In the aftermath of the attackJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack, after drawing widespread condemnation from the U.S. Congress, members of his administration, and the media, 45th U.S. president Donald Trump released a video-recorded statement on January7, reportedly to stop the resignations of his staff and the threats of impeachment or removal from office. In the statement, he condemned the violence at the U.S. Capitol, saying that "a new administration will be inaugurated", which was widely seen as a concession, and his "focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power" to the Joe Biden administration. Vanity Fair reported that Trump was at least partially convinced to make the statement by U.S. senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who told Trump a sufficient number of Senate Republicans would support removing him from office unless he conceded. Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, had attempted to distance the administration from the rioters' behavior in a televised statement earlier in the day. On January 9, The New York Times reported that Trump had told White House aides he regretted committing to an orderly transition of power and would never resign from office. In a March 25 interview on Fox News, Trump defended the Capitol attackers, saying they were patriots who posed "zero threat", and he criticized law enforcement for "persecuting" the rioters.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff issued a statement on January 12 condemning the attack and reminding military personnel everywhere that incoming president Joe Biden was about to become their commander-in-chief, saying "...the rights of freedom of speech and assembly do not give anyone the right to resort to violence, sedition, and insurrection". The statement also said, "As we have done throughout our history, the U.S. military will obey lawful orders from civilian leadership, support civilian authorities to protect lives and property, ensure public safety in accordance with the law, and remain fully committed to protecting and defending the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic". U.S. senator Mitch McConnell (R–KY), then the Senate majority leader, called it a "failed insurrection", that "the mob was fed lies", and "they were provoked by the president and other powerful people". Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) since 2017, later characterized the incident as domestic terrorism. President Biden, who described the rioters as "terrorists" aimed at "overturning the will of the American people" later shared this opinion. In early 2021, the RAND Corporation released a framework to reduce the risk of extremist activity in the U.S. military.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi had the flags at the Capitol lowered to half-staff in honor of Brian Sicknick, a United States Capitol Police officer who died following the attacks. Trump initially declined to lower flags at the White House or other federal buildings under his control, before changing his mind four days later. Biden, Mike Pence, and Pelosi offered condolences to Sicknick's family; Trump did not. After Sicknick's death, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) received backlash for previous speeches that were perceived as calls for violence.
A survey by the Hobby School of Public Affairs at the University of Houston taken January 12–20 showed that nearly a third (32%) of Texas Republicans supported the attack, although overall 83% of all Texans who expressed an opinion were opposed to it. In a poll of Americans just after the attack, 79% of those surveyed said America is "falling apart". In February 2022, the Republican National Committee called the events of January 6 "legitimate political discourse".
The US art world reacted through the chronicling of the day as well as the creation of new work. Starting January 7, 2021, the Smithsonian Museum enacted its "rapid-response protocol" to gather rally signs, posters, flags, and weapons abandoned on the National Mall and began work on a digital arts exhibit. Visual artist Paul Chan created his "A drawing as a recording of an insurrection", a double-sided drawing exhibited at the Greene Naftali Gallery in New York. In December 2022, literary press Whiskey Tit released Tell Me What You See, the first fiction published about the attack. At the one-year anniversary, One Six Comics published graphic novel series 1/6 with an accompanying education and action guide by the Western States Center. The Society of Classical Poets website posted various poems about the day, including one glorifying deceased rioter Ashli Babbitt.
Trump administration
President Trump
During the riot Trump was in the West Wing of the White House at the time. A close adviser to Trump said the president was not taking many phone calls. When Trump watches television, the adviser explained, he will pause a recorded program to take a phone call, but "if it’s live TV, he watches it, and he was just watching it all unfold".
Trump, who had spent previous weeks promoting the "Save America" rally, was "initially pleased" when his supporters breached the Capitol; he refused to intercede, but also "expressed disgust on aesthetic grounds" about what he called the "low class" appearance of the supporters involved in the rioting. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) said that senior White House officials told him Trump was "delighted" to hear that rioters were entering the Capitol. Staffers reported that Trump had been "impossible to talk to throughout the day", and inability to deal with his election loss had, according to one staffer, made Trump "out of his mind". Concerned that Trump may have committed treason through his actions, White House Counsel Pat Cipollone reportedly advised administration officials to avoid contact with Trump and ignore any illegal orders that could further incite the attack to limit their prosecutorial liability under the Sedition Act of 1918.
At 2:46, as the rioting continued and after senators had been evacuated from the Senate floor, Trump phoned Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) intending to speak to Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), asking him to make more objections to the counting of the electoral votes to try to overturn the election. At 2:47, as his supporters violently clashed with police at the Capitol, Trump tweeted, "Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!". The Washington Post later reported that Trump did not want to include the words "stay peaceful".
By 3:10 p.m., the pressure was building on Trump to condemn supporters engaged in the riots; Trump's former communications director, Alyssa Farah, called upon him to "Condemn this now" and wrote, "you are the only one they will listen to". By 3:25p.m., Trump tweeted "I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Orderrespect the Law and our great men and women in Blue", but did not call upon the crowd to disperse. By 3:40 p.m., a number of congressional Republicans called upon Trump to more specifically condemn violence and to call on his supporters to end the occupation of the Capitol: House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R–CA) said that he had spoken to Trump to ask him to "calm individuals down"; Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) issued a tweet telling Trump that "it is crucial you help restore order by sending resources to assist the police and ask those doing this to stand down"; and Representative Mike Gallagher (R–WI), in a video message, told Trump to "call it off". Additionally, throughout the day, Trump's daughter Ivanka, who held the position of senior adviser, asked him more than once to stop the violence. Lindsey Graham later told The Washington Post that "it took [Trump] awhile to appreciate the gravity of the situation... [he] saw these people [the rioters] as allies in his journey and sympathetic to the idea that the election was stolen".
By 3:50 p.m., White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said that the National Guard and "other federal protective services" had been deployed. At 4:05 p.m., Pence—in contrast to Trump, who only called upon his supporters to "remain peaceful"—called for the occupation of the Capitol to end immediately. At 4:06 p.m. on national television, President-elect Biden called for President Trump to end the riot. At 4:22p.m., Trump issued a video message on social media that was later taken down by Twitter, Facebook and YouTube. In it, he praised his supporters and repeated his claims of electoral fraud, saying: "This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special. You've seen what happens. You see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home and go home in peace."
At 6:25 p.m., Trump tweeted: "These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long" and then issued a call: "Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!".
At 7:00 p.m., Rudy Giuliani placed a second call to Lee's number and left a voicemail intended for Tuberville urging him to make more objections to the electoral votes as part of a bid "to try to just slow it down". Giuliani said: "I know they're reconvening at 8 tonight, but it... the only strategy we can follow is to object to numerous states and raise issues so that we get ourselves into tomorrowideally until the end of tomorrow".
After the riot
Shortly after Congress certified Biden's victory, Trump's deputy chief of staff for communications and director of social media, Dan Scavino, issued a statement from Trump saying, "Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless, there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!".
In a video statement released on January7, Trump condemned the violence at the Capitol, saying that "a new administration will be inaugurated", which was widely seen as a concession, and that his "focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly, and seamless transition of power" to the Biden administration. Vanity Fair reported that Trump was at least partially convinced to do so by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who told Trump that a sufficient number of Senate Republicans would support removing him from office unless he conceded. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany had attempted to distance the administration from the rioters' behavior in a televised statement earlier in the day. On January 9, The New York Times reported that Trump had told White House aides that he regretted committing to an orderly transition of power and would never resign from office.
Trump's acknowledgment of his electoral defeat was met with opposition and hesitation from some of his supporters. Pro-Trump and far-right political commentators Nick Fuentes and Cassandra Fairbanks said Trump had "throw[n] his supporters under the bus" while QAnon conspiracy theorists performed a numerological reading of the time stamps in Trump's video statement and deemed there was a secret encoded message; Politico highlighted previously pro-Trump users of the far-right social network Parler calling Trump a "dildo".
Axios reported that Trump spoke with Kevin McCarthy on January11, telling McCarthy "Antifa people" had stormed the Capitol; McCarthy told him "it's MAGA. I know. I was there." Trump also complained to McCarthy about election fraud, causing McCarthy to reply "[t]he election is over".