Fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack brings fresh division to the US Capitol

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five years ago outside the White House, outgoing President Donald Trump told a crowd of supporters to head to the Capitol — “and I'll be there with you” — in protest as Congress was affirming the 2020 election victory for Democrat Joe Biden.

A short time later, the world watched as the seat of U.S. power descended into chaos, and democracy hung in the balance.

On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, there is no official event to memorialize what happened that day, when the mob made its way down Pennsylvania Avenue, battled police at the Capitol barricades and stormed inside, as lawmakers fled. The political parties refuse to agree on a shared history of the events, which were broadcast around the globe. And the official plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol has never been hung.

Instead, the day displayed the divisions that still define Washington, and the country, and the White House itself issued a glossy new report with its own revised history of what happened.

Trump, during a lengthy morning speech to House Republicans away from the Capitol at the rebranded Kennedy Center now carrying his own name, shifted blame for Jan. 6 onto the rioters themselves.

The president said he had intended only for his supporters to go “peacefully and patriotically” to confront Congress as it certified Biden's win. He blamed the media for focusing on other parts of his speech that day.

At the same time, Democrats held their own morning meeting at the Capitol, reconvening members of the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack for a panel discussion. Recalling the history of the day is important, they said, in order to prevent what Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., warned was the GOP's “Orwellian project of forgetting.”

And the former leader of the militant Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, summoned people for a midday march retracing the rioters' steps from the White House to the Capitol, this time to honor Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt and those who died in the Jan. 6 siege and its aftermath. More than 100 people gathered, including Babbitt's mother.

Tarrio and others are putting pressure on the Trump administration to punish officials who investigated and prosecuted the Jan. 6 rioters. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for orchestrating the Jan. 6 attack, and he is among more than 1,500 defendants who saw their charges dropped when Trump issued a sweeping pardon on his return to the White House last year.

“They should be fired and prosecuted,” Tarrio told the crowd before they arrived at the Capitol, confronted along the way by counter-protesters, and sang the National Anthem.

The White House, in its new report, highlighted the work the president has already done to free those charged and turned the blame on Democrats for certifying Biden’s election victory.

This milestone anniversary carried echoes of the deep differences that erupted that day.

But it unfolds while attention is focused elsewhere, particularly after the U.S. military's stunning capture of Venezuela's president, Nicolás Maduro, and Trump's plans to take over the country and prop up its vast oil industry, a striking new era of American expansionism.

“These people in the administration, they want to lecture the world about democracy when they're undermining the rule of law at home, as we all will be powerfully reminded,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said on the eve of the anniversary.

Jeffries and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer held a candlelight vigil outside the Capitol with lawmakers and family members of police officers to mark the anniversary.

Few Republicans joined in the day’s remembrances, and the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana, responding to requests for comment about the delay in hanging the plaque honoring the police at the Capitol, as required by law, said in a statement on the eve of the anniversary that the statute “is not implementable," and proposed alternatives “also do not comply with the statute.”

At the morning hearing at the Capitol, lawmakers heard from a range of witnesses and others — including former U.S. Capitol Police officer Winston Pingeon, who said as a kid he always dreamed of being a cop. But on that day, he thought he was going to die in the mayhem on the steps of the Capitol.

"I implore America to not forget what happened," he said, urging the country to find common ground. “I believe the vast majority of Americans have so much more in common than what separates us.”

Also testifying was Pamela Hemphill, a rioter who refused Trump’s pardon, blamed the president for the violence and silenced the room as she apologized to the officer sitting alongside her at the witness table, stifling tears.

“I can’t allow them not be recognized, to be lied about,” Hemphill said about the police who she said also saved her life as she fell and was trampled on by the mob. “Until I can see that plaque get up there, I'm not done.”

Among those testifying was former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who was one of two Republicans on the panel that investigated Trump's efforts to overturn Biden's win. The other, Liz Cheney, who lost her own reelection bid to a Trump-backed challenger, did not appear. Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi urged the country to turn away from persistent lies and violence that she said sends the wrong message about democracy.

Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, who has been tapped by Johnson to lead a new committee to probe other theories about what happened on Jan. 6, rejected Tuesday's session as a “partisan exercise” designed to hurt Trump and his allies.

Many Republicans reject the narrative that Trump sparked the Jan. 6 attack, and Johnson, before he became the House speaker, had led challenges to the 2020 election. He was among some 130 GOP lawmakers voting that day to reject the presidential results from some states.

Instead, they have focused on security lapses at the Capitol — from the time it took for the National Guard to arrive on the scene to the failure of the police canine units to discover the pipe bombs found that day outside Republican and Democratic party headquarters. The FBI arrested a Virginia man suspected of placing the pipe bombs, and he told investigators last month he believed someone needed to speak up for those who believed the 2020 election was stolen, authorities say.

“The Capitol Complex is no more secure today than it was on January 6,” Loudermilk said in a social media post. “My Select Subcommittee remains committed to transparency and accountability and ensuring the security failures that occurred on January 6 and the partisan investigation that followed never happens again.”

In the Senate, one Republican Sen. Thom Tillis displayed a replica plaque behind him and said he would try later this week to push a vote ensuring it complies with the law so it can be displayed as intended. Another Republican, Sen. Tommy Tuberville, objected to a separate resolution condemning the Capitol attack.

At least five people died in the Capitol siege and its aftermath, including Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police while trying to climb through the window of a door near the House chamber, and Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick died later after battling the mob. Several law enforcement personnel died later, some by suicide.

The Justice Department indicted Trump on four counts in a conspiracy to defraud voters with his claims of a rigged election in the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack.

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers last month that the riot at the Capitol “does not happen” without Trump. He ended up abandoning the case once Trump was reelected president, adhering to department guidelines against prosecuting a sitting president.

Trump, who never made it to the Capitol that day as he hunkered down at the White House, was impeached by the House on the sole charge of having incited the insurrection. The Senate acquitted him after top GOP senators said they believed the matter was best left to the courts.

Ahead of the 2024 election, the Supreme Court ruled ex-presidents have broad immunity from prosecution.

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Associated Press writers Will Weissert, Joey Cappelletti and Gary Fields contributed to this report.

As House Democrats convene for an unofficial hearing on the 5th anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by supporters of President Donald Trump, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., left, and Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Ga., watch a video showing the storming of Capitol and the violent attack on Capitol Police officers, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the former chairman of the January 6th Select Committee, and other House Democrats hold an unofficial hearing on the 5th anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by supporters of President Donald Trump who stormed into the U.S. Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Biden's election victory, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

From left, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., watch a video showing the storming of Capitol and the violent attack on Capitol Police officers as House Democrats hold an unofficial hearing on the 5th anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by supporters of President Donald Trump, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

FILE - Rioters loyal to President Donald Trump rally at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — In rain, snow and bitter cold, a steady drumbeat of small protests have been held in recent months on the Ohio State University main campus with a single goal in mind: removing billionaire retail mogul Les Wexner's name from buildings where it's emblazoned.

At issue — for union nurses at OSU's Wexner Medical Center, for former athletes at the Les Wexner Football Complex, and for some student leaders who may walk past the Wexner Center for the Arts near the campus oval — is Wexner's well-documented association with the late sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein.

Similar cries are arising over a Wexner-named building at Harvard University and others around the country whose names appeared in the Epstein files, including Steve Tisch, Casey Wasserman, Glenn Dubin and Howard Lutnick.

It's all part of the backlash across higher education against figures with ties to Epstein, who cultivated an extensive network including powerful people in the arts, business and academia. Scrutiny has landed on university donors as well as several academics whose emails with Epstein surfaced in the latest files, including some who have resigned.

Wexner hasn't been charged with any crime in connection with Epstein, the one-time financial adviser by whom he says he was “duped.”

But a group of former Ohio State athletes who survived a sweeping sexual abuse scandal at the school argues that the retired L Brands founder 's generosity to his alma mater is now tainted by the knowledge that Epstein was entangled in many of his family's spending decisions, including around the football complex's naming.

“Ohio State University cannot credibly separate itself from these facts, nor can it justify continuing to honor Les Wexner with an athletic facility,” their naming removal request read. It went on, “To do so is to ignore the voices of survivors, former athletes, and the broader community who expect accountability, transparency, and moral leadership.”

At Harvard, a group of students and faculty at the prestigious Kennedy School has targeted the Leslie H. Wexner Building and the Wexner-Sunshine Lobby. The renaming request submitted in March cites Wexner’s “strong ties to Epstein” and argues Epstein profited off Wexner, “which enabled Epstein to use his wealth and power to traffic and abuse children and women.”

Some Harvard students and alumni also want the Farkas name removed from Farkas Hall, which hosts the Hasty Pudding Theatricals Man and Woman of the Year. The building was renamed in 2011 following a significant donation from Andrew Farkas, graduate chairman of the Hasty Pudding Institute, in honor of his father.

Farkas had a longtime personal and business relationship with Epstein, including co-owning a marina with him in the Caribbean. He also repeatedly asked Epstein to donate to Hasty Pudding. Between roughly 2013 and 2019, Epstein regularly donating $50,000 annually to secure top-tier donor status, for a total of more than $300,000.

“As I’ve said repeatedly, I deeply regret ever having met this individual, but at no time have I conducted myself inappropriately,” Farkas said in a statement.

Pushback against buildings named for Epstein associates and others named in the Epstein files is growing on some U.S. campuses.

Just last weekend, the student body at Haverford College in Pennsylvania voted to urge President Wendy Raymond to forge ahead with the renaming process for the Allison & Howard Lutnick Library. The building is named for the U.S. commerce secretary who has faced resignation calls over his relationship with Epstein.

Raymond had said in a February open letter that she wasn't ready to do that. In a statement to The Associated Press following Sunday’s vote, Raymond said she respected the process and would respond to the resolution within the customary 30-day period.

At Ohio State, pleas against the Wexner name are making their way through a five-step review procedure, most of which takes place outside public view and with no set timeline. The university's new president, Ravi Bellamkonda said, “I think the process is thorough, fair, and open, and I will promise you that we will give each request a full consideration.”

A spokesman for Harvard confirmed the school has received the Wexner-related name removal request but would not comment further. It would be the university's second name change, after the John Winthrop House, which bore the name of a Harvard professor and a like-named ancestor, was changed to Winthrop House in July over their connections to slavery.

Tufts University, home to the Tisch Library and the Steve Tisch Sports and Fitness Center, said it continues to look at the matter. The library has moved to clarify that it was not named for Steve, but, in 1992, for his father Preston Tisch, an honored alum. The sports center removed a set of Steve Tisch's handprints during spring break. The university said that was part of a planned renovation.

UCLA's Wasserman Football Center and Stony Brook University's Dubin Family Athletic Performance Center also are named for individuals who appear in the files.

The current clamor bears some resemblance to the controversy that surrounded the wealthy Sackler family's culpability in the deadly opioid crisis, because in both cases the institutions involved had received vast sums from the family.

Some major institutions — including museums in New York and Paris, Tufts and the University of Oxford in England — did remove the Sackler name, but Harvard chose not to. In a 15-page report explaining its 2024 decision, the university said the legacy of Arthur M. Sackler, whose company Purdue Pharma made the potent opioid OxyContin, was “complex, ambiguous and debatable.”

The Epstein-tainted names are on campus buildings also are typically generous donors, as well as alumni.

Wexner, his wife Abigail and their charities have given Ohio State well over $200 million over the years, for example. That included $100 million to benefit the Wexner Medical Center; at least $15 million for the Wexner Center, a contemporary art museum named for Wexner's father, Harry; and $5 million split with an Epstein-run foundation toward construction of the football complex. The Wexners have given another $42 million to the Harvard Kennedy School.

Anne Bergeron, a museum consultant and author who specializes in the ethics of building naming rights in the cultural sector, said universities are serious about their gift acceptance standards while also recognizing that the conduct of individual donors may be judged differently over time.

“It’s no surprise that a lot of these situations arise within the university sphere, because with students — especially the younger generation — there is virtually no tolerance for being associated with anyone who doesn’t represent the best of humanity,” she said

She called this “a moment of reckoning” for universities and said they have to guard against the appearance of a quid pro quo in their building namings.

Michael Oser, a Columbus-area resident, articulated the frustration of some defenders of retaining the Wexner name in a recent letter-to-the-editor of The Columbus Dispatch.

“OSU took the money. Built the buildings. Cut the ribbons. Smiled for the photos There were no formal ‘morality clauses’ attached back then, just gratitude and applause,” he wrote. “Now, years later, some want to play moral referee while the university keeps the cash and the concrete. That’s not accountability. That’s convenience.”

Lauren Barnes, a student in the Kennedy School's master's program leading the effort to remove Wexner's name, said she struggles most days as a survivor of sexual abuse and the mother of a 14-year-old to walk into a building with a name linked to Epstein.

“Thinking about all the children in this world that deserve safety and also all the survivors on campus that have to walk under the Wexner name, I know what that’s like to have my heart race and my hands get sweaty,” she said. “I hate that anyone else has to have that feeling walking under that name and just dealing with it kind of everywhere on campus.”

One protester at Ohio State, Audrey Brill, told a local ABC affiliate that it now “feels gross” thinking of women delivering babies at OSU's Wexner Medical Center “given everything that we’re learning about where this money went” — and she feels removing Wexner's name could help.

Some protesters also want the name of Dr. Mark Landon, a prominent Ohio State gynecologist who received five-figure quarterly payments from Epstein between 2001 and 2005, removed from a visitor’s lounge in the hospital’s new $2 billion, 26-story tower. Landon have said the money was for biotech investment consulting for Wexner, not health care for Epstein or any of his victims.

This story corrects headlines, summary and story to replace “Epstein associates” with individuals “whose names appeared in the Epstein files.”

Casey contributed from Boston.

A sign is displayed on Farkas Hall, which was endowed by Harvard University alum Andrew Farkas, Friday, Jan. 31, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

A sign is seen outside of the Les Wexner Football Complex at the Wood Hayes Athletic Center, Monday, March 30, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is seen Monday, March 30, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)

Lauren Barnes, a student in the Kennedy School's master's program, stands in front of the Leslie H. Wexner Building at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photos/Michael Casey)

The Les Wexner Football Complex at the Wood Hayes Athletic Center is seen Monday, March 30, 2026, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/Patrick Aftoora-Orsagos)