“Their service will never be forgotten,” reads a plaque honoring the thousands of law enforcement officers who defended the U.S. Capitol from attackers on Jan. 6, 2021. But some officers feel forgotten after waiting years to see the plaque installed at the U.S. Capitol.
Congress passed bipartisan legislation in 2022 calling for the architect of the Capitol to “prominently display” the plaque within one year. But House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump loyalist, delayed the installation and the plaque spent years in a utility room in the Capitol basement.
In January, the Senate passed a second bipartisan resolution demanding the plaque be installed. It finally was installed at 4 a.m. on March 23 in a nonprominent hallway that members of the public can’t access.
“This is not in a prominent location” said one Democratic House member.
The delays and location of the installation have prompted lawsuits from officers. Some officers also have complained their names have been left off a list 3,680 law enforcement personnel who helped defend the Capitol. A QR code next to the plaque accesses the list.
More than 140 officers were injured defending the Capitol as it was stormed by Trump supporters acting on his false claim that the 2020 election had been stolen from him.
Supporters of President Donald Trump are confronted by Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
One officer died the next day of a stroke caused by chemical agents. Four later took their own lives by suicide. Many survivors continue to struggle with after-effects of their physical injuries and psychological trauma, trauma that grew when Trump returned to office in 2025 and immediately granted clemency to nearly 1,600 attackers who had been convicted and jailed.
Congress’ 2022 legislation required the plaque to be installed “at a permanent location on the Western Front of the United States Capitol.” Its current location in the hallway is considered a temporary site, but some officers are skeptical it will ever be installed prominently, as mandated by law.
Two officers who sued over the delays say the current location does not comply with the 2022 law. Their lawsuit claims the delays are “part of a years-long effort to keep the plaque, and more generally, the history of January 6, 2021, literally hidden from the public.”
As BNG reported last year, Trump is busily rewriting history and using the power of the Oval Office to turn his lies into law by:
- Staffing his administration with loyalists who were required to pass a January 6 litmus test before they were hired
- Going after federal investigators and prosecutors involved in prosecuting the attackers
- Intervening in state cases, including that of Tina Peters, the Colorado county clerk who opened voting equipment to conspiracy-inclined outsiders after the 2020 election, skipped out on court dates and became a mini-celebrity among those who follow election-denying pillow icon Mike Lindell.