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How Jan. 6 was remembered — and rewritten — on its 5th anniversary

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Five years ago, Ryan Samsel ignited the Jan. 6 breach of the Capitol grounds when he charged through a police barricade, injuring a police officer in the process.

Samsel returned to the site Tuesday, part of a group of fellow mob members who retraced the route Trump supporters took from the Ellipse to the foot of the Capitol in 2021. They marched to celebrate their blanket pardon by President Donald Trump and attempt to reclaim Jan. 6 as a date of triumph, not tragedy.

The march was the backdrop to a day marked by partisan sparring over a missing plaque and an endorsement by the White House of a torrent of conspiracy theories and lies about the attack and Trump’s pressure campaign to subvert the 2020 election.

A new White House website, with ominous black-and-white images of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and members of the Jan. 6 select committee, offered an alternate and largely false narrative of events at the Capitol that day — one that forcefully denied Trump’s role in stoking the riot and labeled those who stormed the Capitol “patriotic Americans.”

Meanwhile, Speaker Mike Johnson eschewed calls to mount a bronze marker legally mandated by Congress that would serve to honor those who protected the Capitol from the worst attack it had seen since the war of 1812.

“He’s trying to cover up for the fact that Republicans continue to disrespect those brave men and women of the Capitol Police department who defended our country on Jan. 6,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a brief interview.

Democrats held a mock hearing to mark the anniversary of the event featuring firsthand witnesses to the violence that day. Their testimony underscored the increasingly diverging narratives that continue to define the historic attack.

Outside the Capitol, the former Jan. 6 defendants rallied without support from sitting lawmakers. Their most vocal champion, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, had resigned from Congress a day earlier. She was mentioned regretfully by some members of the crowd who soured on her after she began openly feuding with Trump last year.

Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi of New York exchanged tense words with Jake Lang — who was pardoned of numerous assault charges against police on Jan. 6 — from behind a line of officers as he walked past the participants as they prepared to lay flowers on the Capitol steps.

Members of the march chanted, “Whose house? Our house!” — an echo of the rally cries from five years earlier. Mikki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt — the woman who was shot and killed by a Capitol Police officer outside the House chamber — described Jan. 6 as the day Congress “let the American people down.”

Inside the Capitol, the missing plaque became a stand-in for the swirling controversy about how the infamous day will be remembered.

Johnson said in a Monday statement that the plaque, which was authorized by a law passed in March 2022, was “not implementable” and that Democratic-led proposals for it were also not an option.

That echoes arguments made by the Justice Department, which is trying to dismiss a federal lawsuit filed by two Capitol Police officers seeking to compel the plaque’s mounting.

The law authorizing the marker requires it to list the names of all law enforcement officers who participated in the defense of the Capitol. DOJ lawyers argue in court filings that the plaque that has been made does not comply with the law because it lists the departments who responded — not the individual officers. A deputy to the Architect of the Capitol said in a separate court declaration that a plaque listing the officers’ names has not been made.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) called Johnson’s claim that the plaque does not comply with the law “ridiculous, and so is he.” Many Hill Democrats have placed replicas of the plaque outside their offices as Johnson refuses to mount the genuine article.

In one effort to resolve the issue, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said Tuesday he would seek to change the law to accommodate the existing plaque, but it was not immediately clear if he would be able to garner the unanimous support necessary to quickly act.

Testifying at the Democratic shadow hearing, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger — who served as a Republican on the House’s previous Jan. 6 panel — said he was “convinced” the plaque would be put on display by next January, when the next Congress begins.

“I’ll humbly suggest maybe you can double the size of it by then,” he said.

The Democrats’ event was held in the basement after the speaker’s office declined to allow them to use a dedicated hearing room or the larger auditorium in the Capitol Visitor Center, according to a person granted anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly. Johnson’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the claim.

No sitting House Republicans attended. They spent their day across town holding a policy retreat at the Kennedy Center, where Trump addressed them and brought up the events of Jan. 6 without prompting. He complained that the media failed to report how he told people to march “peacefully and patriotically” to the Capitol that day and renewed old gripes against Pelosi, whom he blamed for rejecting National Guard troops to guard the Capitol — even though only Trump could call up the Guard.

The new White House website also accuses Pelosi and members of the Jan. 6 select committee of maneuvering to unfairly blame Trump for the riot. Not mentioned are any of the many comments critical of Trump from inside the GOP at the time nor the 10 House and seven Senate Republicans who voted against him in subsequent impeachment proceedings.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune sidestepped a question Tuesday about the website’s claim that Capitol Police helped instigate the riot. He told reporters he hadn’t seen the site and offered general praise for the force.

The history of Jan. 6 will remain a live issue on Capitol Hill for the remainder of the current Congress, with a new Republican-led panel investigating the attack and the work of the prior Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas), who serves on the new panel, attacked those on the Democratic-led Jan. 6 committee for seeking to malign Trump.

“Their Select Committee wasn’t about transparency or the truth; it was political theatre,” he said in a statement. “My colleagues and I are focused on uncovering the truth and following the facts wherever they lead.”

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Congress

House Democrats introduce alternative war powers resolution

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Half a dozen moderate House Democrats have introduced their own war powers resolution as the chamber barrels towards a floor vote later this week on a bipartisan measure to curb President Donald Trump’s use of force in Iran.

It’s a sign of how some Democrats are struggling to reconcile their opposition to the Trump administration’s military action with a desire to appear hawkish on national security — even in a largely symbolic capacity.

The new proposed resolution from the six lawmakers would call for an end to military operations in Iran within 30 days unless Congress provides authorization for use of military force or a declaration of war. In contrast, the resolution that is being forced for consideration Thursday from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) would require the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iran.

The co-sponsors of the alternative resolution are Democratic Reps. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, Greg Landsman of Ohio, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Jared Golden of Maine, alongside Reps. Jim Costa and Jimmy Panetta of California.

The Massie-Khanna resolution has little chance of becoming law, even if it makes it through the House — which is no guarantee. Still, there’s pressure on Democrats to take a unified stance in support of the bipartisan proposal and against the Trump administration’s actions, with Democratic leadership and ranking members of key committees urging a “yes” vote to rein in the president.

Asked about the new war powers resolution from members of his caucus, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries during a Tuesday news conference said he had not yet seen the legislative text.

“Our focus is on the resolution that will be on the floor this week,” the New York Democrat said.

Jeffries also said House Democrats will discuss the matter Wednesday afternoon, following an all-member House briefing scheduled for Tuesday evening with Trump administration officials on the unfolding situation in Iran.

“We’ll continue to make the strongest possible case,” Jeffries said. “There is going to be very strong Democratic support for the War Powers Resolution across the ideological spectrum.”

Bipartisan members of the Problem Solvers Caucus, of which Gottheimer is a co-chair, have discussed the matter during their own meetings in recent days. Many have shared concerns that the Massie-Khanna resolution is overly broad and would hamstring the administration regarding key national security efforts, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

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Mike Rounds seeks Pentagon briefing on Anthropic spat

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A top lawmaker on the Senate Armed Services Committee has requested a briefing from the Pentagon on its escalating feud with AI startup Anthropic, which has prompted the Trump administration to threaten to declare the company a supply chain risk.

“I’ll withhold judgment until I’ve had my briefing,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), chair of the panel’s cybersecurity subcommittee, told reporters Tuesday, in response to questions from Blue Light News about the unprecedented move.

A supply chain risk designation would result in Anthropic being blacklisted from government contracts — something typically reserved for firms with ties to U.S. foreign adversaries. The technology company is expected to challenge such a designation in court.

The Defense Department and Anthropic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Negotiations with the Pentagon over use of Anthropic’s AI systems hit a roadblock last week when the firm refused to lift restrictions on the military’s unfettered access to its technology. The startup had sought to stop its systems from being used in fully autonomous weapons systems or for domestic surveillance.

President Donald Trump, roughly one hour before the deadline to meet the Pentagon’s demands, directed all federal agencies to cease use of Anthropic’s AI and declared a six-month phase-out period in a post on Truth Social. Trump threatened “major civil and criminal consequences,” and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in an X post accused the company of endangering national security.

Last week, key defense policy lawmakers on Blue Light News urged a ceasefire as tensions between Hegseth and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei escalated. Top Senate defense appropriators Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), as well as Senate Armed Services Committee leaders Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Jack Reed (D-R.I.), sent a letter to the two men expressing “concern over the escalatory direction of negotiations between the Department of Defense and Anthropic.”

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is retiring at the end of his term in 2027, also weighed in Tuesday, telling reporters: “They’re telling Anthropic that they should compromise their code of conduct to facilitate whatever it is Hegseth or somebody wants.” He added that this will give other AI upstarts the “green light” to cast aside imposing their own codes of conduct.

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Lutnick agrees to testify in House Oversight’s Epstein probe

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Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has “proactively agreed to appear voluntarily” before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of the panel’s investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Chair James Comer announced Tuesday.

“I commend his demonstrated commitment to transparency and appreciate his willingness to engage with the Committee,” Comer, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement. “I look forward to his testimony.”

A date for Lutnick’s deposition is not yet known.

Lutnick has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s crimes, and he continues to have the White House’s support. But he has faced calls for his resignation from Democrats after the Epstein files released by the Justice Department revealed the full extent of his relationship with the disgraced financier. Lutnick had previously suggested that he cut ties prior to Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a prostitute. The Commerce secretary later conceded the two men had lunch together following those charges.

Shortly before Comer’s announcement Tuesday afternoon that Lutnick would cooperate with the panel, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) shared her intention to force a vote to subpoena Lutnick during a House Oversight hearing scheduled for Wednesday on an unrelated topic. While committee Republicans have also expressed a desire to hear from Lutnick, his agreement to testify suggests that most GOP members would prefer to avoid having to take a politically uncomfortable vote to compel testimony from a high ranking Trump administration official — plus hand Democrats victory.

On Monday, the Oversight Committee released footage of a deposition with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, where Mace accused Lutnick of operating as a “go-between between [Hillary Clinton] and Jeffrey Epstein raising money for [her].” Clinton has said her work with Lutnick was around the response to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York, in which Lutnick’s company lost many employees.

Clinton said she never recalled meeting Epstein and has not been accused of wrongdoing.

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