Plaque honoring police service on January 6, 2021, Capitol Building in Washington, DC, Saturday, March 7, 2026
Alison Robert | Alison Robert AP Photo
Visitors to the Capitol will be served with a visible reminder of the violent attack on the building on January 6, 2021, and of the police officers who were injured in the encounter that day.
Three years after it was required by law, workers quietly installed a plaque honoring the officers just off the West Front of the Capitol, where the worst of the fighting took place. The shield was installed on the Senate side of the hallway after the Senate unanimously voted to install it in January after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) delayed the installation.
The plaque reads, “On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the outstanding individuals who bravely defended and defended this symbol of democracy on January 6, 2021.” “Their heroic acts will never be forgotten.”
The Washington Post first reported the installation of the plaque, which was witnessed by a reporter around 4 a.m. ET on Saturday.
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., led the effort to mark the fifth anniversary of the attack, recalling hearing people breaking into the building. “We are eternally grateful to them. This country is stronger because of them,” he said of the officers who were overwhelmed and ultimately pushed from the building by thousands of President Donald Trump’s supporters.
The mob of rioters who violently pushed past police and invaded the area after the Republican Party lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden repeated President Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen. The crowd blocked Congress from certifying Biden’s victory for several hours, sending lawmakers running and destroying the building before police regained control. More than 140 officers from the U.S. Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police Department and other agencies were injured.
The fight for the shield began after Trump returned to office last year and a Republican Congress remained loyal to him. President Trump has called January 6 a “day of love” in an effort to deflect blame from Democrats and police who instigated the attack.
In 2022, Congress passed a law establishing a method for installing honorary plaques with the names of police officers who “responded to an incident of violence.” The installation period was set to be one year, but the nameplate was never installed.
A Capitol tour guide takes a photo of a plaque honoring law enforcement on January 6, 2021 at the Capitol on Saturday, March 7, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Alison Robert | Alison Robert AP Photo
After more than a year of silence and a lawsuit brought by two police officers who fought at the Capitol that day, Johnson said earlier this year that there were technical issues with the ordinance that prevented the shield from being installed.
Shortly afterward, Tillis went to the Senate floor and passed a resolution to install the plaque on the Senate side without objection.
One of the officers who sued, Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, said the lawsuit would continue. Hodges, who was crushed by the mob inside a heavy door just steps away from where the plaque now stands, said Saturday that the overnight installation was an “admirable stopgap” but did not fully comply with the law. The original law stipulated that, among other technical specifications, the names of all executives must be listed.
“The weight of the judicial ruling will help protect the monument from future defacement,” Hodges said. “Our case continues.”
