Broken glass. Clashes with the police. Angry protesters scaling walls in front of the United States Capitol.
Images of the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021 remain some of the most memorable in modern political history. That day, thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the building in an effort to overturn his election loss, forcing lawmakers to flee for safety.
But three years later, the country is still grappling with the ramifications. On Friday, the eve of the anniversary of the riot, current President Joe Biden evoked the violence in a campaign speech near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, warning of its lasting effects on American democracy.
“Three years ago tomorrow, we saw with our own eyes the violent mob storm the United States Capitol,” he said. “For the first time in our history, insurrectionists came to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the United States, the first time.”
Biden also criticized Trump, accusing him of inaction and lies related to the election. “It was one of the worst derelictions of duty by a president in American history.”
How the insurrection is viewed remains a bitter point of contention, dividing the American public largely along partisan lines. Trump has maintained that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him, a falsehood that helped fuel the riots at the Capitol.
This March, Trump faces federal indictment for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 results. He is currently seeking a second term in the 2024 presidential race, as is Biden, the Democrat who defeated him in 2020.
In addition to the Trump case, long prison sentences continue to be imposed on participants in the Capitol riots. On Thursday, Christopher Worrell, a member of the far-right group Proud Boys, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in helping to storm the Capitol.
He joined other prominent far-right figures, including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes, head of the Oath Keepers militia, in facing a decade or more in prison.
On the third anniversary of the Capitol riot, here’s everything you need to know about how the insurrection continues to reverberate across the United States.
Trump case
In August, the former Republican president was charged in a federal case brought by special prosecutor Jack Smith, a former prosecutor appointed to investigate his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Trump faces four criminal charges as part of the indictment: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to defraud, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding.
US prosecutors argued that Trump “attempted to exploit the violence and chaos at the Capitol by calling lawmakers to convince them, based on deliberately false claims of election fraud, to delay the certification” of the election results.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denied any wrongdoing. The former president also accused prosecutors of conducting a politically motivated “witch hunt” to derail his 2024 re-election bid.
The federal case will begin on March 4, a day before “Super Tuesday,” when more than a dozen states are expected to hold their 2024 primaries.
Criminal charges
In early December, the Justice Department released its most recent count of criminal charges resulting from the Jan. 6 riot, noting that more than 1,237 people have been charged.
Of those, more than 700 defendants pleaded guilty to various charges. Around 450 have been sentenced to prison.
So far, the most serious charge related to the riots has been seditious conspiracy. A relatively rare charge dating back to the Civil War era, seditious conspiracy is used to prosecute two or more defendants accused of plotting to overthrow the United States government, launch a war against it, or impede its authority, including execution of its laws.
Seditious conspiracy is notoriously difficult to prosecute. However, Rhodes and Tarrio were convicted of it last year and received prison terms of 18 and 22 years respectively, the longest sentences to date.
In a speech Thursday ahead of the Jan. 6 anniversary, U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves described “scenes often reminiscent of a medieval battle,” where police were forced to engage in hand-to-hand combat with rioters armed with “weapons.” dangerous, including firearms.”
“The Capitol siege is likely the largest single-day mass assault on law enforcement in our nation’s history,” Graves said. He noted that the 140 reports of physical injuries among police officers likely represent an undercount.
Political polarization
Meanwhile, a notable percentage of Americans continue to believe the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen through widespread voter fraud, an idea spread by Trump and his allies.
Critics say this belief helped motivate the thousands of rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6.
A recent poll by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland found that 36 percent of respondents still “do not accept Biden’s victory as legitimate.”
Eight in 10 Trump voters and 72 percent of Republicans overall said they believed the riots had been made too much of and that it was “time to move on.” That contrasts with just 14 percent of Democrats, according to the poll.
Respondents were also sharply divided over whether Trump is guilty of conspiracy to defraud the United States, a charge that accuses him of lying to try to illegally overturn the election.
While 56 percent of Americans overall said they believe Trump is “probably/definitely guilty” of the conspiracy charge, only 18 percent of Republicans agreed, compared to 88 percent of Democrats. , according to the survey.
Effect on 2024 race
Trump is currently the favorite for the Republican nomination in the 2024 race, leading his party rivals by a wide margin. That means he will likely face Biden again in November, although the four criminal indictments he faces could complicate his campaign.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s high court last month ruled that Trump was ineligible to run for the White House again, citing a section of the U.S. Constitution that bars people who “participated in the insurrection” from holding public office.
Trump this week asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the decision, which would mean he cannot participate in the state’s Republican primary.
Both Trump and Biden have also referenced January 6 in their 2024 presidential campaigns, although to different effects.
Trump has promised to pardon convicted riot participants if he is re-elected, writing last year on social media: “Let the prisoners of January 6 go. “They were convicted, or are awaiting trial, based on a gigantic lie.”
For his part, Biden has made defending American democracy a key message of his re-election campaign, saying it was the “central cause” of his presidency. He has framed the January 6 riots as an attack on those democratic ideals.
“Today we are here to answer the most important question: is democracy still America’s sacred cause?” the Democratic president said in Friday’s speech in Pennsylvania.
“This is not rhetorical, academic or hypothetical. “Whether democracy remains America’s sacred cause is the most pressing question of our time, and that is what the 2024 election is about.”
