Jan. 6 anniversary: Changes and unanswered questions since the Capitol riot

Kaelan Deese

January 06, 12:48 PM January 06, 12:48 PM

Two years have gone by since the riot at the U.S. Capitol by a mob of people spurred by former President Donald Trump's stolen election claims that stormed into the building, wreaked havoc on law enforcement, and left a lasting stain on the country's tradition of the peaceful transfer of power.

Despite the hours of public hearings and thousands of pages of interview transcripts from close allies of Trump and other key witnesses due to the information gathering of the House Jan. 6 Committee, much about the fateful day is still unknown.

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Here are the major changes to what we know and the outstanding unanswered questions surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Unanswered: Who is responsible for the Jan. 6 pipe bombs

One of the most jarring and potentially catastrophic findings leading up to the riot is the unresolved mystery behind the pipe bombs discovered on Jan. 5, 2021, outside the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters just blocks away from the Capitol.

The bombs were affixed with amateur mechanical timing devices and were discovered the afternoon of Jan. 6, creating further chaos to the already out-of-control protest-turned-riot.

Federal investigators have released bits of information surrounding the bomber, including footage showing a person dressed in a hoodie with gloves and a map drawn from CCTV camera video depicting the route the person walked while planting the bombs. To this day, the FBI has been unable to identify a culprit.

FBI officials raised the reward for information on the person who planted the bombs to $500,000 after the agency previously offered $100,000.

Change: Major crackdown on rioters

In just two years, the number of people arrested in connection to the riot has grown steadily all the way to 950 people from nearly all 50 states, with the highest charges being seditious conspiracy to more prevalent charges such as disorderly conduct.

Nearly 860 of Jan. 6 defendants face charges over entering or remaining in a restricted federal building or grounds, according to the Justice Department.

The next range of high-volume charges relates to misdemeanors and felonies surrounding violence, property destruction, and firearms charges. Around 484 individuals have pleaded guilty to charges in this category.

Of the total number of people charged for Capitol riot-related crimes, 526 have pleaded guilty or been convicted by trial. 353 have been sentenced, with 195 receiving incarceration time as part of the sentence, according to George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, which tracks the cases.

One of the most prominent trials featured Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy but was acquitted of other conspiracy charges. The result of the mixed verdict indicates that while the jury believed the riot unfolded with elements of spontaneity, they also believe Rhodes made a plan to use force to keep Trump in office.

Unanswered: Will Trump be prosecuted?

The House Jan. 6 Committee concluded its monthslong investigation last month by calling on the Justice Department to prosecute Trump on four charges: conspiracy to defraud the U.S., conspiracy to make false statements, obstruction of an official proceeding, and inciting an insurrection.

Such recommendations do not legally require any action on behalf of the agency to prosecute the former president, who has not been held legally responsible for the riot. There are also a number of key evidentiary facts for the agency to consider whether there is solid culpability behind the former president's actions.

For example, Trump used the word “peacefully” once and the word “fight” 23 times during his speech to a vast crowd of thousands of supporters at the White House Ellipse, where he called on then-Vice President Mike Pence to decertify the 2020 election results for Joe Biden. He told the crowd at 12:17 p.m. that he would walk with them to the Capitol and concluded his speech by 1:12 p.m. However, video evidence shows protesters walking to the Capitol by 12:29 p.m., with the first breach of the barricade occurring at 12:53 p.m.

The former president recanted on his promise to join the protesters in their march and went back to the White House. As the Senate was called into recess at 2:13 p.m. when rioters arrived near the Senate chamber door, Trump tweeted nearly 10 minutes later at 2:24 p.m. that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done...."

Trump never explicitly told the crowd to violently assault law enforcement. However, he did tell his followers: "If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore."

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith in November to take over the investigation into Trump's role in the Capitol riot and the inquiry into his decision to retain sensitive government documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort home in Florida. Trump has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.

Change: Electoral Count Act reforms, taking VP role out of election certification

As part of President Joe Biden's $1.7 trillion bipartisan budget deal that passed last month, a key provision was rewriting the 19th century Electoral Count Act that aims to avert a repeat of Trump's expressed desires to his vice president ahead of the riot.

The bill, which was formed through bipartisan efforts in Congress, clarifies that the vice president only has a ceremonial role in counting the Electoral College votes.

Trump and his legal allies argued the law as it was previously written allowed the vice president to reject electors from states with perceived irregularities in their election results. The bill's authors were Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Susan Collins (R-ME).

Change: Measures to protect law enforcement, judges, and efforts at the Capitol to improve security

Threats against law enforcement, public officials, and specifically judges have ascended in numbers in the years leading up to 2020 and into 2023, spurred by bouts of outrage from people on the Left and the Right.

Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said last month that threats against lawmakers are up 400% in the last six years during a hearing to a key Senate panel on Monday.

The U.S. Marshals Service reported judges were subject to 4,511 threats and inappropriate communications in 2021, an increase from 926 in 2015.

In order to counteract such threats, the Capitol Police Board released a 10-page report one year ago detailing security improvements such as allowing Capitol Police to request National Guard assistance, police operational planning and communication improvements, and significant physical improvements to the building's structure.

Lawmakers passed the Daniel Anderl Judicial Security and Privacy Act last year as part of a vast defense authorization bill that aims to improve security for federal judges. The bill permits judges to redact their personal information from government websites and prevents people and organizations from publishing such information online if judges have made a written request to disallow the posting of such information.