Moulton: Jan. 6, 2021 'Was An Assault On The American People'

MASSACHUSETTS — U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Salem) stood in a congressional "safe room" one year ago surrounded by dozens of rattled colleagues and their frightened staff members amid the haze of the unthinkable.

The U.S. Capitol had been breached. The House Chambers was being desecrated. Hundreds of rioters wearing body armor, carrying weapons and some waving Confederate flags were ransacking offices throughout the country's beacon of democracy.

Moulton and his fellow members of Congress talked about what was happening around them — and, more importantly, what they were going to do next.

"I was debating with colleagues whether we should go back as soon as the building was clear and certify the (2020 presidential) election," Moulton told Patch in an exclusive interview on the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection. "Many were, understandably so, shaken and argued that we should give it a day or two to let things calm down. But if we hadn’t certified the election that night, it would have handed a victory to the insurrectionists.

"People have to appreciate how close we came to losing our democracy a year ago today."

While a year has passed since those harrowing hours — ones that many consider among the darkest in American history— Moulton's views on exactly what happened and who was responsible are much the same as he expressed to Patch from his Washington, D.C., office that night when he called it "a brazen assault on our democracy" and said President Donald Trump was "100 percent to blame" for the "attempted coup inspired by the President of the United States."

"The only thing that's happened since that is that I've been dismayed with how little has changed," he said Thursday. "The chance of another Jan. 6 happening in the future is just as strong as it was that day — maybe even stronger.

"What Americans have to remember is that physically that was an assault on Congress. But principally it was an assault on the American people. It was the idea that people with power and weapons can change an election result for their liking.

"That's just not democracy."

(ALSO ON PATCH: What Happened To MA Residents Charged In Jan. 6 Capitol Riot?)

Moulton allowed that while a lot of Americans are still extremely upset about the images they saw a year ago, many of them want to forget the scenes of smoke, pain and destruction that conjure emotions of doubt and discord.

Yet, he cautioned that the desire to "move on" risks leaving embers that could spark another — potentially even more ominous — threat of political violence. He said accountability for what happened a year ago is the only way to help ensure there is no repeat of such a raw recent history.

"If people are not held accountable, including the former president of the United States, future American presidents will believe they can do this too," Moulton said. "We all know Donald Trump has not been held accountable."

The House of Representatives did impeach the former president for a second time in the weeks following the insurrection, but the Senate's 57-43 vote to convict fell well short of the two-thirds majority needed for a conviction.

Moulton said the next step has to be the prosecution of not only those who stormed the Capitol that day but also those in the White House and beyond who laid the groundwork and actively promoted the attack.

"I think we've seen throughout history that you can't have real reconciliation until you have accountability," he said.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)