By the way, the head of the Oath Keepers is here with us in the audience. Stewart Rhodes is here today. It's not every day, of coursenot every day, of courseyou get to meet someone who was convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States. Hasn't happened in 30 years, Moskowitz said, adding: Of course, sitting in the front row in the reserved section, which is controlled by my colleagues across the aisle.
"A lot of people said it was a dark day for democracy," Tillis said about Jan. 6, 2021, describing his memory of hearing the thousands of people "thugs," he said lay siege to the Capitol as Congress was tallying the 2020 election results. He said that because of the work of the law enforcement officers, it instead became a great day for democracy. "We came back and completed our constitutional duty to certify the election," he said.
Five years ago outside the White House, the outgoing President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters to head to the Capitol and I'll be there with you in protest as Congress was affirming the 2020 election victory for Democrat Joe Biden. A short time later, the world watched as the seat of U.S. power descended into chaos, and democracy hung in the balance. 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.
Former special counsel Jack Smith and three other former prosecutors who investigated President Donald Trump and the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol are starting their own law firm, which will launch in January, Law.com reports.
President Donald Trump issued a second pardon to a Jan. 6 defendant who had remained behind bars despite the sweeping grant of clemency for Capitol rioters because of a separate conviction for illegally possessing firearms. The decision is the latest example of Trump's willingness to use his constitutional authority to help supporters who once tried to keep him in power despite his loss to President Joe Biden in 2020.