Leader Schumer Floor Remarks On The 5th Anniversary Of The Deadly January 6th Insurrection
Washington, D.C. - Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) today spoke on the Senate floor to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the deadly January 6th insurrection and denounced President Donald Trump’s continuous attacks on democracy. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:
Later this afternoon, I'll join with Leader Jeffries and members of both the House and Senate to mark the five-year anniversary of the deadly insurrection of January 6th.
It’s a bitter, frustrating, somber day for all of us who were in this building that fateful morning and afternoon.
I remember standing right here, in this very spot, alongside other Senators getting ready to certify the 2020 election.
All of a sudden, all of a sudden, my security detail pulled my collar like this, gripped me by the arm, and told me we had to get out because a mob of rioters had broken into the Capitol.
At that moment I saw the Vice President was instantly rushed out of the chamber as well. He was sitting up in that chair.
We went downstairs, we turned towards one hallway, and for a moment came within several yards of angry rioters before my detail pulled us away to safety.
It was a dark, scary, violent day. And when the MAGA rioters desecrated this chamber, they ransacked offices, waved confederate flags through these hallways, and used violence to try and steal an election—all that happened and it was propagated by Donald Trump.
But make no mistake: January 6th was also a day when the power of democracy ultimately prevailed.
It was a day where U.S. Capitol Police faced their moment of maximum danger and responded with maximum valor.
Let us take a moment to remember all our brave public service members, Capitol Police, D.C. Police, and other officers who died in connection with the attack.
I want to thank our officers who were here on that day, who do their jobs every day without fanfare.
Of course, the five-year anniversary of January 6th comes at a bitter and complicated moment.
The very same man who sought to steal an election and delegitimize our democracy has now returned to office, by the very same means he tried to destroy.
And what was Donald Trump’s first official action while in office?
Donald Trump, a man who claims to stand up for the police, a man who says he cares about the law and order, pardoned every single convicted insurrectionist on his very first day as President.
These pardons are among the most sickening things Donald Trump has done in office.
His betrayal of law enforcement, of democracy, makes a mockery of the rule of law.
These pardons were an explicit endorsement of using violence to get your way.
That is who Donald Trump is at his core: a man who’s happy to see violence work in his favor, to get what he wants.
And in this chamber—especially in the House of Representatives—too many Republicans remain silent in the face of obvious evil. That’s true in both chambers unfortunately.
Too many have tried to rewrite the history of January 6th. Too many are trying to turn these criminals into martyrs, into heroes.
That’s perverse. That’s a lie, and it’s wicked.
History will curse those who absolve or celebrate the violence that happened on January 6th.
We must never relent on speaking the truth of January 6th in the face of the hurricane of lies that comes from Donald Trump. This is our moral obligation to this grand democracy—as members of this institution and as citizens of this great democracy.
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