The United States relives this Thursday the violent assault on the Capitol that occurred five years ago, which still echoes in the public mind, carried out by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump.
House Democrats will convene an unofficial three-panel hearing on the insurrection perpetrated by Donald Trump’s supporters at the iconic federal building in Washington D.C. Witnesses will include former federal agents, former state officials, and individuals who were at the Capitol on the day of the attack.
The tragic day, which left five people dead and 140 police officers injured, continues to shape much of the U.S. political agenda and further deepen the polarization between Republicans and Democrats.
On January 6, 2021, around 10,000 people, most of them Trump supporters, marched toward the federal Capitol, and about 800 forced their way inside the building to block the certification of then-President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Trump.
The images shocked the world and exposed the fragility of American democracy.
After beginning his second presidential term, Trump issued a mass pardon to around 1,500 defendants in the Capitol attack, as well as commutations for 14 individuals involved in the assault on the federal building.
Trump commuted the sentences of individuals associated with the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy.
The president defended his mass pardon as an act of clemency, stating that many of those pardoned were Americans who “truly love our country.”
Image: T51
