You can take it from Thom Tillis, the senior senator representing North Carolina in the U.S. Congress: more than four years ago was not a good day in the nation’s capital.
There was nothing patriotic about the assault on the U.S. Capitol, when protestors by the thousands gathered to stand up for what Donald Trump called a stolen election following the 45th president’s defeat to then President-elect Joe Biden.
“January 6, 2021, was a bad day for America,” Tillis told CityView in an email on Feb. 5, “and it can never be repeated.”
Trump, now the 47th U.S. president, turned something of a blind eye and a deaf ear to the insurrection for almost 3 1/2 hours, and he brought it full circle hours after his Jan. 20, 2025, inauguration by issuing executive pardons to all who were convicted for their criminal activities outside and inside the Capitol.
“If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump told supporters on Jan. 6, 2021, at a “March to Save America” rally at The Ellipse south of the White House.
Protestors took Trump at his word, and the right-wing extremist radicals to include the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and QAnon supporters were on the move toward the U.S. Capitol, where Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police were no match for the relentless seditionists, some dressed in riot gear and reportedly with guns, stun guns, knives, axes and cannisters of chemical sprays.
National news caught it all on camera.
Lawmakers took cover in secured areas. Others took refuge in the upper House chamber gallery, fearful of what was coming their way.
It was the U.S. government under siege.
It was pandemonium.
It was ugly.
Some 1,500 who reportedly were part of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol assault found themselves prosecuted and convicted. In issuing blanket pardons at the White House, President Trump defended his decision to free the convicted perpetrators, according to published reports, because, in his words, some of the sentences were “ridiculous and excessive.”
With the stroke of a pen, from behind bars they were set free.
“While President Trump has pardoned a large number of individuals who were not violent and did not attack law enforcement on that day, I do not believe the criminals who were convicted of violently attacking 135 law enforcement officers should have been pardoned,” Tillis said in an email to CityView. “Regardless of whether violence against law enforcement comes from radical groups in the streets of progressive cities or a mob at the Capitol, it is never acceptable, and those who commit such acts deserve the harshest punishment allowed under the law.”
Tillis says he just can’t buy-in to all of the pardons. Neither can others, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. Tillis may not agree with the presidential pardons for the insurrectionists, but …
A president’s prerogative
“Article II of the Constitution gives the President the sole authority to grant pardons and reprieves for individuals convicted of violations of federal law,” he wrote in his email. “Even though I disagree with the President’s decision to pardon the individuals who violently assaulted law enforcement officers during the attack on the Capitol, Congress does not have the authority to override a pardon or prevent the President from issuing pardons.”
While it may be Trump’s prerogative to pardon, the 64-year-old Tillis is standing tall for those who swear to protect and serve. He has no tolerance for criminals who have no respect for law enforcement.
“I recently reintroduced the Protect and Serve Act, which, if enacted, would enhance the penalties for criminals who target law enforcement officers and harm them,” Tillis wrote. “General offenders would receive up to 10 years in prison, while those who murder or kidnap a law enforcement officer could get a life sentence.”
And that’s not all.
“I also reintroduced the Justice for Fallen Law Enforcement Act, which, if enacted, would ensure criminals convicted of murdering a federal, state or local law enforcement officer are sentenced to life imprisonment or the death penalty,” Tillis wrote. “Further, this legislation would create a criminal penalty of 20 years in prison for anyone convicted of an assault on law enforcement resulting in serious injury.”
Epilogue
The senator is right about the out-of-control afternoon four years ago that went so wrong before our very eyes and left Capitol Police injured and traumatized in a futile attempt to protect elected legislators from harm’s way.
“Protecting and supporting our brave men and women in law enforcement has always been one of my top priorities, and I will fight to ensure our officers have the tools and resources needed to do their jobs,” Tillis wrote. “I will never apologize for supporting the brave men and women who serve and protect our communities.”
The senator is right.
And he is right about something else.
“January 6, 2021,” Tillis believes, “was a bad day for America.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
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I believe this might be the only time that he did the right thing.