For the Trump camp, January 6, 2021 was the day of the last chance to tip the election in its favor, despite the official victory of Joe Biden.
While Congress must ratify the results of the election, a mere formality in normal times, Donald Trump, who claims without proof that the election has been rigged since the announcement of the results, calls for pressure on parliamentarians with great demonstration in front of the Capitol. “Be there, it will be wild!” “, tweete-t-il.
Yet that morning, no one imagines that American democracy will come under an unprecedented assault. Thousands of supporters of the Republican candidate are swarming Congress in Washington. The Capitol is invaded. The chaos will last for several hours. The death toll rises to five (four rioters and a police officer) and 140 injured on the side of the police. The United States is in shock.
A year later, many questions remain: what was the role of the far-right paramilitary groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers? How did activists who support Trump get into Congress so easily? Was it prepared? What was the role of Donald Trump? Can we speak of an attempted coup?
In this episode of the podcast “L’Heure du Monde”, Arnaud Leparmentier, correspondent for World in New York, looks back on this historic date and its consequences for American democracy.
An episode produced by Adèle Ponticelli, directed by Florentin Baume and presented by Jean-Guillaume Santi.
“Time of the World”
“L’Heure du Monde” is the daily news podcast of the World. Listen to a new episode every day from 6 a.m. on Lemonde.fr or on Spotify. Find all the episodes here.
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