Quigley Delivers Floor Speech Urging Justice, Accountability for January 6 Insurrection and Supporting Commemoration of Police Who Defended the Capitol

Today, U.S. Representative Mike Quigley (IL-05) spoke from the floor of the House of Representatives to renounce attempts to rewrite the history of the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Quigley also reiterated his call for Speaker Johnson to approve the hanging of a plaque commemorating the police officers who protected our republic, including the U.S. Capitol Police Department and Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department. The plaque was required by law to be placed by March 15, 2023.

Quigley says, in part, “We need a clear accounting of what happened and clear accountability to ensure this never happens again. Unfortunately, under this incoming President and Congress, it appears we will get neither. President-elect Trump has said he wants to pardon the rioters. These are folks who have been convicted in a court of law. And in a dark twist on accountability, Trump and his allies are threatening retribution against the Democrats and Republicans who served on the committee that investigated January 6.”

Quigley continues, “This is a perversion of the truth and justice. For those of us who were on Capitol Hill that day - who saw the violence, smelled the pepper spray, and heard the screams - we have a opportunity to remember that day for what it was: A dark stain on our nation’s history. And we have an opportunity to commemorate those in uniform who bravely stood up to the mob of rioters."

Video of Quigley’s remarks today is available HERE.

Quigley’s remarks as prepared for delivery are below:

Last week, the House and Senate oversaw the certification of the 2024 election. It was a quick, smooth process. There were no riots, no violence. We completed the peaceful transfer of power as the founding fathers envisioned it. 

Now compare last week’s election certification with what we witnessed four years ago. Thousands attacked the Capitol. They shattered windows, smashed down doors, assaulted police officers. It was a violent mob, and people died as a result. All in an attempt to stop the certification of a legitimate election. The insurrectionists and rioters threatened Vice President Pence and referred to him as a “dead man walking,” if he didn’t illegally reject the election results.

Directly following January 6, leaders on both sides of the aisle spoke out against the anti-democratic acts of that day.

Former Speaker Kevin McCarthy said, “the violence, destruction, and chaos we saw earlier was unacceptable, undemocratic, and un-American. It was the saddest day I’ve ever had serving as a member of this institution.”

Former Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was even more clear in his condemnation and assignment of blame. He said: “there’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. It was a violent insurrection for the purpose of trying to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.”

Now, four years later, there is a concerted effort to rewrite history. Our incoming President has called January 6 a “day of love,” and others across the aisle have claimed it was a legitimate form of protest. 

Well I was there. I saw the violence with my own eyes. And the scenes we witnessed will haunt this institution forever. 

We need a clear accounting of what happened and clear accountability - to ensure this never happens again. Unfortunately, under this incoming President and Congress, it appears we will get neither. 

President-elect Trump has said he wants to pardon the rioters. These are folks who have been convicted in a court of law. And in a dark twist on accountability, Trump and his allies are threatening retribution against the Democrats and Republicans who served on the committee that investigated January 6.

“They should go to jail,” Trump said of Members of Congress sought to uncover the truth about January 6.

So let’s just recap: The people who broke into the Capitol, injured 140 officers, and threatened to kill the Vice President and other senior leaders should be pardoned. And the elected officials who performed their Constitutional duty to investigate the largest mass assaults of law enforcement and the greatest assault on our democracy should be jailed.

This is a perversion of the truth and justice. 

For those of us who were on Capitol Hill that day - who saw the violence, smelled the pepper spray, and heard the screams - we have a opportunity to remember that day for what it was: A dark stain on our nation’s history. 

And we have an opportunity to commemorate those in uniform who bravely stood up to the mob of rioters. 

But they didn’t just protect me; they protected one of our greatest American traditions: the peaceful transfer of power. 

In 2022, Congress commissioned a memorial to be installed on the front of the Capitol listing the names of those who defended the Capitol on that fateful day. Three years later it has yet to be mounted. 

I expect more from my colleagues across the aisle. Because if we can’t be honest about what happened on January 6 - and if we can’t, at minimum, come together to put up a plaque commemorating those who protected us and our institutions on January 6 - Then perhaps we should install a plaque like the one from Dante’s Inferno: 

“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”