WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Visitors to the U.S. Capitol will now have a visible marker of the on Jan. 6, 2021, and a reminder of the officers who that day.
Steps from the Capitol鈥檚 West Front and , workers quietly have installed a , three years after it was required by law to be erected. The plaque was placed on the Senate side of the hallway because that chamber voted unanimously in January to install it after House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had delayed putting it up.
鈥淥n behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021,鈥� the plaque says. 鈥淭heir heroism will never be forgotten.鈥�
The Washington Post first reported the installation of the plaque, which was witnessed by a reporter about 4 a.m. EST Saturday. It is the first official marker of the violent day in the Capitol.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., as he commemorated the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Senate floor in January and described his memories of hearing people break into the building. 鈥淲e owe them eternal gratitude, and this nation is stronger because of them,鈥� he said of the officers who were overwhelmed by thousands of President Donald Trump鈥檚 supporters and eventually pushed them out of the building.
The mob of rioters who were echoing Trump鈥檚 false claims of a stolen election after the Republican was defeated by Democrat Joe Biden. The crowd stopped the congressional certification of Biden鈥檚 victory for several hours, sent lawmakers running and vandalized the building before police regained control. More than 140 officers from the U.S. Capitol Police, the Metropolitan Police Department and other agencies were injured.
The fight to have the plaque installed came as Trump returned to office last year and the Republican Congress has remained loyal to him. Trump, who has called Jan. 6 a 鈥渄ay of love,鈥� has tried to deflect blame on Democrats and police for instigating the attack, and many Republicans in Congress have .
3 years of delays
Congress passed a law in 2022 that set out instructions for the honorific plaque listing the names of officers 鈥渨ho responded to the violence that occurred.鈥� It gave a one-year deadline for installation, but the plaque never went up.
Democrats who were angry about the missing plaque and called on the GOP leadership to erect it or explain why it was missing.
After more than a year of silence 鈥� and a who fought at the Capitol that day 鈥� Johnson’s office put out a statement on Jan. 5, the night before the fifth anniversary of the attack, that said the statute authorizing the plaque was 鈥渘ot implementable” and the proposed alternatives also 鈥渄o not comply.鈥�
Tillis went to the Senate floor later that week and passed a resolution, with no objections from any other senators, to place the plaque on the Senate side.
Officers object
One of the officers who sued, Daniel Hodges of the Metropolitan Police Department, said Saturday that the lawsuit would continue.
Hodges, who was crushed and beaten by rioters while trapped in the central west front doors steps away from where the plaque is now displayed, said the overnight installation was a 鈥渇ine stopgap鈥� but that it was not in full compliance of the law.
The original statute said that the plaque should be placed 鈥渙n鈥� the west front of the Capitol 鈥� not near it 鈥� and that the officers names should be listed on the plaque itself. The new installation has a nearby sign with a QR code that leads to a 45-page document listing the thousands of names of the officers who responded to the Capitol that day.
鈥淭he weight of a judicial ruling would help secure the memorial against future tampering,鈥� Hodges said. 鈥淥ur lawsuit persists.鈥�
Hodges and a former U.S. Capitol Police officer, Harry Dunn, said in the lawsuit that Congress was encouraging a 鈥渞ewriting of history鈥� by not following the law and installing the plaque.
鈥淚t suggests that the officers are not worthy of being recognized, because Congress refuses to recognize them,鈥� the says.
The Justice Department has sought to have . U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and others argued that Congress 鈥渁lready has publicly recognized the service of law enforcement personnel鈥� by approving the plaque and that displaying it would not alleviate the problems they claim to face from their work.
Memories of the day
More than 1,500 people were charged after the attack, among the largest federal prosecutions in the nation鈥檚 history. When Trump returned to power in January 2025, he within hours of taking office.
Hodges, Dunn and other officers who have told of their experiences that day have been repeatedly criticized and threatened by people loyal to Trump who say the officers are lying. Some officers say they are .
The lawsuit says that “both men live with psychic injuries from that day, compounded by their government鈥檚 refusal to recognize their service.”
New York Rep. Adriano Espaillat, the top Democrat on the spending committee that oversees the legislative branch, said 鈥渙ur Capitol Police deserve more鈥� and that he would continue to push Johnson on the issue.
鈥淢ake no mistake: they did this at 4AM so no one would see, no ceremony, no real recognition,鈥� Espaillat posted on X.
The top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, New York Rep. Joe Morelle, said he was pleased that the plaque was 鈥渇inally in the Capitol.”
鈥淲hether some people like it or not, the record of that day is now part of this building,” Morelle said.
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Associated Press contributor Allison Robbert contributed to this report.
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