MUGO ODIGWE:
00:00:00
Happening right now on Capitol Hill, Democratic members of the January 6 Select Committee say they are setting the record straight on this. And that's because today marks five years since the scene of rioters storming the nation's Capitol building. And that played out on screens across the country. It led to the largest criminal prosecution in American history. Every single defendant prosecuted for that January 6 attack received a pardon from President Trump on the day one of his second term. And now the top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, says he will not let lawmakers rewrite history. Five years ago today, a violent mob incited by Donald Trump attacked the Capitol as part of a concerted effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and halt the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in American history. This bloodthirsty, treacherous mob brutally assaulted police officers and seriously injured more than 140 brave men and women of law enforcement. Over the last five years, instead of holding those responsible for the attack accountable, Donald Trump and far right extremists in Congress have repeatedly attempted to rewrite history and whitewash the horrific events of January 6. We will not let that happen. Now let's go live to Washington, DC and CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott MacFarlane. Scott, thank you so much for joining us. There is a push to preserve the facts of what happened that day. So can you talk to us about that push by some lawmakers today to make sure this historical event is not revised? Yeah, that hearing you were just watching an excerpt from is one that is staged exclusively by US House Democrats. Republicans are not participating in any January 6 events, memorials, or hearings today. It is a one party affair marking these five years since January 6. Among those who testified here today are some of the victims from that day. A police officer who was among those confronted by the mob, some of the House members who were literally hiding beneath their seats in the House chamber when they could not evacuate as the mob was approaching, a violent mob was approaching. What they're arguing is that those who died, including Officer Brian Sicknick you see there, others who died by suicide, and the 140 police officers who were wounded, some viciously that day, are trying to preserve and reclaim the facts of January 6. Over the past five years, due in no small part to the President's false statements, there has been a whitewashing of the history and a changing of the history of January 6. There have been conspiracy theories that these rioters, these people who went through the mob and damaged and destroyed things in the Capitol, some impacted injured police, that they were peaceful protesters who were loving protesters. The police are making the argument there would not have been so many injured, there would not have been so much damage, and democracy would not have been so much on a knife's edge if they were peaceful. Yeah. And so, Scott, House Democrats are holding a hearing, but some Senate Democrats are taking a different approach in introducing new legislation. Can you walk us through what we could see happen there? Two new pieces of legislation that are of particular interest here. CBS News has learned Senate Democrats have now formally proposed a bill to prevent any taxpayer funded settlements with January 6 rioters who sue civilly. That sounds far fetched. You should note that one of the estates for one of the rioters, Ashli Babbitt, who was shot and killed here by police as she breached the House Speaker's lobby, they sued civilly and they received a multi-million dollar settlement from the Trump administration. There's a new legislation to stop that from happening again. What's more, there's a second bill to prohibit with taxpayer money any reparations be paid to January 6 rioters. There are a number of riot defendants who say they are due reparations for the costs they suffered during their prosecutions, and there are attorneys who are fighting for that right now, and the Trump administration has not shut the door on it. And, Scott, I also want to ask you about this. What can you tell us about, what, 300 protesters moving toward Pennsylvania Avenue? Yeah, these will include some number of convicted January 6 rioters, including high level riot defendants, those convicted of seditious conspiracy or being among the first in the crowd to breach or assaulting police. They're making a march, they say, to retrace their steps from five years ago today, from the White House Ellipse to the West front of the US Capitol. They have said in their social media posts it is to be a peaceful march, and there's a lot of police surrounding them. But it's quite a provocative thing to do on this date, to have riot defendants who were here five years ago tearing the place up come back here where victims still work and victims still live. I suspect know it's going to get noticed. Yeah, I suspect they do as well. Scott MacFarlane, thank you so much for your reporting. CBS News Congressional Reporter Taurean Small is also on the Hill and he joins us now. Taurean, thank you for your time. As this hearing unfolds, what is the message from Democrats now, five years later? Yeah, good morning, Mugo. So we heard from Benny Thomas, who is the former chair of the now dissolved Select Committee on January 6. He said, look, this is another opportunity for Republicans to whitewash history here. He says that this is a day, and that's why Democrats are moving forward with this hearing, to really memorialize and make sure the United States doesn't forget this moment in history. But we pressed him on the fact that no Republicans were present. Again, this is an informal hearing, and no Republicans participated except for former Republicans like Representative Adam Kinzinger, the retired Congressman from Illinois. And he said this. He surmises the reason why Republicans aren't a part of this is because they are being bullied by the Trump administration. The President invited the Republican conference to the Kennedy Center for a retreat, and he says he believes they'll be there instead, avoiding this altogether. So let's stick with that. We know Republicans are not at that meeting, but are we hearing anything from them as we mark five years from the January 6 insurrection? Yeah, as it relates to current membership, not so much. They're looking to move on beyond that. We did hear from now retired Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. She just officially retired this week, her resignation accepted and submitted into the record yesterday night. But she posted on social media kind of a tribute to some of those convicted rioters, saying that they were patriotic in their holding of the country accountable. She believes that it was mischaracterized, but this has been her stance from the beginning. She was quite sympathetic of rioters, calling many of them prisoners, unfair prisoners, subject to political persecution by the Biden administration. And again, she's holding strong in that, even though she is now absent from the Hill. Mugo.
