As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House, his views on issues such as immigration, taxes, and trade have sparked heated debate.
But two weeks before he returns to one of the most powerful offices in the world, Trump they remain alive with old grievances, putting a policy against political opponents, opposition and losing in the 2020 election that they did not accept.
Most of his speeches have focused on the events of January 6, 2021when a group of his supporters attacked the US Capitol in an attempt to tamper with the document confirming the results of the election. Monday marks the fourth anniversary of the riots.
Speaking to a group of supporters on December 22, Trump took time out of his speech to criticize Committee of January 6the Congressional panel that investigated Trump's campaign before, during and after it.
“The unelected committee of political criminals, the J6 committee, what they did is illegal,” he told the audience.
But Trump's focus on January 6 isn't limited to his opponents. He has also promised to grant full amnesty to the perpetrators of the violence at the Capitol, which many of his critics describe as a coup.
What was January 6th, how many people have been charged in connection with the riots, and how can Trump use his presidential powers to free those found in prison? We will answer these questions and more in this brief explanation.
What was January 6?
Following his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Trump strongly promoted false claims that the election was “stolen” and stolen from him through massive fraud.
These efforts went beyond rhetoric, and included a plan to replace the officials who cast votes in the Electoral College based on the popular vote in their states with a special group of Trump nominees.
On January 6, 2021, Mr. Trump held a meeting in the capital Washington, DC, where he mocked the results of the election and urged his supporters to “fight like hell”.
He said: “When you catch someone by deception, you are allowed to follow certain laws.
Trump ended the speech by encouraging his supporters to go to the Capitol building to “hear your voice in peace and love” as Congress met to confirm the results of the election.
For the next one a few hoursa group of Trump supporters, some of whom were armed, beat the police to stop the crowd and entered the building to prevent Trump's loss from being confirmed.
One of the attackers, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by a police officer while trying to break into the House chamber.
How many people have been charged with this violence?
According to the US Department of Justice (DOJ), more than 1,488 people have been charged with criminal offenses. attack at the Capitol starting August 6, 2024, available soon.
These numbers include people from all 50 states and the capital city of Washington, DC. About 547 defendants were charged with assaulting, resisting, or obstructing officers or employees, including 163 individuals charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
What did Trump say about the participants?
Trump referred to those accused and jailed for their actions on January 6 as political victims, calling them “patriots” and “political prisoners” and vowing to use the power of presidential pardons to release them when he returns to the White House. .
In a televised address in March, Trump said one of his first steps as president was to “Free the January 6 hostages who were wrongly arrested!”
What will Trump say about the political opposition to his position on January 6?
Trump has taken a more moderate approach to political rivals who have blamed his efforts to disrupt the 2020 election and criticized his Jan. 6 campaign.
In July, Trump shared a post on his Truth Social website saying that the former Republican candidate Liz Cheneyone of the two Republican members of the House of Representatives in the US will investigate on January 6 and what Mr. Trump wants to cancel the election, he should face “television military courts” for “conspiracy”.
Elsewhere, Trump shared a photo of 15 lawmakers, including members of the January 6 investigation, and said they “should go to jail” instead of former Trump aide Steve Bannon, who served four months in prison in 2024 for of cases. denying a resolution to a congressional inquiry on January 6.
What do Americans think about the events of January 6?
December 2023 Washington Post-University of Maryland research found that about 55 percent of US adults believed that January 6 was an attack on US democracy that should not be “forgotten”.
But Republican voters disagree with that view, and more than two-thirds continue to believe Biden's 2020 election was illegitimate, according to polls. Republicans are also more likely that Trump was not responsible for the January 6 attacks, with 14 percent blaming him compared to 53 percent of US officials.
Why is this important?
Although many people in the US continue to see January 6 and Trump's role in the events of the day, this negative opinion did not stop him from beating his Democratic rival Kamala Harris in the army. 2024 election.
Now, as Trump prepares to return to the White House, some see Trump's insistence that he is the winner of the 2020 election and his desire to impeach his political rivals as evidence that he will follow suit. the avenger and more anti-democratic than his first term in office.