Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, held the Senate floor alongside 17 of his Democratic Senate colleagues on the five-year anniversary of the January 6 Capitol insurrection, honoring the more than 100 law enforcement officers who were injured while bravely defending the Capitol, including those who later lost their lives.

Five years after violent rioters, waving Confederate flags and symbols of white supremacy, stormed the Capitol in an effort to block the certification of the 2020 presidential election, Padilla slammed President Trump for inciting the attack by repeatedly lying about the election’s outcome. Padilla and his Democratic Senate colleagues set the record straight on one of the darkest days in American history, warning against the Trump Administration’s continuing attacks on free and fair elections less than a year out from the 2026 midterm elections.

As President Trump today falsely blamed heroic U.S. Capitol Police officers for “deliberately escalating” the insurrection, Padilla also pushed for unanimous passage of a bipartisan resolution to observe the fifth anniversary of the attack and recognize the essential, lifesaving work of United States Capitol personnel, including the Capitol Police. However, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) objected to the resolution, blocking the Senate from honoring Capitol Police officers and reaffirming its commitment to defending democracy and the Constitution.  

In his remarks on the Senate floor, Padilla recalled his experience in the lead up to the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, serving as California’s Secretary of State and keeping the state’s elections safe and secure. He emphasized that despite Trump’s baseless misinformation, California’s elections ran smoothly with historic voter turnout. Padilla blasted Trump for refusing to concede the election, filing and losing more than 60 frivolous lawsuits that challenged the results, and spreading the “Big Lie” that fueled the January 6 insurrection and threatened the lives of members of Congress and his own Vice President.

Since Trump returned to office, he has repeatedly attacked the right to vote and continued spreading lies about both the 2020 election and the January 6 insurrection. In one of his first acts in his second term, Trump issued a blanket pardon of more than 1,500 defendants charged with attacking Capitol, including more than 1,200 who were convicted.

These rioters caused nearly $3 million in damages to the Capitol, yet now seek millions of dollars in payouts of taxpayer money from the federal government because they were prosecuted for their crimes. Padilla highlighted a pair of bills he introduced today alongside Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to prevent January 6 rioters from receiving refunds or cash rewards from the federal government that they are aggressively seeking from Trump’s Department of Justice.

Five years after January 6, President Trump has already issued an illegal anti-voter executive order to threaten to seize authority over state election administration, much of which has been blocked by federal courts. Padilla sounded the alarm on the Trump Administration’s efforts to pressure states to enact partisan mid-decade redistricting, threats to declare a fake “national emergency” to unlawfully influence state elections, and stacking of senior federal government offices with prominent election deniers. He underscored that he will continue to press the Office of Special Counsel to investigate the Oval Office and Department of Justice’s many brazen Hatch Act violations through their political pressure campaigns to compel states to implement partisan gerrymanders.

Key Excerpts:

• The lies continue, the conspiracy theories continue, and the truth must be told. We will not let history be rewritten.

• The truth is that five years ago today, insurrectionists stormed the Capitol in an unprecedented attempt to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. The truth is police were beaten, as a violent crowd surged forward. The truth is there were members of Congress literally running for their lives, rushed out of this very chamber and told to hide and barricade themselves. It was an attack instigated and fueled by lies, a coordinated campaign by President Trump to overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.

• Online and across the country, President Trump’s Big Lie caught fire, and clearly, it’s still burning. Sadly, many Republicans participated in fanning the flames, spreading false claims of voter fraud for political gain. Others have stood by silently as President Trump radicalized his supporters with these lies. They chose loyalty to Trump over the truth, and our nation paid the price.

• The deadly January 6th attack will forever remain an ugly stain on American history. And yes, thanks to the bravery of U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement officers who risked their lives — including five officers who tragically lost their lives — the assault on our democracy failed. But still, Speaker Johnson refuses to install a plaque required by law, honoring the police officers who defended the Capitol that day.

• This is about more than just payouts and pardons. Trump doesn’t believe he’s done anything wrong. The President continues to work to undermine the midterm elections in a desperate attempt to hold onto power. Five years after January 6th, Trump continues to double down on the Big Lie conspiracy.

• I refuse to stay silent while Trump tries to rig the next election and continue to lie about the last elections. We will fight for the future of our free and fair elections in this country.

• We must defend bipartisan state election administration in this country and take to the floor to warn Americans about the Trump Administration’s efforts to rig election rules ahead of this year’s midterm elections. American democracy was here long before Trump came into power, and it’ll be here long after he’s gone. Because we’ll continue to fight every anti-voter, undemocratic action this White House rolls out.

Video of Senator Padilla’s floor speech can be watched here and downloaded here. His remarks pushing for the passage of his bipartisan resolution observing the five-year anniversary of the January 6 insurrection can be viewed here.

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