January 6 U.S. Capitol attack, Storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a mob of supporters of Republican President Donald Trump. The attack disrupted a joint session of Congress convened to certify the results of the U.S. presidential election of 2020, which Trump had lost to his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden. Because its object was to prevent a legitimate president-elect from assuming office, the attack was widely regarded as an insurrection or attempted coup d’état. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement agencies considered it an act of domestic terrorism. For much of his presidential campaign, which coincided in 2020 with the spread of the deadly COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Trump alleged that Democrats would commit massive voter fraud in the upcoming election by forging, altering, or discarding absentee ballots (many voters planned to use absentee ballots to avoid possible exposure at polling stations to the virus that causes COVID-19). As vote counting proceeded on election day, and continually thereafter, Trump falsely accused Democrats of having stolen the election. In a speech near the White House just before the Capitol attack, Trump repeated his baseless charge and urged a large gathering of his supporters to march to the Capitol and resist Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory. In the ensuing melee, Trump supporters attacked Capitol police, broke into the Capitol building, and vandalized and looted the interior. Three police officers and three rioters died as a result of the assault. The certification ceremony was temporarily suspended as members of Congress hid from the rioters or fled the building. For thus having encouraged his supporters to attack the Capitol, Trump was impeached on January 13, 2021, by the Democratic-led House of Representatives for “incitement of insurrection.” He was subsequently acquitted by the Senate. During the first year after the attack, more than 725 rioters were arrested and charged with federal crimes. The House committee investigating the attack released its final report in December 2022.
