The White House tried to revise the history of January 6th, debuting a website with false claims to blame Capitol Police for fomenting the attack on the Capitol, while casting Donald Trump‘s then-vice president, Mike Pence, as culpable and cowardly.
The website appeared to be a way to counter what has been a daylong commemoration at the Capitol, featuring primarily Democrats, to mark the riot and insurrection’s 5th anniversary.
A White House timeline of the events of that day stated that at around 1:10 p.m. ET that day, “Capitol Police aggressively fire tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber munitions into crowds of peaceful protesters, injuring many and deliberately escalating tensions. Video evidence shows officers inexplicably removing barricades, opening Capitol doors, and even waving attendees inside the building—actions that facilitated entry—while simultaneously deploying violent force against others. These inconsistent and provocative tactics turned a peaceful demonstration into chaos.”
But in reality, as was seen on live TV that day, demonstrators overwhelmed security barricades to gain access to the Capitol, smashing windows and forcing their way to the House and Senate chambers.
The White House timeline mentions that Trump, at a rally at the Ellipse, urged his supporters to march to the Capitol to “peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard.” But Trump also used other inflammatory rhetoric in his speech, telling the protesters, “And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
In another part of the timeline, the White House claims that between 2:24 p.m. and 4:17 p.m.ET, Trump “repeatedly calls for peace, tweeting support for law enforcement and releasing a video telling supporters ‘go home in peace” while reiterating love for them and election concerns. He consistently promotes non-violence despite the attack on attendees and emotions running high.”
In fact, at 2:24 p.m. that day, Trump posted on Twitter, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!” Trump sent tweets at 2:38 p.m. and 3:13 p.m. calling for peaceful protest and no violence, but by then the situation was out of control, and it was not until 4:17 that he posted a video instructing those who stormed the Capitol to leave.
The White House site, in casting the protests as peaceful until Capitol Police exacerbated the situation, contradicted even Trump’s own words in the days after the attack. In a speech on January 8, 2021, Trump said, “To demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol: you have defiled the seat of American democracy. To those who engage in the acts of violence and destruction: you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law: you will pay.”
The new White House site also attempts to blame Democrats, and more specifically then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, for not doing more to stop the attack. It claims that Pelosi ignored Trump’s offers of National Guard troops. But Politifact and other sites have long deemed such claims as false, and Pelosi herself addressed the claim in an appearance at the Capitol on Tuesday.
“For over three hours we begged him to send the National Guard,” Pelosi said. “He never did it. He took joy in not doing. He was savoring it.” She noted that as president, Trump has authority over the D.C. National Guard, which he has since deployed to the city in his second term. Video footage also shows the extent to which Pelosi was a target of the rioters, as they stormed and ransacked her office.
The White House site pays tribute to the rioters who died during the assault or shortly afterward, but does not mention the law enforcement officers, reportedly totaling more than 140, who were injured.
No mention is made of the demonstrators’ erecting of a gallows on the Capitol lawn and chants of “Hang Mike Pence.” Instead, the White House site calls Pence’s refusal to delay election certification “an act of cowardice and sabotage.” Pence has long said that, after consulting with legal advisers, delaying the certification was outside his power as vice president.
On his first day in office last year, Trump granted clemency to all the January 6th rioters, even those convicted of assaulting police officers.
