Three years on, Capitol riot continues to fuel U.S. political turmoil

* More than 1,200 individuals have been charged with federal crimes over the riot, with over 700 having pleaded guilty, making it one of the biggest criminal investigations in American history.

* Three years on, the events of Jan. 6, 2021 are still a major point of contention between Democrats and Republicans, at a time of bitter partisan rivalry in Washington.

* The riot, with divided views among voters, would be a factor in the upcoming presidential elections, according to observers.

Supporters of Donald Trump gather near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

by Xiong Maoling, Sun Ding, Matthew Rusling

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- As the United States marks the three-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, in which an angry mob stormed the U.S. Capitol building, questions linger about how it happened, who is responsible, and how it would continue to shape U.S. politics.

With the upcoming presidential election, the Capitol riot continues to fuel U.S. political turmoil amid an intensifying division between Democrats and Republicans, and could bring more chaos and turbulence.

STAIN ON AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

After the 2020 U.S. presidential election, then-President Donald Trump, a Republican, refused to concede to his Democratic opponent Joe Biden and repeatedly claimed that there was widespread election fraud. On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands of Trump supporters violently broke into the Capitol building, and interrupted the certifying process of the 2020 presidential election, prompting hundreds of lawmakers to evacuate in panic.

"I think all of us, myself included, had images of a mass-shooting event," said Democratic Senator Peter Welch, former House representative who posted video updates on X, formerly twitter, as the chaos unfolded. "It was terrifying in the moment."

More than 1,200 individuals have been charged with federal crimes over the riot, with over 700 having pleaded guilty, making it one of the biggest criminal investigations in American history.

Trump was also charged with obstructing an official proceeding and three other counts stemming from his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.

The deadly attack, which killed five people and injured hundreds of police officers, is a "landmark stain" on American democracy, according to a CNN report published in June 2021.

"American democracy had near-death experience," and the country's air of invulnerability was shattered in the Capitol riot, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation News reported in January 2022.

Over half of Americans, or 55 percent of respondents, noted the Capitol riot was an "attack on democracy that should never be forgotten," according to a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll released this week.

This photo taken on July 21, 2022 shows a public hearing held by the U.S. House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Al Drago/Pool via Xinhua)

GROWING PARTISAN DIVIDE

Three years on, the events of Jan. 6, 2021 are still a major point of contention between Democrats and Republicans, at a time of bitter partisan rivalry in Washington.

Democrats refer to the events as a serious attack on U.S. Democracy. They maintain that then-outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump's supporters -- at the behest of Trump himself -- engaged in an "insurrection" in a bid to disrupt the election process.

Republicans, meanwhile, contend that Jan. 6 was simply a protest that got out of hand, and Trump has been accusing Democrats of conducting a "witch hunt" against him.

Majorities of Democrats and independents believe the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was an attack on democracy, while more than 7 in 10 Republicans say that too much is being made of the attack and that it is "time to move on," according to the Washington Post-University of Maryland poll.

Corey Greenburg, 52, an office worker in Washington, D.C., called the events of Jan. 6 an "outrage" and "insurgency," telling Xinhua that it threatened democracy.

Shauna Eland, 71, a retiree in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, told Xinhua that the events were merely a protest.

The Jan. 6 riot "created new dividing lines within the U.S. political class," Clay Ramsay, a researcher at the Center for International and Security Studies at the University of Maryland, told Xinhua, adding that it's "a major test of the American system."

Security staff in the U.S. Capitol building reacting to the chaotic situation in a video feed from NBC news is displayed on a screen in Arlington, Virginia, the United States, on Jan. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

MORE CHAOS

The political fallout continues even three years later. Some U.S. states have pressed to keep Trump off the ballot in 2024, citing a constitutional provision that disallows anyone who had attempted to overthrow the government from holding office.

Colorado Supreme Court's ruling two weeks ago marked the first time a U.S. state court has agreed that Trump should be disqualified from the 2024 presidential election, citing the rarely used insurrection clause.

Trump on Wednesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the ruling, and the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider it, setting up a historic case ahead of the presidential election.

The riot, with divided views among voters, would be a factor in the upcoming presidential elections, according to observers.

The Jan. 6 events "will inevitably play a role this year" in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential elections, Christopher Galdieri, a political science professor at Saint Anselm College, told Xinhua.

If, as seems likely, Trump is the Republican nominee, Republican officials will have a powerful incentive to downplay Jan. 6 and embrace Trump, Galdieri said.

Noting that this was a winning issue for Democrats in 2022 in many swing states, Galdieri also expects it will be "a central part" of the Biden campaign's case against Trump.

Greg Cusack, a former member of the Iowa House of Representatives, told Xinhua that the Capitol riot will continue to fuel U.S. political turmoil three years later, and he is concerned about more violence in this country.

"It has already begun," Cusack said, noting that some statehouses were falsely alerted to bomb or other threats last week.

(Video reporters: Xiong Maoling, Sun Ding, Matthew Rusling, Hu Yousong; video editors: Hong Ling, Li Qin, Wu You, Liu Ruoshi)