By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

Democrat lawmakers and the Trump administration have offered competing visions on the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol.

The lawmakers questioned several individuals who had connections to the events on Jan. 6.

“We gather to continue to uphold our oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, to defend against the lawlessness of that day and the lawlessness we continue to see today,” said U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss, who led the select committee that investigated the events of Jan. 6.

Winston Pingeon, a former Capitol police officer, recounted his experience on Jan. 6, 2021. He said he was beaten by individuals who attempted to breach the capitol building and criticized President Donald Trump for offering pardons to those who went to the capitol.

“Pardoning criminals who severely beat me and my fellow officers that day is completely unacceptable,” Pingeon said. “We cannot accept violent felons being pardoned and released back into our neighborhoods without consequence.”

Lawmakers and other witnesses on the panel joined Pingeon in criticizing Trump’s pardons. U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said Trump handed out pardons indiscriminately, causing danger to communities.

“Those pardons were raw spoils shared indiscriminately without regard to their actual offenses, their criminal sentences, their prior records, their contrition, their repentance, or their reform and rehabilitation,” Raskin said.

Pam Hemphill, another participant on the panel, was among the crowd storming the capitol on Jan. 6. She was offered a pardon for the crimes of which she was convicted but declined to accept the offer.

“Accepting that pardon would be lying about what happened on January the sixth,” Hemphill said. “I am guilty and I own that guilt.”

The Trump administration launched a page on Tuesday with a timeline of events on Jan. 6, 2021, and explanations for the president’s pardons. The website said many who participated in the events were “mere trespassers or peaceful protestors treated as insurrectionists by a weaponized Biden [Department of Justice.]”

The administration’s website accuses former U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi of spending more than $20 million in taxpayer funds to blame Trump for the events of Jan. 6.

“It was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters,” the administration’s website reads.

Mary McCord, a witness on the House Democrats’ panel, said misinformation about the results of the 2020 presidential election led to the violence on Jan. 6.

“We cannot afford to ignore the false narratives that this administration seeks to rely on to suppress voting rights and public protest,” McCord said. “Mis- and disinformation are the primary drivers of political violence.”