Many top Republican lawmakers marked the anniversary of the insurrection in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday by calling the day a stain on the history of the country.
Most also took the chance to criticize the Biden-Harris administration for its own response to the day, accusing the nation’s top Democrats of politicizing the anniversary.
On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed Capitol Hill, intent on stopping lawmakers from certifying the results of the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden. Spurred on by Trump’s incendiary—and false—claims that the election was stolen, hundreds of people broke through police barriers surrounding the Capitol in a violent siege unseen in the history of the nation.
In a speech from the U.S. Capitol Thursday morning, President Joe Biden issued a fiery condemnation of Trump and his supporters, saying the latter “are trying to rewrite history.”
“They want you to see Election Day as the day of insurrection and the riot that took place here on January 6 as a true expression of the will of the people. Can you think of a more twisted way to look at this country, to look at America? I cannot,” he said, later adding: “We must be absolutely clear about what is true and what is a lie. The former president of the United States of America has spread a web of lies about the 2020 election."
Trump quickly reacted to Biden's speech, writing in a statement: "Biden, who is destroying our Nation with insane policies of open Borders, corrupt Elections, disastrous energy policies, unconstitutional mandates, and devastating school closures, used my name today to try to further divide America."
The former president continued to repeat disproven claims of election fraud, concluding his statement: "The Democrats want to own this day of January 6th so they can stoke fears and divide America. I say, let them have it because America sees through theirs (sic) lies and polarizations."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who a year prior stood on the floor of the Senate and said overruling the will of the people “would damage our republic forever,” reiterated his condemnation of the attack in a statement Thursday, calling the insurrection a “dark day for Congress and our country.”
“The United States Capitol, the seat of the first branch of our federal government, was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop Congress from doing its job,” the statement read in part. “This disgraceful scene was antithetical to the rule of law. One year later, I am as grateful as ever for the brave men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police who served our institution bravely that day and every day since. I continue to support justice for those who broke the law.”
McConnell went on to slam Democrats for attempting to “exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals” that he claimed long predated the insurrection on the Capitol. While McConnell did not specify what goals he meant, the GOP leader has been vocal in recent weeks about his opposition to a proposal from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who on Monday said the chamber would vote on a filibuster rules change by Jan. 17 should voting rights legislation not pass before that date.
“It is especially jaw-dropping to hear some Senate Democrats invoke the mob’s attempt to disrupt our country’s norms, rules, and institutions as a justification to discard our norms, rules, and institutions themselves,” McConnell’s statement continued.
Democrats have tried to bring voting rights legislation to the Senate floor a number of times in recent months, but have failed to garner the support needed to pass the law. Many argue that federal voting rights laws must be strengthened in reaction to a spate of restrictive voting laws passed in a number of GOP-led states last year, some in direct reaction to Trump's claims that the election was stolen.
Another prominent Republican, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, called the insurrection a “violent terrorist attack” in remarks during a Senate hearing Wednesday, drawing ire from lawmakers and pundits on both sides of the aisle.
“We are approaching a solemn anniversary this week,” Cruz said. “And it is an anniversary of a violent terrorist attack on the Capitol, where we saw the men and women of law enforcement demonstrate incredible courage, incredible bravery, risk their lives for the Capitol.”
Cruz, unlike McConnell, vocally supported Trump’s false claims of election fraud on Jan. 6, 2021, voicing particular concern over the results of Arizona’s electoral count.
Thanks to arguments posed by Cruz and Arizona’s Rep. Paul Gosar, the House and Senate were forced to split into their respective chambers to debate on the objection, which ultimately failed.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Thursday took the opportunity to both decry those who participated in the Capitol riot, as well as the security officials who failed to better prepare for the surge of people.
“It would have been so easy for terrorists to boot strap onto this protest and wreak even further destruction on the U.S. Capitol,” Graham wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread, later continuing: “Those who defiled the Capitol on January 6 are being prosecuted, as they should be.”
The senator then went on to slam Biden for his heated speech slamming Trump hours earlier.
“The Biden Presidency, one year after January 6, is in free fall not because of the attack on our Capitol, but because of failed policies and weak leadership,” Graham wrote. “The Biden Administration seems to be incapable of dealing with the challenges America faces, and their efforts to politicize January 6 will fall flat.”
While Graham took issue with what he called Bidenn’s “brazen politicization” of the anniversary, he had – a year prior – acknowledged that Trump had a role in spurring the insurrection.
“When it comes to accountability the president needs to understand that his actions were the problem not the solution,” he said at the time.
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., a longtime Trump supporter and a vocal opponent to the certification of last year’s election, said during a Thursday afternoon press conference that he was not surprised by the tone of Biden’s address, as it “sort of seemed like the normal speech in decline for a man in decline.”
Gaetz also called Biden’s accusations that the participants in the Jan. 6 riot were a threat to a democracy “ludicrous,” adding: “We are here to vindicate our democracy, to ensure that people in the national security apparatus don't delegitimize, target, abuse and torture an entire political movement of tens of millions of Americans.”
Still other Republicans say the anniversary is not as important as more pressing issues facing their constituents.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who last year called the insurrection “wrong and un-American,” said the anniversary is not top of mind for most people in his state.
“I can tell you that in the last year I've probably been to 40 different cities in Kentucky and talked to hundreds and hundreds of Kentuckians,” the senator told Spectrum News in an interview this week. “Not one has asked me about (the anniversary). So it’s not something that's really pressing on the minds of Kentuckians.”
And at least two House Republicans warned that the threat from Jan. 6, 2021 still has not abated a year later.
Rep. Liz Cheney, chair of the House committee investigating the attack and one of the few GOP lawmakers attending the Capitol ceremonies, warned that “the threat continues.” Trump, she said, "continues to make the same claims that he knows caused violence on January 6.”
“Unfortunately, too many in my own party are embracing the former president, are looking the other way or minimizing the danger,” she told NBC's “Today.” “That’s how democracies die. We simply cannot let that happen.”
She was joined by her father Dick Cheney, the former vice president and now a respected Republican Party elder, who was greeted warmly by several Democrats. He stood with her, the only Republicans seen, for a moment of silence on the House floor.
He said in a statement: “I am deeply disappointed at the failure of many members of my party to recognize the grave nature of the January 6 attacks and the ongoing threat to our nation.”
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the only other Republican on the Jan. 6 committee, penned a lengthy op-ed in USA Today on Thursday, writing in part: “We have failed to understand or address the disease that led to that coup attempt. What happened last Jan. 6 was a vicious symptom of a cancer that’s been growing for far too long, one that has been fed by anger, fear and hopelessness.”
“Some will say it’s time to move on from the Jan.6 insurrection, and I agree,” Kinzinger continued. “But doing so means we have to learn from and address what happened. We cannot move on by downplaying the attack on our democracy nor by pretending it didn’t even happen.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.