On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump. Academic debate exists about whether to characterize the event as an attempted coup, an attempted self-coup, or neither. The attack happened two months after Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Attackers sought to keep him in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of then president-elect Joe Biden. The attack was unsuccessful in preventing the certification of the election results. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a plan by Trump to overturn the election. Within 36 hours, five people died: one was shot by the Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer who died of a stroke a day after being assaulted by rioters and collapsing at the Capitol. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. Damage caused by attackers exceeded $2.7 million.
Called to action by Trump on January 5 and 6, thousands of his supporters had gathered in Washington, D.C., to support his false claims that the 2020 election had been "stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats", and to demand that then–vice president Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory. Starting at noon on January 6, at a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, Trump gave a speech in which he repeated false claims of election irregularities and said, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore". As Congress began the electoral vote count, thousands of attendees, some armed, walked to the Capitol, and hundreds breached police perimeters. Among the rioters were leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers extremist militia groups.
The FBI estimates 2,000–2,500 people entered the Capitol during the attack. Some vandalized and looted, including in the offices of House speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Congress members. Rioters assaulted Capitol Police officers and journalists. Capitol Police evacuated and locked down both chambers of Congress and several buildings in the Complex. Rioters occupied the empty Senate chamber, while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor. Pipe bombs were found at the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters, and Molotov cocktails were discovered in a vehicle near the Capitol. Trump resisted sending the National Guard to quell the mob. That afternoon, in a Twitter video, he restated false claims about the election and told his supporters to "go home in peace". The Capitol was cleared of rioters by mid-evening, and the electoral vote count was resumed and completed by the morning of January 7, concluding with Pence declaring the final electoral vote count in favor of President-elect Biden. Pressured by his cabinet, the threat of removal, and resignations, Trump conceded to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement.
A week after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection, making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice. After Trump had left office, the Senate voted 57–43 in favor of conviction, but fell short of the required two-thirds, resulting in his acquittal. Senate Republicans blocked a bill to create a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack, so the House instead approved a select investigation committee. They held public hearings, voted to subpoena Trump, and recommended that the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecute him. Following a special counsel investigation, Trump was indicted on four charges, all dismissed following his 2024 election to the presidency. Trump and elected Republican officials have promoted a revisionist history of the event by downplaying the severity of the violence, spreading conspiracy theories, and portraying those charged with crimes as hostages and martyrs.
Of the 1,424 people then charged with federal crimes relating to the event, 1,010 pled guilty, and 1,060 were sentenced, 64% of them to jail time. Some participants were linked to far-right extremist groups or conspiratorial movements, including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters, some of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Enrique Tarrio, then chairman of the Proud Boys, received the longest sentence, a 22-year prison term. No one was charged with the crime of insurrection. In 2022, Biden signed a new law to clarify how electoral votes are to be counted. On January 20, 2025, upon taking office again, Trump granted clemency to all January 6 rioters, including those convicted of violent offenses.
On January 6, 2021, the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., was attacked by a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump. Academic debate exists about whether to characterize the event as an attempted coup, an attempted self-coup, or neither. The attack happened two months after Trump's defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Attackers sought to keep him in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the Electoral College votes to formalize the victory of then president-elect Joe Biden. The attack was unsuccessful in preventing the certification of the election results. According to the bipartisan House select committee that investigated the incident, the attack was the culmination of a plan by Trump to overturn the election. Within 36 hours, five people died: one was shot by the Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes, including a police officer who died of a stroke a day after being assaulted by rioters and collapsing at the Capitol. Many people were injured, including 174 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack died by suicide within seven months. Damage caused by attackers exceeded $2.7 million.
Called to action by Trump on January 5 and 6, thousands of his supporters had gathered in Washington, D.C., to support his false claims that the 2020 election had been "stolen by emboldened radical-left Democrats", and to demand that then–vice president Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory. Starting at noon on January 6, at a "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, Trump gave a speech in which he repeated false claims of election irregularities and said, "If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore". As Congress began the electoral vote count, thousands of attendees, some armed, walked to the Capitol, and hundreds breached police perimeters. Among the rioters were leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers extremist militia groups.
The FBI estimates 2,000–2,500 people entered the Capitol during the attack. Some vandalized and looted, including in the offices of House speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Congress members. Rioters assaulted Capitol Police officers and journalists. Capitol Police evacuated and locked down both chambers of Congress and several buildings in the Complex. Rioters occupied the empty Senate chamber, while federal law enforcement officers defended the evacuated House floor. Pipe bombs were found at the Democratic National Committee and Republican National Committee headquarters, and Molotov cocktails were discovered in a vehicle near the Capitol. Trump resisted sending the National Guard to quell the mob. That afternoon, in a Twitter video, he restated false claims about the election and told his supporters to "go home in peace". The Capitol was cleared of rioters by mid-evening, and the electoral vote count was resumed and completed by the morning of January 7, concluding with Pence declaring the final electoral vote count in favor of President-elect Biden. Pressured by his cabinet, the threat of removal, and resignations, Trump conceded to an orderly transition of power in a televised statement.
A week after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump for incitement of insurrection, making him the only U.S. president to be impeached twice. After Trump had left office, the Senate voted 57–43 in favor of conviction, but fell short of the required two-thirds, resulting in his acquittal. Senate Republicans blocked a bill to create a bipartisan independent commission to investigate the attack, so the House instead approved a select investigation committee. They held public hearings, voted to subpoena Trump, and recommended that the Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecute him. Following a special counsel investigation, Trump was indicted on four charges, all dismissed following his 2024 election to the presidency. Trump and elected Republican officials have promoted a revisionist history of the event by downplaying the severity of the violence, spreading conspiracy theories, and portraying those charged with crimes as hostages and martyrs.
Of the 1,424 people then charged with federal crimes relating to the event, 1,010 pled guilty, and 1,060 were sentenced, 64% of them to jail time. Some participants were linked to far-right extremist groups or conspiratorial movements, including the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and Three Percenters, some of whom were convicted of seditious conspiracy. Enrique Tarrio, then chairman of the Proud Boys, received the longest sentence, a 22-year prison term. No one was charged with the crime of insurrection. In 2022, Biden signed a new law to clarify how electoral votes are to be counted. On January 20, 2025, upon taking office again, Trump granted clemency to all January 6 rioters, including those convicted of violent offenses.
Background
Attempts to overturn the presidential election
Joe Biden, of the Democratic Party, defeated incumbent Republican Party president Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election. Trump and other Republicans attempted to overturn the election, falsely claiming widespread voter fraud.
Within hours after the polls closing, while votes were still being tabulated, Trump declared victory, demanding counting be halted. He began a campaign to subvert the election, through legal challenges and extralegal effort. Some of Trump's attorneys concluded there was neither a factual foundation nor valid legal argument for challenging the election results. Others cited the Electoral Count Act of 1887 as they tried to overturn Trump's loss (that law would later be amended in 2022 to prevent recurrence of the January 6 debacle). Before leaving office, Trump sought to overturn the results by filing sixty lawsuits, including two that came before the Supreme Court. Those challenges were all rejected by the courts, for lack of evidence or legal standing.
Trump then mounted a campaign to pressure Republican governors, secretaries of state, and state legislatures to nullify results by replacing slates of Biden electors with slates pledged to Trump, or by manufacturing evidence of fraud. He demanded lawmakers investigate ostensible election "irregularities", such as by conducting signature matches of mailed-in ballots, disregarding any prior analytic efforts. Trump made inquiries regarding the possibility of invoking martial law to "re-run" or reverse the election and appointed a special counsel to find instances of fraud, despite conclusions by federal and state officials that such cases were few or non-existent. Trump ultimately undertook neither step.
Numerous scholars, historians, political scientists, and journalists have characterized these efforts to overturn the election as an attempted self-coup by Trump and an implementation of the "big lie". However, there is scholarship on the other side as well; post-January 6 scholarship is split about whether to include that event within the term "coup," some say yes, some say no. News reporting about scholarly opinions reflects that division.
Planning of January 6 events
On December 18, Trump called for supporters to attend a rally before the January 6 Congressional vote count, writing on Twitter, "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!". On December 28, far-right activist Ali Alexander described collaboration with the Proud Boys and explained the purpose of the January 6 event would be "to build momentum and pressure" to convince members of Congress to alter the election results. He named three Republican members of the House as allies who were planning "something big": Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs and Mo Brooks. "We're the four guys who came up with a January 6 event", Alexander said.
On December 23, Roger Stone's group Stop the Steal posted plans to "occupy just outside" the Capitol with promises to "escalate" if opposed by police. Stone recorded a video for his "Stop The Steal Security Project" to raise funds "for the staging, the transportation and most importantly the security" of the event. The event was largely funded by Trump donor Julie Fancelli, heiress to the Publix supermarket fortune, who budgeted $3 million for and spent at least $650,000. Fancelli's funding, via conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, was used to reserve the Ellipse. With Fancelli's funding, a robocall campaign urged people to "march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal". Jones claimed the White House asked him to lead the march to the Capitol.
On January 2, Trump announced plans to speak at the "March to Save America" rally on January 6. On January 4, Steve Bannon said he was part of "the bloodless coup".
Seditious conspiracy by Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
On November 5, two days after the election, leaders of the Oath Keepers began communicating about a "civil war". On November 9, the leaders held a members-only online conference in which leader Stewart Rhodes outlined a plan to stop the transfer of power, including preparations for using force. The Oath Keepers planned to store "an arsenal" with a "Quick Reaction Force" (QRF) in nearby Alexandria, Virginia. The leaders planned to procure boat transportation so bridge closures could not prevent their entry into D.C.
On December 12, about 200 Proud Boys joined a march near Freedom Plaza and the Trump International Hotel dressed in combat fatigues and ballistic vests. In scuffles between protesters and counter-protesters, four people were stabbed and at least 23 arrested. Three days later, Proud Boy members were being photographed wearing apparel featuring the antisemitic, Neo-Nazi slogan "6MWE" (6 million wasn't enough), referring to the number of Jewish Holocaust victims. The slogan was accompanied by an Eagle and fasces symbol used by the Italian Fascists. The image, which spread on Twitter, prompted the Anti-Defamation League to declare that the "Proud Boys' Bigotry is on Full Display".
On December 19, Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs called Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. One Proud Boy leader posted a message saying, "I am assuming most of the protest will be at the capital [sic] building given what's going on inside". The Proud Boys leadership encouraged members to attend the January 6 event. Leaders used a crowdfunding website to raise money and purchase paramilitary equipment such as concealed tactical vests and radio equipment in preparation for the attack. Chapter leadership spent the days prior to, and morning of January 6, planning the attack. On December 29, leaders announced plans to be "incognito" on January 6, by not wearing their traditional black and yellow garb. On December 30, the leadership received a document titled "1776 Returns", which called for the occupation of "crucial buildings" on January 6 and argued for supporters to "Storm the Winter Palace" in a reference to an attack on the Capitol. On January 3 and 4, Proud Boys leadership explicitly discussed "storming" the Capitol.
On January 3, Rhodes departed home, having spent $6,000 on a rifle and other firearms equipment in Texas, and $4,500 in Mississippi, en route to D.C. On January 5, leaders began unloading weapons for the "QRF". Leaders drove into D.C. on a "reconnaissance mission". On January 4, Tarrio was arrested by D.C. police in connection with a prior destruction-of-property charge. Fearing the police would access Tarrio's messaging apps, leadership deleted the group chat and created a new one. Tarrio was released on January 5 and ordered to leave the city. Rather than immediately comply, he traveled to a parking garage to meet with Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes.
The night of January 5, Proud Boys leaders divided members into teams, passed out radios, and programmed them to specific channels in preparation. Orders were issued to assemble at 10 a.m. at the Washington Monument. Leadership warned members to avoid police and blend in with the public. On January 6, about 100 plainclothes members assembled at the Washington Monument and were led to the Capitol to participate in the attack.
Predictions of violence
The weeks preceding January 6 were filled with predictions of violence by Trump supporters. The attack was later said to be "planned in plain sight", with postings on social media even planning for violence on January 6.
Commentators had long feared that Trump might provoke violence after an electoral loss. For weeks before January 6, there were over one million mentions of storming the Capitol on social media, including calls for violence against Congress, Pence, and the police. On December 28, a map was posted showing entrances and exits to the Capitol and tunnels that connect it to House and Senate office buildings. Black X's represented forces that would be "ready for action" if Congress tried to certify the election. On January 1, the operator of a website about the tunnels noticed a traffic spike, prompting him to notify the FBI of a likely attack.
From December 29 to January 5, the FBI and its field offices warned of armed protests at every state capitol and reported plans by Trump supporters that included violence. On December 30, one popular comment was posted, saying, "I'm thinking it will be literal war on that day. Where we'll storm offices and physically remove and even kill all the D.C. traitors and reclaim the country". That comment was highlighted in a January 2 article by The Daily Beast which reported protesters were discussing bringing guns, breaking into federal buildings, and attacking law enforcement. In the days leading up to the attack, organizations, including ones that monitor online extremism, issued warnings about the event.
On January 5, the media published stories about widespread predictions of violence, and D.C. mayor Muriel Bowser called for residents to avoid the downtown area where protesters would march. Two D.C. food and lodging establishments with a history of being patronized by the Proud Boys announced temporary closures, citing safety concerns. Members of Congress reached out to law enforcement charged with protecting the Capitol against violence and were assured Capitol Police were prepared.
Three days before the Capitol attack, the Capitol Police intelligence unit circulated a memo warning that Trump supporters see the day of the Electoral College vote count "as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election" and could use violence against "Congress itself" on that date.
On January 2, Republican senator Mitt Romney – who himself had lost the 2012 presidential election against Barack Obama, and conceded in an orderly manner – contacted Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, predicting reinforcements would be denied, "... a senior official at the Pentagon... reports that they are seeing very disturbing social media traffic regarding the protests planned on the 6th. There are calls to burn down your home, Mitch; to smuggle guns into DC, and to storm the Capitol. I hope that sufficient security plans are in place, but I am concerned that the instigator—the President—is the one who commands the reinforcements the DC and Capitol police might require".