Media Reacts To White House Website Jan. 6 Page

The White House published a new page on its website on Tuesday, the fifth anniversary of the Capitol riot, detailing a timeline of the events and providing a narrative for what allegedly took place that day.

The Details: The new page starts out with a picture of then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) followed directly by highlighting the "decisive action" President Donald Trump took to pardon the "unfairly targeted, overcharged" defendants who "were not protected by the leaders who failed them" and were "punished to cover incompetence." The site went on to frame the January 6 Investigative Select Committee as partisan, and said "the Democrats masterfully reversed reality after January 6, branding peaceful patriotic protestors as 'insurrectionists' and framing the event as a violent coup attempt orchestrated by Trump—despite no evidence of armed rebellion or intent to overthrow the government." Democrats, according to the page, "staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters, all while Pelosi's own security lapses invited the chaos they later exploited to seize and consolidate power."

Tin Foil Hat False:  Writers for New York Times Opinion (Left bias), calling January 6, 2021 a "pro-Trump mob attack" said the new page "represented the president's most brazen bid yet to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 riot with false claims aimed at absolving him of responsibility." The article referenced a section of the site that "accuses Democrats of creating a 'gaslighting narrative' about Jan. 6," calling it "a breathtaking reversal of reality." Some on the right, like Noah Rothman (Lean Right), writing for National Review Opinion (Right), were also highly critical of the addition to the website, saying "The Trump Administration Goes Full Tinfoil Hat in Its Revisionist History of January 6." Rothman also called the new page "odious," saying it "should never have been published, much less on the taxpayer-funded White House website" considering it was "so brazen in its contempt for established record that it would have made a Soviet propagandist blush."

Fierce Media Reaction: Some other outlets, like Fox News (Right) focused on the "virulent reaction" from both mainstream media and social media, highlighting several left-rated media outlets covering the page and referencing ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel who "mocked the website." The article also referenced White House Communications Director Steven Cheung saying, "Can't believe MSDNC actually fell for our trap in covering the new January 6 page on the White House website." American Thinker (Right) chose to highlight "a detailed observation" from "someone who was there" who said the "middle-aged patriots" who were there that day were "cheerful and excited about supporting Trump" and "definitely were not insurrectionists." The article highlighted the person's observation that normally there was a large police presence around the Capitol, saying "there were literally no police there that day" when the crowds began arriving and it "got weirder from there." The person recounted that "people were allowed to get as close to the [Capitol] building as they wanted" and said, "The Capitol building is usually a fortress." He also said that "the doors of the Capitol began opening "but "it didn't look as though anyone had broken down the doors. They just opened." The article went on to say that it "is an understatement" to say that the police handled this rally differently than any other rally, and "outrageously, to this day, even most conservative-leaning media dishonestly use the term 'riot' to describe what happened."

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