[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 3 (Tuesday, January 6, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S24-S26]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Anniversary of January 6

  Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, we all know that today is the anniversary 
of what actually I consider to be one of the worst days in my 11 years 
in the U.S. Senate. I think it will probably be that through my final 
year. And I think there are going to be some speeches later on today 
that may talk on the subject.
  I came here mainly to thank the parliamentary staff, the Sergeant at 
Arms, and the Capitol Police officers who got us all into a safe 
environment within literally minutes of the Capitol being breached and 
our safety being threatened here. I am going to come back to that a 
little bit later.
  But I think it is important for anybody who speaks this afternoon to 
not just talk about the moments of January 6, but let's at least talk 
about the months leading up to January 6. Let's talk about the ``defund 
the police'' effort that was building steam for a couple of years 
before January 6, 2021. Let's talk about the images on TV when 
Kenosha--a building was burning. I think it was about August timeframe 
when the riots were happening. I think it was Kenosha. A building is 
burning, and I think it was CNN that said: Mostly peaceful protest in 
Kenosha--but there is a building burning in the background; people have 
been hospitalized, right?
  Let's talk about ActBlue, which is the Democrats' equivalent--we have 
a fundraising engine too. I am not saying they have something we don't. 
But they actually allowed Black Lives Matter, in the years leading up 
to January 6, to raise money on their website for the 13.12-mile race 
because 1-3-1-2 translates into A-C-A-B, which translates into ``all 
cops are bastards,'' a

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fundraising effort by the Democrats on the very site that my colleagues 
use to raise money. I have got no problem with that. I used the 
Republican equivalent. I am a Republican.
  But I also think it is important--everybody around here has the 
clarity of their being in the right and the other side being in the 
wrong. But if anybody thinks that January 6 was just about what 
happened on that day, then I would encourage you to do your research 
and see all of the things that we were saying about law enforcement 
long before January 6. Right?
  It is very important for us to understand: January 6 didn't happen 
because of a single event or a single set of attitudes on that day. It 
happened because of an attitude around here that law enforcement is 
bad; that they risk their life every day, but all cops are bastards, 
according to the ActBlue website which, to their credit, finally was 
taken down after I continued to make it an issue for them--long after 
January 6, by the way, only about 2 years ago. So we had been 
demonizing police officers.
  And then we lead up to January 6, and they breached this building. I 
have got to tell you, as a Member, the last Member that left this 
Senate Chamber--because I was standing right there--and so angry that I 
didn't want to leave and we left. We were spirited away, just about a 
few blocks away, and we were safe. Actually, within an hour of the 
Capitol being breached--this part of the Capitol--we were being served 
a warm meal.
  Now, let's back up, though, back to that time. I used to sit right 
there. I was sitting in that chair when I heard the doors being 
slammed. I heard--I think it was the Sergeant at Arms saying: Shut the 
door because we see shadows here. We see people running all around this 
building. We heard things breaking. We heard people knocking on the 
door.
  And then it happened. We had somebody die on the House side because 
they tried to jump through an area that was only about from me to the 
President right here, the Presiding Officer of House Members. Sadly, 
she lost her life, but she put herself in that situation, like 
everybody else that breached this building and destroyed this 
institution of democracy.
  So I am here to thank the staff. I remember the staff being so 
focused on the event that day that they made sure that those ballots 
were carried with us offsite. They were so focused on the task at hand, 
they weren't thinking about their personal safety; they were thinking 
about their role in certifying the election.
  Now, we had the Democrats saying that January 6 was a horrible day 
for democracy and that it was a true threat to democracy.
  I would submit to anyone who has paid attention to say it was a 
wonderful stress test for democracy because what happened is, 
courageous parliamentary staff, Sergeant at Arms staff, police 
officers, got us off to safety; they stabilized the security of this 
building; we came back before ever leaving this complex; and we 
certified the election. That doesn't sound like a weak institution to 
me; it sounds like an institution that withstood one of the most 
significant stress tests in the history of this country, and it 
prevailed. And the reason it prevailed is because of the staff and the 
law enforcement officers that kept every single one of us safe--not a 
scratch on any of us.
  Now, I would note that some of the first people out of this Chamber--
I won't name names--the people being escorted by police happened to be 
OK or sympathetic with the ``defund the police'' message. But they were 
the first ones, when there was a moment of crisis, to look to them to 
get them to safety.
  And we should look at every police officer and every Sergeant at 
Arms' officer and every Capitol Police officer and thank them every 
single day for their part in making sure that this democratic 
institution withstood the stress test.
  So the last thing I want to leave you with is, I think there is a lot 
of confusion about the reason why this day is dark to me. Quite 
honestly, I found, actually, inspiration in what law enforcement did 
that day. What made it a dark day for me is when we had blanket pardons 
for the people who did damage to this building.
  Now, once again, let's look on a balanced basis. There may be people 
coming to the floor today saying that these pardons were awful. Shame 
on the President for doing it.
  The fact of the matter is, the Biden administration ended up going 
overboard with prosecuting people who were dumb enough to walk into the 
building, but they weren't the leaders. And they were absolutely 
submitted to prosecutions and costs and things that they probably 
shouldn't have. They should have probably gotten a fine, and most 
likely they never would have done it again.
  But the President, on the advice of somebody in the White House--and 
I hope I find out the name of that person--also pardoned criminals who 
injured police officers, who destroyed this building.
  Is there anybody listening to me today--all 30 of them that are 
listening--is there anybody here, if you had that happen to your office 
or your business, would you think, Well, they were just a little 
hotheaded, let them go and not prosecute them or would you hold them 
accountable for destroying the citadel of democracy?

  So I believe that there were many people that should have been 
pardoned. The people who just came in; they didn't understand what was 
happening. The people that led the vanguard, the people that were 
waving through, the people that burned the buildings, the people that 
injured a police officer, leading to the death of an officer, should go 
to prison for as long as the law allows. And yet they got loose, 
including the QAnon Shaman.
  Now, people from my side of the aisle said: What a terrible thing we 
are doing to these people, imprisoning them. Do you all know this guy--
I forget his name, but we all know the dude with the horns and no 
shirt. Do you know--everybody is talking about these horrible 
conditions that these people were in when they were in jail or prison. 
This man got transferred from a DC prison to another prison because the 
prison he was originally incarcerated in did not satisfy his organic 
diet. I am not kidding you.
  So I think a lot of people are overblowing, as we oftentimes do here. 
We have some Democrats today say it was all about January 6. It was 
about the complacency and the onslaught against law enforcement for 
years before January 6. That, I give to my Democratic colleagues.
  And then after January 6, I look to my Republican colleagues and say: 
Don't take the bait. People that harm police officers and destroy 
Federal buildings should go to prison, and it is a damn shame they are 
out because nearly three dozen of them have actually been arrested for 
another crime since they were pardoned.
  And, here, we have to speak truth to power. I support President 
Trump. I campaigned for President Trump. I would support him again if 
he ran for reelection, which is not going to happen. However, we acted 
on bad advice. We let bad people go, and we sent the message that if 
you come to this Capitol and you got the right President in office, he 
is going to let you get past things that not any one of us would get 
away with if we did it in our home State.
  OK. I vented a little bit. But I want to let everybody know that 
comes to the floor: Don't come to this floor with some righteous 
indignation that you think one party or the other is responsible. We 
are both responsible. We should own it because this Capitol and this 
democracy deserves better.
  The last thing I will leave you with is, we actually passed a law 
that was to allow a plaque to be mounted thanking the law enforcement 
officers who actually helped us that day, responded to the call of 
Washington. It was a horrible scene.
  I find out and I heard from Speaker Johnson that it is 
unimplementable. And I found out the reason why this plaque cannot be 
placed on a wall anywhere is because the letter of the legislation says 
that it would list the law enforcement officers who responded that day.
  Well, this plaque that is ready to be installed actually lists every 
law enforcement agency that responded that day because there were 
hundreds, if not thousands, of people who responded to the call.

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  So later this week I am going to help the Speaker with his ability to 
implement the installation of this plaque by coming to the floor and 
seeking unanimous consent to simply say: We won't list the individuals, 
but we will list their agencies. And I look forward to the opportunity 
to do that later this week.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.