On third anniversary of Capitol riot, 2024 election top of mind for House Democrats

WASHINGTON (CN) — Nearly three years to the day after a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol in a bid to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, House Democrats on Friday painted a picture of a democracy once again in peril.

“The struggle that began on January 6th in this building continues to this day,” said Maryland Representative Jamie Raskin during a press conference held just steps from the Capitol.

Saturday marks the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, during which a mob of rioters breached the Capitol building as both houses of Congress met to certify President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. The resulting violence left five people dead and hundreds injured.

Democrats have long accused former President Donald Trump of inciting the Capitol riot — Trump held a “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington that day and has continued to make a concerted effort to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

Now, with the former president likely to clinch the Republican nomination for a second time, lawmakers warned that another Trump presidency would legitimize the actions of the Capitol rioters.

Raskin pointed out during Friday’s press conference that Trump has promised to pardon hundreds of people convicted for participating in the insurrection, who he referred to as “political shock troops” willing to commit acts of violence for the former president.

“There are people who have been convicted of assaulting federal officers, people convicted of seditious conspiracy … people convicted of destroying federal property,” said the Maryland Democrat. “Donald Trump has said that he is going to pardon all of these people, and he means it.”

Raskin’s fellow Maryland Representative Glenn Ivey called the Jan. 6 insurrection a “wake up call,” and said that lawmakers need to focus on dispelling the narrative of election malfeasance spun by former President Trump.

Ivey also argued that Congress should work to ensure that the prosecution of Jan. 6 defendants continues apace in Washington.

“Whether it’s the folks that are out there pushing the big lie … or the people who broke in that day and caused damage and disruption to the democratic process and tried to overthrow democracy — they all have to be held accountable.”

Also attending Friday’s press conference was former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who was on the front lines on Jan. 6.

Gonell took aim at Republicans who have defended the rioters, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has said that any publicly available security footage from the insurrection should be altered to blur the faces of its participants.

“You claim to be the party of law and order, but you are not proving that you are,” said Gonell. “That is not how you support law enforcement.”

The former Capitol Police sergeant also bashed Republicans who have referred to the rioters as “patriots” or have accused the government of holding Jan. 6 defendants as political prisoners.

“When you call those people patriots,” he said, “what does that make us? What was our sacrifice for if you keep calling them patriots?”

For the police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, the riot’s third anniversary will once again be a solemn day, Gonell added.

“For you, it may have been just a few hours,” he said, addressing lawmakers. “For us, it was ongoing, and it still is.”

In the three years since the Capitol riot, more than 700 people have pleaded guilty for crimes related to the insurrection. The total number of defendants facing charges related to Jan. 6 exceeds 1,200.

Trump, meanwhile, is decidedly the favorite to challenge President Biden in the general election this November. Despite that, the former president is staring down his own legal troubles in connection to the Capitol riot.

Trump faces election subversion charges in Washington — the trial in that case is set to begin in early March, although it is likely to be delayed. At the same time, at least two state-level courts have ruled that Trump cannot appear on their primary election ballots, citing a Civil War-era clause in the 14th Amendment barring individuals who have engaged in insurrection from running for public office. The former president is challenging those decisions.