On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 United States presidential election. [1]
By the end of the year, 725 people had been charged with federal crimes. [2] [3] That number rose to 1,000 by the second anniversary of the attack, [2] to 1,200 by the third anniversary (three-quarters of whom had by then been found guilty) [4] [5] and to 1,500 before the fourth anniversary. [6] As of January 20, 2025, 1,575 people were charged in connection with the January 6 attack. The FBI has estimated that around 2,000 people took part in criminal acts at the event. [7]
Upon Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, he pardoned all but 14 of about 1,270 convicted rioters. The remaining 14 people, though their convictions stood, were eligible for immediate release from prison, as he commuted their sentences to "time served." [8] [9] Following Trump's pardons, the Justice Department moved to dismiss some cases awaiting trial or sentencing.
A list of "breach" cases, meaning cases in which the defendant was alleged to have entered a restricted area of the Capitol during the riot, was kept updated by the US Attorney's Office, District of Columbia. [10] It was available until the morning of January 24, 2025, [11] four days after President Trump had issued a blanket pardon, but later in the day, it said "Page not found." CNN reported its erasure the next day. [12]
NPR has a database of all 1,575 cases in the Capitol attack prior to Trump's pardons, searchable by U.S. state, charges, and case status. [7]
For plea deals entered between April–October 2021, BuzzFeed has a searchable table. [13]
Under battle flags bearing Donald Trump's name, the Capitol's attackers pinned a bloodied police officer in a doorway, his twisted face and screams captured on video. They mortally wounded another officer with a blunt weapon and body-slammed a third over a railing into the crowd. 'Hang Mike Pence!' the rioters chanted as they pressed inside, beating police with pipes.They demanded House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's whereabouts, too. They hunted any and all lawmakers: 'Where are they?' Outside, makeshift gallows stood, complete with sturdy wooden steps and the noose. Guns and pipe bombs had been stashed in the vicinity. ... The mob got stirring encouragement from Trump and more explicit marching orders from the president's men. 'Fight like hell,' Trump exhorted his partisans at the staging rally. 'Let's have trial by combat,' implored his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, whose attempt to throw out election results in trial by courtroom failed. It's time to 'start taking down names and kicking ass', said Republican Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama. Criminals pardoned by Trump, among them Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, came forward at rallies on the eve of the attack to tell the crowds they were fighting a battle between good and evil