least 33 pardoned insurrectionists have now been convicted of, charged with, or arrested for additional crimes since the violent attack on the Capitol. The crimes committed by rioters before and after the insurrection include: child sexual assault, production of child pornography, possession of child pornography, rape, conspiracy to commit murder of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents, kidnapping, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, reckless homicide, driving under the influence causing death, illegal possession of firearms, domestic violence by strangulation, burglary, vandalism, grand theft, stalking, violation of protective orders, threatening public officials, and drug trafficking.
As the reports highlight, in addition to allowing these criminals to roam free in communities around America, President Trump has gone so far as to install insurrectionists and his co-conspirators at the highest ranks of his Administration, including the Department of Justice.
Judiciary Committee Democrats also released a “Myths vs. Facts: January 6” fact sheet — a quick guide to counter false claims that whitewash the January 6 attack and the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Click here to read “Where Are They Now: The Perpetrators of January 6th and the Defenders of Democracy Who Stopped Them.”
Click here to read “One Year Later: Assessing the Public Safety Implications of President Trump’s Mass Pardons of 1,600 January 6 Rioters and Insurrectionists.”
Click here to read the fact sheet, “Myths vs. Facts: January 6.”
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