Trump DOJ inspector general nominee Don Berthiaume declines to call January 6 an 'attack' during Senate confirmation hearing

During his Senate confirmation hearing on June 17, 2026, Don Berthiaume — Trump's nominee to serve as Inspector General of the Department of Justice — was asked directly whether he considered the events of January 6, 2021 at the U.S. Capitol to be an "attack." Berthiaume declined to use that word, instead describing the events as "protests and such." The hearing was conducted by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The DOJ Inspector General is the independent watchdog charged with investigating misconduct, waste, and fraud within the Justice Department, including oversight of the FBI and DOJ conduct in election-related matters. The January 6, 2021 events at the Capitol — in which participants sought to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election — produced over 1,000 criminal convictions by DOJ prosecutors, were the subject of a bipartisan Senate Select Committee investigation, and were characterized as an insurrection by the U.S. Capitol Police, military leadership, and courts. Berthiaume's characterization of those events as "protests and such" contradicts the documented record established by DOJ's own prosecutions.

The archive records Berthiaume's Senate testimony because the DOJ IG position is among the most consequential oversight roles for the categories of conduct this archive tracks — election-related investigations, DOJ politicization, and whistleblower protection — and because minimizing the documented record of January 6 during confirmation testimony is a form of election denial that raises questions about the impartiality of the oversight role he seeks.