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Trump White House published website recasting Jan. 6 Capitol riot as 'peaceful march,' blamed Capitol Police for violence

On January 6, 2026 — the fifth anniversary of the Capitol attack — the Trump White House published an official webpage at whitehouse.gov/j6/ describing the 2021 riot as a "peaceful march" and asserting that U.S. Capitol Police "aggressively" deployed tear gas, flash-bangs, and rubber munitions and inexplicably opened doors and removed barricades that "facilitated entry." White House Communications Director Steven Cheung promoted the page on social media, including a post calling it the "REAL Jan. 6 story." Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Thom Tillis publicly disputed the characterization, with Collins — who was on the Capitol floor that day — saying she found the Capitol Police "heroic."

Jurisdiction
Federal
Location
Washington, D.C.

Abuses documented

Actors

On January 6, 2026, the fifth anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the White House published a webpage at whitehouse.gov/j6/ recasting the 2021 riot as a "peaceful march" and blaming U.S. Capitol Police for the violence. A timeline on the page described the crowd as "orderly and spirited" and stated that "Capitol Police aggressively fire tear gas, flash bangs, and rubber munitions into crowds of peaceful protesters, injuring many and deliberately escalating tensions," and that officers "inexplicably" removed barricades and opened Capitol doors in ways that "facilitated entry." The page also repeated the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen and placed blame for security failures that day on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The January 6, 2021 attack left more than 100 law enforcement officers injured; several Capitol Police officers later died, including Officer Brian Sicknick, whose death the D.C. medical examiner said was influenced by the events of that day, and several others who died by suicide in the following months. Roughly 1,500 to 1,600 people were charged in connection with the riot, and President Trump issued sweeping pardons to nearly all of them on his first day back in office. The new webpage's account of officers instigating "chaos" and of a "peaceful" crowd omits this record and the extensive video evidence of rioters breaching the building and assaulting police.

White House Communications Director Steven Cheung promoted the webpage on social media, including in a post describing it as the "REAL Jan. 6 story." The characterization drew pushback from within the president's own party: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who was in the Senate chamber that day, said "I disagree with that completely," recalling hearing rioters chanting "hang Mike Pence" outside, and said she found the Capitol Police officers "heroic." Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) also disputed the page's characterization, noting that some pardoned rioters have since been arrested again. A spokesperson for Pelosi called the webpage's use of a cherry-picked video clip "shameful, unpatriotic, and pathetic."

Why we recorded this

Government must not use its own official channels to spread falsehoods about settled historical fact. On the fifth anniversary of the January 6 Capitol attack, the White House published an official government webpage asserting the riot was a peaceful protest instigated by Capitol Police rather than a violent breach of the Capitol by Trump supporters — a claim contradicted by extensive video evidence and the record of roughly 1,500 criminal prosecutions. Using the presidential seal and an official .gov platform to assert a fabricated account of a documented attack on Congress erodes the public's ability to rely on government as a source of accurate information rather than partisan messaging.

Sources

  1. New White House webpage rewrites history of Jan. 6 Capitol riot and 2020 election — CBS News primary accessed September 4, 2026
  2. Trump White House attempts to rewrite history of Jan. 6, accuses Capitol Police of escalating tensions — ABC News primary accessed September 4, 2026
  3. White House rewrites January 6 history and blames police for deadly attack on 5-year anniversary — CNN primary accessed September 4, 2026

See also