6″ January “2023” ALJAZEERA / AP
Two years ago, on January 6, 2021, a crowd of thousands attacked the United States Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election results, spurred on by false claims the election had been “rigged” against Republican incumbent Donald Trump.
More than 2,000 people entered the Capitol building, smashing windows, ransacking offices, defecating in public spaces and searching for members of Congress. The assault was ultimately unsuccessful but it has set off alarm bells about the stability of US democracy and the growing influence of anti-democratic elements within the Republican Party
On the second anniversary of the riot, President Joe Biden is set to hold a White House ceremony in the East Room Friday to commemorate the deadly events that unfolded that day
The US continues to grapple with the fallout from the attack. More than 950 people have been charged with federal crimes relating to the riot, with some facing accusations of seditious conspiracy – a rare but serious offence.
The US Department of Justice on Wednesday said that 192 of those defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars and 484 have pleaded guilty to various crimes.
An investigative committee in the US House of Representatives recommended criminal charges last month for key political figures linked to the attack, including Trump who was presiding at the time and encouraged the rioters.
Al Jazeera looks at what has happened to some of the most high-profile instigators of and participants in the January 6 attack
Donald Trump: criminal referrals to Department of Justice
The former Republican president has refused to concede the 2020 election, turning his false claims of election fraud into a rallying cry for some in his party.
But those claims have come with repercussions. The former president had already been impeached and acquitted once in his presidency in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He was impeached a second time for “inciting” the January 6 riot. It had caused legislators and the then-vice president to go into hiding and left an estimated 140 police officers injured. A Senate report last June documented seven deaths connected to the attack, including three members of law enforcement. Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment.
Trump was also front and centre during the House’s January 6 investigation. The committee in charge of the investigation subpoenaed the former president to testify, but he refused
But using hundreds of interviews, including with some of Trump’s closest advisers, the committee compiled an 845-page report detailing the former president’s activities on and around January 6.
It also sent non-binding criminal referrals to the US Department of Justice, including four charges against Trump which included assisting or inciting an insurrection. The committee has since disbanded, in anticipation of a Republican majority taking control of the House.
Trump has continued to spread the “stolen election” lie and has used his heft in the party to elevate candidates who mirror his false claims, with mixed results. Many election-deniers fared poorly in the 犀利士 y-races-in-us-midterm-elections”>2022 midterm elections. Trump also faces several continuing legal investigations, including cases in Georgia and New York