WASHINGTON, D.C.— On the one year anniversary of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) released the following statement.

“One year ago today, we witnessed the unthinkable: an attempted coup organized by a president against his own vice-president and the Congress. This coup against democracy was surrounded and camouflaged by a violent insurrection that laid siege to the Capitol and that interrupted for many hours the peaceful transfer of power and which was itself surrounded by a savage mob riot of tens of thousands of people brought to Washington for a “wild” protest by a lawless lame-duck president trying desperately to hang on to the presidency. 

“Donald Trump and his followers are trying to destroy Americans’ memory of these events, but we will never allow that to happen. Remembering January 6 in detail is a civic duty in our century. The attempted coup and insurrection left 150 law enforcement officers injured, wounded, traumatized or dead. Anyone who denies or minimizes this unprecedented assault on law enforcement can never call himself or herself ‘pro-law enforcement.’ That’s just political fraud. 

“American democracy is a hard-won work-in-progress and we will persevere and rebound once more with popular engagement. After the bloody violence on January 6, we returned to our chamber to complete the electoral count and certify the election results. We were not deterred. Like the police officers who held the line and defended us against all the odds, we too did our jobs, even though our jobs are a lot easier than the jobs of the cops who saved our lives. Now we must rebuild and fortify our democratic institutions with the same resolve shown by the constitutional patriots of January 6, 2021.”

The Lead House Manager in the second Senate impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump, Rep. Raskin currently serves on the bipartisan Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

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