WATCH LIVE: House Democrats hold special hearing on Jan. 6 to mark 5th anniversary

WASHINGTON (AP) — Five years ago outside the White House, outgoing President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters to head to the Capitol — “And I’ll be there with you” — to protest Congress’ confirmation of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

House Democrats and members of the Jan. 6 committee will hold a hearing at 10 a.m. EST. Watch the live stream in the video player above.

Soon, the world watched the seat of American power descend into chaos, with democracy hanging in the balance.

Read more: A plaque was made on January 6 to honor law enforcement at the Capitol. Her whereabouts are unknown

On the fifth anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, there is no official event to commemorate what happened that day, when the mob forced its way up Pennsylvania Avenue, clashed with police at Capitol barricades and stormed inside, while lawmakers fled. Political parties refuse to agree to a common history of events broadcast around the world. The official plaque honoring the police who defended the Capitol was never hung.

Instead, Trump will meet privately with House Republicans at the Kennedy Center, which the president renamed to bear his name, for a policy forum. Democrats are scheduled to hold a hearing with witnesses to the violence, then gather later on the steps of the Capitol to commemorate what happened.

Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys militant group, is organizing a midday march retracing the steps of rioters from the White House to the Capitol to honor Trump supporter Ashli ​​Babbitt and others who died in the Jan. 6 siege and its aftermath.

“I ask those who are able to attend to do so,” Tarrio said on the social media site X.

Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for orchestrating the Jan. 6 attack, and is among more than 1,500 defendants whose charges were dropped when Trump issued a sweeping pardon upon his return to the White House last year. “This will be a patriotic and peaceful march. If you have any intention of causing trouble, we ask you to stay home,” Tarrio wrote.

Echoes 5 years ago

The events of January 6 carry, at home and abroad, echoes of the split screen of five years ago, as the House and Senate met to confirm election results while supporters of the Republican president rallied.

This historic anniversary is unfolding while attention is focused elsewhere – especially after the US military’s stunning arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, and Trump’s plans to seize control of the country and prop up its massive oil industry – a stunning new era of American expansionism.

Read more: “Tough year.” How do the officers who defended the Capitol grapple with efforts to downplay the violence that occurred on January 6?

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

Democrats are reviving an old commission, and Republicans are leading a new one

Democratic leadership is holding a meeting of the now-defunct January 6 Commission to hear from police, elected officials and ordinary Americans about what they experienced that day.

Among those expected to testify is former Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who, along with former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, was on the panel that investigated Trump’s efforts to overturn Biden’s win. Cheney, who lost her re-election bid to a Trump-backed challenger, is not expected to appear.

Republican Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia, appointed by House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana to lead a new panel to investigate other theories about what happened on Jan. 6, dismissed Tuesday’s hearing as a “partisan exercise” aimed at hurting Trump and his allies.

Many Republicans reject the narrative that Trump provoked the Jan. 6 attack, and that Johnson, before becoming House speaker, led challenges to the 2020 election. He was among about 130 GOP lawmakers who voted that day to reject the presidential results in some states.

Instead, they focused instead on security lapses at the Capitol — from the time it took the National Guard to arrive at the scene to the failure of police dog units to detect the pipe bombs found that day outside Republican and Democratic party headquarters. Authorities say the FBI has arrested a Virginia man suspected of placing the pipe bombs, and he told investigators last month he believed someone should speak up on behalf of those who believe the 2020 election was stolen.

“The Capitol Complex is no safer today than it was on January 6,” Loudermilk said in a social media post. “My select subcommittee remains committed to transparency, accountability, and ensuring that the security failures that occurred on January 6 and the partisan investigation that followed do not happen again.”

Aftermath of January 6

Five people died in the Capitol siege and its aftermath, including Babbitt, who was shot and killed by police as he tried to climb through a door window near the House chamber, and Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick later died after fighting the mob. Several law enforcement officials later died, some by suicide.

The Justice Department charged Trump with four counts of conspiracy to defraud voters with his claims of election fraud in the lead-up to the January 6 attack.

Former Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers last month that the Capitol riot “doesn’t happen” without Trump. He ended up dropping the case once Trump was re-elected president, adhering to the department’s guidelines against prosecuting a sitting president.

Trump, who never arrived at the Capitol that day while holed up in the White House, was impeached by the House on charges of incitement of insurrection. The Senate acquitted him after senior GOP senators said they believed it was better to leave the matter to the courts.

Before the 2024 elections, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents enjoy broad immunity from prosecution.