Today marks one year since the deadly Capitol insurrection

By Maureen Chowdhury, Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Melissa Macaya, Meg Wagner, Melissa Mahtani and Fernando Alfonso III, CNN

Updated 12:46 a.m. ET, January 7, 2022
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12:29 a.m. ET, January 7, 2022

Rep. Raskin: Jan. 6 committee investigation will reveal whole truth about insurrection

(CNN)
(CNN)

Rep. Jamie Raskin, a member of the Jan. 6 select committee, said he believes the investigation will reveal the full truth about the insurrection.

"America is going to be shocked and surprised at what we all come to learn this year," he told CNN.

Raskin, who called the insurrection "a coup" organized by former President Donald Trump, said the committee has not made a decision about possibly subpoenaing former Vice President Mike Pence if he doesn't talk to the committee voluntarily.

"He has a lot to be proud of. He was a constitutional patriot. He stood up for the Constitution," Raskin said.
"We have subpoenaed lots of people whose testimony we need. The Supreme Court has said Congress has the right to subpoena anyone we want in order to get the information we need in order to govern," he said.

Raskin also said that former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham “names a lot of names I had not heard before” and “identified some minds of inquiry that had never occurred to me” during a conversation he had with her prior to her interview yesterday with the committee.

Grisham's meeting with the committee yesterday came after the former White House aide and chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump had a phone call with committee member Raskin, who encouraged her to meet with the panel.

Asked about the large amount of documents and records that have already been turned over to the committee, Raskin said the committee is “hoping to connect the dots amount the different levels of activity,” and learn “how did the former president’s inner political entourage operate in conjunction with the domestic violent extremist groups brought to Washington.”

Raskin's daughter, Tabitha, was with him in the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year — and he says she has not gone to the building since then.

"It is part of my mission to fight for an America where Tabitha and every young person feels safe coming to the Congress of the United States. And this is a building that we should be proud of all around the world, should be a place of peace and safety and democratic dialogue," he said.  

CNN's Jamie Crawford contributed to this post

2:13 p.m. ET, January 6, 2022

How agencies are ramping up security for the Jan. 6 anniversary

From CNN's Geneva Sands and Whitney Wild

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Law enforcement and federal authorities in the Washington, DC, region are stepping up security efforts in anticipation of the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol.��

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Tuesday that the department is operating at a "heightened level of vigilance, because we are at a heightened level of threat" in general, but he added that DHS is not aware of any credible threats specifically related to the anniversary or Jan. 6. 

"The threat of domestic violent extremists is a very great one," he told reporters. 

Meanwhile, United States Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger insisted on Tuesday that the department would be able to fend off another mob-like attack one year after rioters crashed through doors and windows, attacked police and threatened lawmakers.

The police department is tracking several events and is monitoring an event at the DC jail most closely, though he said there was no specific or credible threat.

Manger said the department is focused on the most important problems first, such as intelligence dissemination, operational planning and civil disturbance unit preparedness.

DHS is working across the department to ramp up, where appropriate, the operational posture, including deploying more people, operating a 24/7 intelligence watch capability, coordinating with fusion centers across the country to share information, according to a federal law enforcement official.  

The United States Secret Service and Federal Protective Service also have deployment plans to use if needed, the official said. 

DHS is coordinating with the FBI, the Metropolitan Police Department, Park Police, and Capitol Police to ensure that adequate personnel and physical security measures are in place, the official said, adding that they are tracking intelligence indicators to see if we can identify groups of people who may be traveling to the Washington region.

"Unlike before January 6, there is a well-coordinated and cohesive effort," involving DHS, FBI, state and local law enforcement both in the national capital region and outside the region, the official said. 

The stepped-up security comes as Washington braces for the anniversary of the insurrection. 

Manger said the department tracked roughly 9,600 threats in 2021. Threats could include phone calls, emails or social media posts and don’t necessarily rise to the level of a crime. The threats that worry him most are those that include a previous contact with someone making the threat.

“The US Capitol as an organization is stronger and better prepared today to carry out its mission that it was before January 6th of last year,” Manger said in the press conference Tuesday. “We immediately began to work after the 6th to fix the failures that occurred.”

Of more than 100 recommendations issued by the Capitol Police Inspector General, the department has completed roughly 34 changes, and is working to complete 60 others.

12:28 a.m. ET, January 7, 2022

The Jan. 6 committee is aiming to release an interim report with initial findings by this summer

Analysis from CNN's Paul LeBlanc

(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is poised for a consequential year as the sprawling investigation nears a more public phase.

The panel is working toward a goal of releasing an interim report with initial findings by this summer, a committee aide told CNN, with a final report following in fall 2022. And committee members have said that they hope to hold public hearings that outline the story of what occurred on January 6, though the specific timing of these hearings has not yet been set.

"There's a belief that a lot of what happened on that day wasn't a comedy of errors, but a planned, coordinated effort. And so our hearings will determine whether or not what occurred on January 6 was a comedy of errors or a planned effort on the part of certain individuals," Rep. Bennie Thompson, who chairs the panel, said on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

In the meantime, the committee has issued a long list of subpoenas in an effort to find out information and seek testimony — and has taken steps to show there will be consequences for non-compliance.

The committee has also begun the process of holding former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark in contempt of Congress but has paused that process to give him one more chance to testify in front of the committee since he has stated that he intends to claim Fifth Amendment protection.

Still, as Democrats look ahead to what could be a challenging midterm election, the party is publicly and privately gauging the political application of the violent insurrection. Some in the party, without dismissing the gravity of the attacks, argue that Democrats need to prioritize other issues on the campaign trail.

"Most everyday people are worried about their kids getting a good education, worried about getting paid for, making sure their roads are fixed, being able to connect to high-speed internet," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, the chair of the Democratic Governors Association, said in December. "The political process issues, I've never been a real fan of making them a central part of messaging."

8:39 a.m. ET, January 6, 2022

Former Trump press secretary says group of former Trump officials forming efforts to "stop him"

From CNN's Betsy Klein

(CNN)
(CNN)

Stephanie Grisham announced Thursday that a group of her former Trump administration colleagues plan to meet in the coming weeks to try and stop former President Donald Trump as he continues to “manipulate people and divide our country.” 

“Next week, a group of former Trump staff are going to come together, administration officials are going to come together and we're going to talk about how we can formally do some things to try and stop him and also, the extremism, that that kind of violence, rhetoric that has been talked about and continues to divide our country,” the former White House press secretary and chief of staff to the first lady told CNN’s New Day. 

Grisham declined to say who would be joining her in the efforts, but said there would be “about 15” of her former colleagues, including some who worked inside the White House. Some of them, she said, were junior to her, and some were senior. It began with some “informal chats” and there have been “some zoom conference calls” so far, but she said there would be a more formal meeting next week.

The group will be talking about “the most effective tactics” to carry out that message, and that “everybody will have different roles.”

She said that she is personally hoping to “travel the country and talk to people who are believers like I once was.”

“I want people who believe in him now to talk to me, and I want to explain who he really is. So I’m really hoping for a good fight in 2022,” she said.

Asked to predict what the former President would say about these efforts, Grisham spun a Trump-esque statement, “This group of losers and RINOs and haters are just coming together, they were so terrible at their jobs, my supporters will stand strong,” she said, adding that she “actually (looks) forward to that.”

8:20 a.m. ET, January 6, 2022

"There really hasn't been an end to Jan. 6," says US Capitol Police officer 

Two police officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, reflected on what has changed over the past year — and what hasn't.

"This doesn't necessarily feel like an anniversary," US Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn told CNN. "There really hasn't been an end to Jan. 6. So once accountability has been had, then you can start to heal and then you can start to look forward."

Dunn said that the Justice Department, the FBI and the Jan. 6 committee need to have "unimpeded access" to present the full facts of what happened that day.  

"You can't fully move on until you understand what happened and also correct it and keep it from happening again. To this day, that has not happened, in my opinion. And the people that are saying 'move on,' how can you move on when there's been no accountability for what happened that day?" Dunn said.

Michael Fanone, a former DC Metropolitan Police officer and current CNN law enforcement analyst, said he's "just angry" one year after the insurrection.  

"I went through the whole rolodex of emotions, and now I'm just angry. I would ask anybody who doubts the reality of Jan. 6 to question your motivations behind that," Fanone said.

He said he is "incredibly proud" of his actions and those of countless other officers on Jan. 6, 2021, plus the agencies and lawmakers investigating it.

"But at the same time, I'm incredibly disappointed. I'm disappointed by our lack of progress as a country. We're still engaging in the same violent rhetoric that resulted in Jan. 6. We are still experiencing a cultural war, deep divisions. In a lot of ways, I think our politicians have doubled down on the words and actions that led to an insurrection," he said.

8:05 a.m. ET, January 6, 2022

How Congress is marking today's 1-year anniversary

From CNN's Paul LeBlanc

(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a slate of events around the US Capitol to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

"These events are intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness," Pelosi said in a letter to her Democratic colleagues.

Starting at noon ET today, there will be a prayer and a moment of silence on the House floor followed by a "Historic Perspective" conversation between historians Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jon Meacham "to establish and preserve the narrative of January 6th."

Lawmakers will then share their accounts of the attack in a session presided over by Colorado Democratic Rep. Jason Crow, followed by a prayer vigil with members of the House and Senate on the steps of the Capitol.

The insurrection, which began as members of Congress worked to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, commanded the nation's attention as violent scenes of rioters attacking officers and destroying parts of the Capitol were broadcast live across the country.

The ensuing chaos led to the deaths of multiple people the day of the attack or shortly thereafter, while several officers who responded to the Capitol during the attack later died by suicide.

7:58 a.m. ET, January 6, 2022

Biden will "speak to truth" of Jan. 6 on anniversary, White House says

From CNN's Kevin Liptak

(Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
(Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)

President Biden will "speak to the truth of what happened" on Jan. 6, 2021 when he delivers remarks inside the US Capitol building on the first anniversary of its assault on Thursday, the White House says.

He'll address the day's historic significance and reflect on what it means for the country a year later.

"On Thursday the President is going to speak to the truth of what happened, not the lies that some have spread since, and the peril posed to the rule of law and our system of democratic governance," press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

The President also intends to honor heroes who helped protect the Capitol and discuss steps still needed to protect democracy.

"He will also speak to the work we still need to do to secure and strengthen our democracy and our institutions to reject the hatred and lies we saw on January 6 and to united our country," Psaki said.

More on today's events: Biden's Thursday morning address will kick off a planned day of events at the Capitol meant to mark the year since insurrectionists breached the building. Their goal was to interrupt a certification of Biden's victory.

At the time, Biden called the riot "an unprecedented assault on our democracy and an attempt to subvert our Constitution and interfere with the peaceful transfer of power."

A year later, Biden plans to reflect on what the event meant and where it fits within the history of the country.

He'll also "commemorate the heroes of Jan. 6, especially the men and women of law enforcement who fought to uphold the constitution and protect the Capitol and the lives of the people who were there," Psaki said. Because of their efforts, our democracy withstood an attack from a mob and the will of more than 150 million people who voted in the president election was ultimately registered by Congress."

5:36 p.m. ET, January 6, 2022

Today is the 1-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Here's a timeline of how the day unfolded.

From CNN’s Ted Barrett, Manu Raju and Peter Nickeas

(Brent Stirton/Getty Images)
(Brent Stirton/Getty Images)

Supporters of then-President Trump breached the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, engulfing the building in chaos after Trump urged his supporters to protest against the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes to certify President Biden's win.

A year after the attack, Congress is still investigating the deadly event, with a House select committee conducting closed-door interviews, public hearings and document requests.

Here's how key events unfolded throughout the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after Trump’s speech:

  • At 1:10 p.m. ET, while Congress began the process of affirming then-President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College win, Trump encouraged his supporters to protest at the US Capitol. Despite promising he would join them, Trump retreated to the White House in his SUV and watched on television as the violence unfolded on Capitol Hill.
  • Shortly after 1 p.m. ET, hundreds of pro-Trump protesters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol, where they tussled with officers in full riot gear, some calling the officers "traitors" for doing their jobs.
  • About 90 minutes later, police said demonstrators got into the building and the doors to the House and Senate were being locked. Shortly after, the House floor was evacuated by police. Then-Vice President Mike Pence was also evacuated from the chamber, he was to perform his role in the counting of electoral votes.
  • An armed standoff took place at the House front door as of 3 p.m. ET, and police officers had their guns drawn at someone who was trying to breach it. A Trump supporter was also pictured standing at the Senate dais earlier in the afternoon.
  • The Senate floor was cleared of rioters as of 3:30 p.m. ET, and an officer told CNN that they had successfully squeezed them away from the Senate wing of the building and towards the Rotunda, and they were removing them out of the East and West doors of the Capitol.
  • The US Capitol Police worked to secure the second floor of the Capitol first, and were seen just before 5 p.m. ET pushing demonstrators off the steps on the east side of the building. 
  • With about 30 minutes to go before Washington, DC's 6 p.m. ET curfew, Washington police amassed in a long line to push the mob back from the Capitol grounds. It took until roughly 5:40 p.m. ET for the building to once again be secured, according to the sergeant-at-arms.
  • Lawmakers began returning to the Capitol after the building was secured and made it clear that they intended to resume their intended business — namely, confirming Biden's win over Trump by counting the votes in the Electoral College.
  • Proceedings resumed at about 8 p.m. ET with Pence — who never left the Capitol, according to his press secretary — bringing the Senate session back into order.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement earlier on the evening of Jan. 6 that congressional leadership wanted to continue with the joint session that night.

Then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the floor that the "United States Senate will not be intimidated. We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats."

It took until deep in the early hours of Thursday morning (Jan. 7), but Congress eventually counted and certified Biden's election win.

See the full timeline of events here.