Washington President-elect Donald Trump will undoubtedly pass areas of mayhem, bloodshed, and devastation caused by supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021, regardless of the route he takes to the Capitol rotunda before taking the oath on Monday.
Trump would have two options if he enters the Senate carriage, as he did on his way to the inaugural stage eight years ago when he took his first oath of office. The path where a mob chased a Capitol Police officer toward the Senate floor on January 6 would be followed by the first left, which would ascend the steps toward the Senate chamber.
He would stay on the same level and take the second left, passing the first breach point, when hundreds of rioters poured into the building, the windows were damaged, and the alarms were going off. Many rioters then fought with police there as they attempted to drive the crowd outside.
Trump could also enter through the rotunda doors on the east side of the Capitol, which have seen violent clashes and forceful entries, as well as the location where some Oath Keepers militia members convicted of seditious conspiracy broke into the building four years prior to President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Trump would cross the path of Jeffrey Smith, a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer who was subjected to multiple assaults, including being hit in the head by a flying metal object on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, and who later committed suicide, if he were to enter through the House side of the Capitol. (After a medical board concluded that Smith’s injury on January 6 was the only direct cause of his death, it was established that he died in the line of duty.)
Trump would cross the scene of a significant altercation when police and rioters fought with chemical agents if he entered by the Senate side’s north doors.
And if he entered through the south doors on the House side, he would enter through the exit where Ashli Babbitt was taken by first responders while they attempted to save the life of the Trump supporter who was shot when she attempted to enter the House Speaker’s Lobby through a window.
Initially, Trump was scheduled to address the crowd from the inauguration platform, which is a huge scaffolding that is built on the Capitol’s west front and takes months to construct. On January 6, 2021, some of the most heinous acts of brutality took place there.
Trump would have entered through the lower west terrace doors, where police battled a mob for hours and where a Trump supporter named Rosanne Boyland was before she passed away, to reach the area, which is typically the location of presidential inaugurations before this one was moved indoors due to winter weather. Because of her performance at Joe Biden’s inaugural, one federal court called that the entranceway for Lady Gaga. It is also the main entrance to the inauguration platform, where all the dignitaries enter.
Trump will now be inaugurated in for his second term in the Capitol rotunda itself, beneath the dome where further assaults occurred and where individuals wearing gas masks brandished poles displaying American flags as weapons against police, after plans were forced to change due to the cold.
Even though the president-elect has attempted to minimize the violence and hinted at the upcoming pardons for many of the participants, the site of the bloodshed four years ago is inextricably linked to the location where Trump will formally resume office.
Former D.C. Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone stated, “It was broadcast on national news in front of everyone, and people like myself stepped up and told our stories, mine being well-documented with video and audio, and people didn’t care.” It didn’t strike a chord.
Fanone would rather focus on his favorite Baltimore Ravens playoff game over the weekend before tuning out on January 20th, so he does not intend to watch the inauguration celebrations on Monday. However, the week before, he had to drive into Washington to attend a sentencing hearing for a Jan. 6 riot participant for the sixth time, pleading with the judge to punish another of his attackers.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan passed close by with two bodyguards, one on each side, as Fanone spoke to NBC News outside the courthouse. This served as a constant reminder of the security risks faced by those who are investigating, prosecuting, or hearing matters pertaining to the Capitol riot. Chutkan was scheduled to hear the federal case against the former president on grounds of election interference before it was dismissed after Trump’s election in 2024.
Similar to Fanone’s mother, Chutkan was swatted last year when someone made a bogus report to call the police and have them come to their homes.
“It’s unfortunate that’s what it’s come to,” Fanone, a 2016 Trump supporter, said. However, I suppose the bright side is that she is able to receive security. I’m not. Many Americans aren’t.
Incoming presidents cross the area in the lower west tunnel where a pro-Trump mob tore Fanone away from the police line and attacked him in order to reach the location where presidential oaths and inaugural addresses are customarily held when the cold hasn’t forced them inside. Officers were attacked with fire extinguishers, baseball bats, hockey sticks, pepper and bear spray, and flagpoles near the double golden doors. Even inside the tunnel, an explosive device detonated.
Video from Fanone’s body-worn camera, which was not torn off during the riot like his police radio and badge were, allows anyone to witness some of the worst moments.
This time, workers were starting to run the backup plan for an indoor swearing-in within the Capitol rotunda, so exterior preparations for the inauguration had stopped and signage was already started to come down by Friday afternoon.
The Capitol has no formal, long-term memorials to the riot. The windows were fixed. They repainted the walls. Some security improvements were made to Capitol entrances, particularly those at the lower west tunnel.
The date for installation has long since gone without any action, despite the fact that Congress did enact a statute that included a provision for a plaque recognizing the cops who responded to the attack. Before the inauguration, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters he wasn’t thinking about it.
I haven’t even looked at that, you know. Johnson answered, “I need to check on it.”
However, for those who wish to view them, more marks and recollections of the day are still present.