Donald Trump Makes First Return To Capitol Hill, Scene Of Insurrection

Arthur Delaney, Igor Bobic

13 June 2024 at 9:55 am·3-min read

WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump made his first visit to Capitol Hill on Thursday since a rioting mob of his supporters mounted an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump, now a convicted felon, is huddling with GOP lawmakers at their campaign headquarters on both sides of the Capitol complex. His meetings mark his triumphant return to the top of the Republican Party after the violent attempt to steal the 2020 election briefly made him a pariah.

Some Republicans, namely those who previously voted to impeach Trump and remove him from office, skipped the meetings. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who denounced Trump for the riot more forcefully than any other GOP leader, intends to pay his respects.

“He’s earned the nomination,” McConnell said Wednesday, reiterating his support for Trump as the GOP presidential nominee, despite the fact that they haven’t spoken since the 2021 attack on the Capitol.

Trump’s allies described the meetings as a chance to unify and strategize on their plans to recapture the Senate and White House. Already, they are discussing a new round of tax cuts and a wave of deregulation should they succeed.

“I think we all are on the same team and we need to be united as we move into the fall,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.).

Trump is not expected to enter the Capitol proper on Thursday, but he is visiting Republican campaign headquarters adjacent to the Capitol campus. The twice-impeached former president was near the Capitol last summer when he was arraigned at a federal courthouse in downtown D.C. in his election subversion case.

Over the weekend, Trump falsely called the Jan. 6 insurrection a “setup” by police.

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate for 2024, speaks at a campaign rally on June 6 in Phoenix. Rick Scuteri via Associated Press

Democrats expressed disgust at his return to Capitol Hill.

“Today, the instigator of an insurrection is returning to the scene of the crime. January 6th was a crime against the Capitol, that saw Nazi and Confederate flags flying under the dome that Lincoln built,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement.

“It was a crime against the Constitution and its peaceful transfer of power, in a desperate attempt to cling to power,” Pelosi said.

President Joe Biden’s campaign released an ad Thursday that hits Trump for his attacks on democracy and is airing in all battleground states.

“On January 6, Donald Trump lit a fire in this country,” the narrator in the spot says. “Stoking the flames of division and hate. Now he’s pouring gasoline. ... Inciting them to try again. There is nothing more sacred than our democracy. But Donald Trump is ready to burn it all down.”

Trump still faces state and federal charges related to his effort to undo Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Among the charges, the Justice Department indicted Trump for conspiring to obstruct congressional proceedings on Jan. 6, 2021, when lawmakers were certifying the election result.

“When advisors urged the Defendant to issue a calming message aimed at the rioters,” the indictment said, “the Defendant refused, instead repeatedly remarking that the people at the Capitol were angry because the election had been stolen.”

Dozens of police were injured as Trump’s mob stormed the Capitol, and more than 1,400 people have been charged with crimes since the attack.

The former president has said he would consider pardoning the rioters. In response to Trump’s indictment, Republicans on Capitol Hill have worked overtime to delegitimize the Justice Department, falsely saying it’s been “weaponized” by Biden against his top political opponent.

This is despite several prominent Democrats, including the president’s son, being prosecuted by the Justice Department.

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