The Trump administration is now openly scrubbing the historical record of Jan. 6.
The Department of Justice confirmed Friday that it has removed news releases documenting criminal charges, convictions, and sentencings tied to the Jan. 6 Capitol attack from its website — dismissing the records as “partisan propaganda.”
The move marks one of the clearest signs yet that Donald Trump’s second administration is attempting to rewrite the history of the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, where hundreds of Trump supporters stormed Congress in an effort to stop certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.
On his first day back in office in January 2025, Trump issued sweeping pardons and sentence commutations for more than 1,500 people charged in connection with the attack — including rioters convicted of violently assaulting police officers with flagpoles, hockey sticks, crutches, and other makeshift weapons.
Now, the administration appears determined to erase the public record of those crimes.
After journalists noticed Friday that dozens of Jan. 6-related DOJ press releases had vanished from the department’s website, the Justice Department responded on X through its official “rapid response” account.
“There was nothing ‘quiet’ about it,” the department wrote.
“We are proud to reverse the DOJ’s weaponization under the Biden administration,” the post continued. “We will do everything in our power to make whole those who were persecuted for political purposes. This includes stripping DOJ’s website of partisan propaganda.”
Among the deleted pages were announcements related to some of the most serious Jan. 6 prosecutions, including seditious conspiracy convictions against members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — far-right extremist groups that played key roles in the attack.
The deletions come just days after Trump’s Justice Department moved to formally dismantle those cases.
Last month, DOJ lawyers asked a federal appeals court to vacate the seditious conspiracy convictions against members of the extremist groups. The request was granted Thursday. On Friday, the department moved to dismiss the remaining cases entirely.
The administration’s efforts don’t stop there.
On Monday, the Justice Department announced the creation of a staggering $1.776 billion compensation fund intended for Trump allies who claim they were unfairly investigated or prosecuted.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche has refused to rule out whether violent Jan. 6 rioters could qualify for taxpayer-funded payouts — a possibility that has sparked bipartisan outrage on Capitol Hill.
Critics say the administration is not merely revisiting controversial prosecutions but actively attempting to erase one of the darkest chapters in modern American political history.
The removal of the records means that years of publicly accessible documentation detailing attacks on police officers, extremist conspiracies, guilty pleas, and prison sentences are now disappearing from official government archives.
What was once described by prosecutors as a violent attempt to overturn a democratic election is now being rebranded by Trump’s DOJ as political persecution.
And piece by piece, the evidence is being wiped from public view.
