WASHINGTON – No matter which path President-elect Donald Trump takes to the Capitol rotunda before taking the oath of office on Monday, he is guaranteed to pass through sites of chaos, violence and destruction caused by his supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6 of 2021.
If Trump crossed the Senate carriage entrance, as he did on the way to the inauguration stage when he was first sworn in eight years ago, he would have two paths to choose from. The first left, up the stairs to the Senate chamber, would follow the path where a mob chased a Capitol Police officer onto the Senate floor on January 6.
If he stayed level and took the second left, he would pass the first breakpoint, where windows were broken, alarms were blaring, and hundreds of rioters stormed the building. Later, it was there that many rioters scuffled with police who were trying to force the crowd out.
Another possible entry point, the one President Joe Biden took four years ago before his inauguration, would take Trump through the circular doors on the east side of the Capitol, the scene of forceful entrances and violent confrontations, and the site where some of the swearing-in ceremonies were held. Members of the Keepers militia convicted of seditious conspiracy stormed the building.
If Trump were to enter from the House side of the Capitol, he would cross the path of Jeffrey Smith, a DC Metropolitan Police officer who was repeatedly assaulted, including when he was hit in the head with a flying metal object on the West Front. of the United States Capitol, and then committed suicide. (Smith was found to have died in the line of duty after a medical board determined that the injury he suffered on January 6 was “the sole and direct cause of his death.”)
If Trump were to enter through the north doors on the Senate side, he would pass the site of a major confrontation, where police and rioters fought with chemical agents.
And if you entered through the south doors on the House side, you would enter through the exit where first responders took Ashli Babbitt as they tried to save the life of the Trump supporter, a mob participant who was shot when she tried to jump through. a window into the lobby of the speaker of the House of Representatives.
Trump was originally supposed to speak from the inauguration platform, a massive scaffolding that workers spend months building on the west front of the Capitol. That was the scene of some of the most brutal acts of violence on January 6, 2021.
To reach the area, the usual site of presidential inaugurations before it was moved indoors due to winter weather, Trump would have exited through the lower doors of the west terrace, where officials spent hours in a battle with a mob , and where a Trump supporter named Rosanne Boyland before she died. That is the main entry point to the inauguration platform; the place where all the dignitaries enter; the place a federal judge dubbed “Lady Gaga’s entrance” because of her performance at Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Now, with low temperatures forcing a change of plans, Trump will take the oath of office for his second term in the Capitol rotunda itself, under the dome where the most attacks occurred and where men in gas masks used poles with American flags as weapons against police .
The scenes of violence from four years ago are inescapably intertwined with where Trump will formally resume office, although the president-elect has sought to downplay the brutality and anticipated pardons for many of those involved.
“It was broadcast on the national news in front of everyone, and there were people like me who came forward, who told our stories, mine was well documented with video and audio, and people didn’t care,” the former police officer said. DC Metropolitan. Department officer Michael Fanone. “It didn’t resonate.”
Fanone doesn’t plan to watch the opening festivities on Monday, preferring instead to focus on his beloved Baltimore Ravens’ playoff game over the weekend before pulling the plug on Jan. 20. But I had some business to attend to the week before: driving. On Friday, he arrived in Washington to appear for the sixth time at a sentencing hearing for a participant in the Jan. 6 riot, imploring the judge to punish another of his attackers.
As Fanone spoke to NBC News outside the courthouse, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan walked by with two bodyguards, one on each side, a persistent reminder of the security threats faced by people involved in the investigation, prosecution or prosecution. hearing cases related to the Capitol riots. Before it was dismissed following Trump’s election in 2024, Chutkan was due to hear the federal case against the former president on charges of election interference.
Chutkan, like Fanone’s mother, was “hit” last year when someone called with a false report to provoke a police response at their homes.
“It’s a shame that it came to that,” said Fanone, who voted for Trump in 2016. “But I guess the positive side is that she is in a position to be provided security. I’m not. Many Americans are not.”
To reach the site where presidential oaths and inaugural addresses are traditionally held when cold weather doesn’t force them indoors, incoming presidents walk over the spot in the lower west tunnel where members of a pro-Trump mob They snatched Fanone from the police line. and attacked him. Nearby gold double doors mark the spot where officers were attacked with implements including fire extinguishers, baseball bats, hockey sticks, pepper and bear spray, and flag poles. An explosive device even exploded inside the tunnel.
Anyone can watch some of the worst moments unfold on footage from Fanone’s body camera, which, unlike Fanone’s radio and police badge, was not torn off during the riot.
This time, outdoor preparations for the inauguration were halted and signs were already beginning to be taken down Friday afternoon, while inside the Capitol Rotunda, workers began executing the backup plan for an swearing-in at the interior.
There are no official permanent markers of the Capitol riot. The windows were repaired. The walls were repainted. The Capitol doors, including those in the lower west tunnel, received some security upgrades.
Congress passed a law that included a provision for a plaque honoring the officers who responded to the attack, but the deadline for its installation has long passed without action. House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters before the inauguration that that was not on his mind.
“You know, I haven’t even looked at that. I need to check it,” Johnson said.
But there are other marks and memories of the day, for those who want to see them.
