“Some people want to rewrite the history of January 6th to ignore what we saw with our own eyes,” said Thompson, ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee and chair emeritus of the select committee on Jan. 6. “Some people want us to forget the lessons of that day, to pretend that we have overcome the threats facing our democracy and the rule of law. We will not allow that to happen.”

Members of leadership, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (D-CA), were present at the panel held Tuesday morning. 

The hearing comes as some Jan. 6 defendants held a march in Washington, D.C., including former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, which began at the Ellipse just before noon. Tarrio said the reason for the march is to call for justice for Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, as well as to honor other lives lost.

“Join us as we march for Ashli on January 6th. We also march in memory of those who passed away. 5 years ago a beautiful life was taken from us. A veteran and a patriot. So I ask those that are able to attend please do so,” he wrote on X.

1. Lawmakers call on Johnson to install plaque honoring police

A plaque honoring the police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 has still not been installed on the west front of the Capitol, despite receiving bipartisan approval in 2022. Many Democrats have a copy of the plaque hanging outside their offices in the House.

“You don’t have to say that Donald Trump won or lost 2020, you just have to say that D.C. metro and Capitol Police did a hell of a job defending this Capitol that day,” former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger said in the hearing.

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) called on Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to install the plaque during his remarks.

“William Faulkner once said, ‘The past isn’t dead, it isn’t even past.’ But Speaker Johnson would love to kill the past. Indeed, the very recent past,” Raskin said, blasting Republicans for doing “exactly nothing.”

“It’s been three years since that plaque was supposed to be put up, but they still haven’t put it up,” Raskin said. “It took them 24 hours to put up a new plaque, allegedly changing the name of the Kennedy Center to the Trump Kennedy Center. 24 hours.”

2. Former Republican Kinzinger reflects on his party after Jan. 6

“Five years ago today, the President decided that America’s legacy of transfer of power was beneath him,” Kinzinger said as he began his opening statement. 

The Illinois Republican, one of a few dozen Republicans who voted to launch an investigation into the Jan. 6 riots, testified at the Democrat-led hearing Tuesday, where he called out his party for being “cowards.” 

“No rational person can look at that violence that occurred on January 6 and think that it is not wrong,” Kinzinger said. “But even more concerning is that threats to our democracy have continued beyond what we witnessed five years ago, and it’s continued to today.”

Kinzinger has become known for his time spent on the Jan. 6 Select Committee and for voting to impeach Trump, as he became a major critic of the president after the 2020 election. He wrote in a post on his Substack that he said he would “be lying if I said I didn’t feel a deep unease” heading into the hearing on Tuesday. 

“What stays with me most isn’t only the violence,” Kinzinger wrote. “It’s what followed. The silences. The rationalizations. The slow normalization of the unacceptable. I watched people who knew exactly what had happened decide it was easier to move on than to confront it honestly. I learned then that democracy doesn’t just die from assaults. It erodes when cowardice becomes strategy.”

3. Convicted Jan. 6 protester speaks before panel

One of the Democrats’ witnesses was Pamela Hemphill, one of the rioters on Jan. 6 who refused Trump’s sweeping pardon. She said that accepting the pardon would be “lying” about what happened.

“I am guilty, and I own that guilt,” Hemphill said, adding that it would be a “slap in the face” to police officers because she broke the law.

The panel took an emotional turn when she personally apologized to Winston Pingeon, a former United States Capitol Police Officer who was one of the witnesses at the hearing. She tearfully said she will do “everything she can to stop the lies,” and thanked him for protecting people on Jan. 6. She noted that she’s received verbal and physical threats since rejecting the pardon and speaking out about her experiences on the day of the riots. 

Throughout the hearing, she described how she came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 under the impression that the 2020 election was stolen, a claim pushed by Trump and several of his allies. She said she has since learned that was a lie.

“It was wrong, that day, and you don’t take a pardon for when you broke the law. No, ever,” Hemphill said.

Many Democrats, and some Republicans, have argued that forgetting Jan. 6 will lead to more violence. 

“I implore America to not forget what happened on January 6. We must refuse to accept the normalization of violence,” former United States Capitol Police Officer Winston Pingeon said at the hearing.

Many of the witnesses spoke of the importance of remembering Jan. 6 in the context of protecting Democracy, as each one echoed similar sentiments of not forgetting. 

“I believe remembering is essential,” Kinzinger wrote on his Substack. “Democracies don’t survive by accident, and they certainly don’t survive by amnesia.”

“The danger of January 6 isn’t that we remember it too vividly,” he later added. “It’s that we stop paying attention altogether. And I still believe this country is better than that.”

4. Pelosi’s ‘magic minute’

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) testified at the hearing where her Democratic colleagues jokingly granted her a “magic minute,” a House procedural rule that allows leadership to have unlimited speaking time. Whereas most witnesses receive five minutes for opening statements, the former speaker spoke for nearly 10 minutes to delve into that day from her account. 

Republicans have claimed for years that Pelosi did not deploy the National Guard during the riots, but Pelosi refuted these claims, saying “for over three hours we begged him [Trump] to send the National Guard,” adding he “took joy in not doing it.” 

Pelosi was a main target of the rioters as she recalled, “How many times did I hear they were going to put a bullet in my f***ing head?” 

The California Democrat went on to say that one of her “proudest moments” during her career as speaker was when her “members had the courage” to go to the floor to “honor their oath of office” and certify the election. She went on to say that it is not something that they will “forget.” 

5. Congressional Republicans gloss over Jan. 6 as White House looks to change narrative

On the other side of the aisle, House Republicans gathered at the Kennedy Center to meet with Trump on setting the GOP agenda for 2026. A few issued statements on Jan. 6, 2021, calling the select committee, led by Democrats and a few former Republican members, “political theater.”

“Nancy Pelosi, Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney, and Adam Kinzinger, along with the other members of the partisan January 6 Select Committee, did everything in their power to destroy President Trump, and they failed,” outgoing Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) said in a statement. “Their Select Committee wasn’t about transparency or the truth; it was political theatre. My colleagues and I are focused on uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they lead.”

Republicans began launching new investigations into the Capitol attack as early as March 2024, with the House Administration Committee’s subcommittee on oversight planning regular public hearings. 

In July 2025, the House GOP launched a select subcommittee led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA). He had told reporters the panel would review security and intelligence failures and request materials that were not disclosed by the Democratic-led select committee in the 117th Congress.

The hearing from Democrats on Tuesday contrasts with the White House’s display on the official website. A webpage shows the “real January 6,” calling it a “peaceful protest turned tragedy” that accuses Capitol Police of escalating tensions.

“Video evidence shows officers inexplicably removing barricades, opening Capitol doors, and even waving attendees inside the building—actions that facilitated entry—while simultaneously deploying violent force against others,” the website says. “These inconsistent and provocative tactics turned a peaceful demonstration into chaos.”