Five years after a pro-Trump mob stormed the United States Capitol, the White House has doubled down on defending a website filled with partisan misinformation about the events of that day. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt used a Wednesday briefing to attack the media's coverage and repeat debunked claims about the violence.
White House Press Secretary Attacks Media Narrative
During a press briefing on Wednesday 7 January 2026, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt launched a robust defence of a White House website commemorating the fifth anniversary of the January 6 Capitol riot. She asserted that the media continues to focus on the event because they believe the American people "are still believing their lies."
Leavitt directly linked Donald Trump's 2024 re-election victory to public disbelief in the established narrative of January 6 as an insurrection. Her comments came in response to a lengthy question from Cara Castronuova, a correspondent for LindellTV, a channel owned by Trump ally Mike Lindell.
Debunked Claims and Partisan Rewriting of History
The White House website in question presents a version of events starkly at odds with official findings and court records. It refers to the nearly 1,600 individuals prosecuted for their roles in the riot as "patriotic Americans" who were "peaceful protesters treated as insurrectionists by a weaponized Biden DOJ." Many of those convicted were later pardoned by Donald Trump.
The site also makes several specific, disputed claims:
- It absolves Trump of any involvement in the day's events, denying it was an attempt to "overthrow the government."
- It labels then-Vice President Mike Pence's decision to certify the 2020 election results a "betrayal of the president" and an act of "cowardice and sabotage."
- It repeats the false claim that a 55-year-old Alabama man who died of a heart attack was "killed."
Castronuova's question echoed these themes, alleging a "big lie" from Democrats and mainstream media about the riot being an insurrection and about police fatalities. While no officers died during the attack itself, several, including Officer Brian Sicknick, died in the days and months following from injuries and conditions related to the riot.
Contested Death of Rosanne Boyland
A significant portion of the exchange focused on the death of Rosanne Boyland, a 34-year-old Trump supporter from Georgia. Castronuova claimed Boyland was "pepper balled, gassed, and ultimately brutally beaten with a stick" by a police officer.
The official cause of death was ruled acute amphetamine intoxication, linked to a valid prescription. Eyewitness accounts and video analysis, including by The New York Times, suggest she was trampled in a crowd surge in a Capitol hallway. Right-wing media has circulated the claim of police responsibility, but a Newsweek fact-check found a key video supporting this theory was misleadingly edited.
The Lasting Shadow of January 6
The riot was the violent culmination of months of pressure from Donald Trump, who falsely claimed the 2020 election was stolen. On the day, he publicly urged Vice President Pence to halt the certification of Joe Biden's win, a scheme that involved creating slates of "false electors." During the violence, rioters chanted "hang Mike Pence."
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith recently testified that his office was confident it could have secured a conviction against Trump for conspiracy to overturn the election had the former president not been re-elected and shielded by Justice Department guidelines.
The White House's continued promotion of a disputed narrative, five years on, underscores the deep and enduring political divisions surrounding one of the most consequential days in modern American history.
