The White House is coming under fire for its “alternative” depiction of the events of January 6, 2021—an episode many have described as an insurrection, a riot, or an attack on the U.S. Capitol and on American democracy.
“President Trump took decisive action to pardon January 6 defendants who were unfairly targeted, overcharged, and used as political examples,” the White House said on its new webpage detailing January 6, which it also called “A Day That Will Live in Infamy.”
“They were not protected by the leaders who failed them. They were punished to cover incompetence,” the White House claimed.
In one passage — misleading and disputed by the public record — the White House alleged: “The Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protesters as ‘insurrectionists’ and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump—despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government.”
“In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters, all while Pelosi’s own security lapses invited the chaos they later exploited to seize and consolidate power,” the claim continued. “This gaslighting narrative allowed them to persecute innocent Americans, silence opposition, and distract from their own role in undermining democracy.”
The White House’s J6 webpage also claimed that then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi “repeatedly” acknowledged responsibility for “catastrophic security failures” including “not having the National Guard pre-deployed, despite intelligence warnings and President Trump’s offers of troops that were ignored.”
The Speaker of the House does not have control over the National Guard, and numerous reports show that Trump made no formal offer to deploy troops on January 6, according to Politico.
Critics took issue with the webpage and many of the White House’s claims.
Axios’ Trump White House reporter Marc Caputo called it an “alternative Jan. 6 history.”
Spectrum News’ national political reporter Taylor Popielarz charged that the White House was attempting “to rewrite what actually happened on Jan. 6, 2021.”
Mediaite contributing editor Sarah Rumpf wrote that the “new White House website contains so many disgusting lies about #January6 it’s hard to know where to start.”
“Relax,” suggested The Bulwark’s Will Saletan. “You’re not living in an authoritarian country. Except for the part where the president seizes unprecedented powers. And the part where he orders sham prosecutions. And the part where his White House rewrites the history of his coup attempt.”
Attorney Drew M. Capuder called it “one of the most evil and dishonest things I have ever seen.”
The Cato Institute’s David J. Bier simply described it as “pathological.”
Political scientist Michael D. Swaine offered an extensive response:
“A despicable, shameful distortion of reality by a lawless, rogue white house,” Swaine wrote of the White House’s January 6 website. “Yes, January 6th will live in infamy, as an effort to violently overthrow the results of a legitimate election by a criminal politician and his goons.”
“The truth is crystal clear, based on January 6th and many actions since then,” he continued. “Trump has become an illegitimate leader who should be impeached, tried, convicted, and removed from office. He has violated the Constitution and engaged in high crimes and misdemeanors. He will go down in history as by far the worst US president. Under him, the United States is being turned into an authoritarian, rogue nation.”
Swaine urged Americans to “stand up and speak out,” and he warned that it’s “time to act on the basis of the laws and ideals of the nation and get rid of Trump and his quislings.”
“An absolute disgrace,” declared HuffPost’s White House correspondent S.V. Dáte. “Stalin-level propaganda. The people who put this together — on OUR dime — should be ashamed of themselves.”
NBC News, reporting on the White House’s new January 6 webpage, wrote that “Trump is rewriting the narrative around the Capitol siege.”
“In the months after the attack,” NBC added, “Americans generally agreed on what had just happened; Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, called it a ‘terrorist attack.’”