The Democratic-controlled Maine House on Tuesday passed a bill designating Jan. 6th, 2021, as a "Day to remember" following a heated debate that illustrated the starkly partisan perceptions over the attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Rafael Macias, D-Topsham, said he remembers feelings of dread come over him as he watched images of pro-Trump rioters breaking into the Capitol. A Navy veteran, Macias sponsored the bill to have Jan. 6 designated annually as a day to honor "the resilience of democracy" and to collect first-hand accounts of members of Maine's congressional delegation and other state residents who were there that day.
While a legislative committee stripped out the story-collecting aspect of his bill, Macias didn't mince words as he warned against what he sees as attempts to erase or re-write that history during the second Trump administration.
"I'm so glad that it will be remembered for what it really was: a rebuffed coup attempt that was completed four years later," he said. "We should write down how it really happened or else it will be remembered how they want our descendants to believe it."
But House Republicans countered with a much different take on those well-documented events.
Rep. Barbara Bagshaw, R-Windham, attended the "Stop the Steal" rally in D.C. to hear from President Trump as he railed against what he falsely claimed was a "rigged" election. She then joined the mass of rally-goers who marched toward the building at Trump's urging, but said she didn't enter the Capitol or participate in any violence.
"I went to hear a speech," Bagshaw said. "I walked down to the capital and there was a police officer in riot gear standing on the building saying, 'Come on in this is our house, come on in this is our house.' They were trying to incite violence."
Bagshaw didn't stop there, however, as she suggested that other actors were behind the violence that day.
"There were weapons put out on the steps," Bagshaw said. "There were pitchforks, people were trying to cause violence. These were not the Trump supporters that were there."
Countless videos and pictures from that day show rioters battling with police and illegally entering the Capitol while wearing pro-Trump apparel and carrying Trump flags. Yet conspiracy theories continue to circulate that other groups — from the FBI to antifa — incited the riots.
Rep. Mark Malon, D-Biddeford, said he was disgusted by some comments from his House Republican colleagues.
"The idea, the very notion as was expressed earlier that the police officers of the United States Capitol Police provoked their own attack, is just more evidence to me that facts matter and that they should be remembered," Malon said.
Malon said Trump won a free and fair election in 2024 — just as Joe Biden did in 2020. And while Malon said he didn't agree with the 2024 election results, he accepted them.
"The indisputable fact was that the people rioted and attacked the United States Capitol . . . because they couldn't accept the fact that Donald Trump lost and Joe Biden won," Malon said.
Assistant Republican Leader Katrina Smith of Palermo, meanwhile, echoed Trump's words as she accused the Biden administration and a "corrupt FBI" engaging in a "witch hunt" against more than 1,500 people who were ultimately convicted of participating in the Capitol riots. She and Bagshaw also said those people were imprisoned and/or convicted without due process, despite the years of court proceedings.
As tempers rose between the caucuses, House Minority Leader Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham of Winter Harbor took to the floor to state the obvious: the heated debate wasn't changing any minds and was only preventing lawmakers from doing other work.
"I would just encourage the members in here to end this debate," Faulkingham said. "Take it to social media, take it outside. Take it wherever you need to take it to go with this. But we're not convincing each other in here."
The House ultimately voted along party lines, 75-64, to approve the bill designating January 6th, 2021 as a "day to remember." The bill now goes to the Senate, where Democrats have an even larger majority.
