As President Donald Trump’s administration attempts to rewrite the history of the January 6 Capitol riot five years on, old tweets from a top Cabinet member have come into sharp focus for their blistering rebuke of the attack.
On Tuesday, on the five-year anniversary of the riot, the White House launched a website that promulgates the Republican president’s false narrative about the day.
The site downplays the assaults that took place in the halls of Congress and casts blame on law enforcement officials for “deliberately escalating tensions.” It further blamed Democrats for failing to secure the Capitol and described then-Vice President Mike Pence as cowardly for failing to dispute former President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
As a result, a “stolen election was certified,” the website falsely states.
After the website was launched, old social media posts from Marco Rubio – now Trump’s Secretary of State, then a Florida senator – resurfaced, which directly contradict the White House’s narrative.
As the Capitol riot was unfolding, Rubio fired off a series of tweets condemning the violence.
“There is nothing patriotic about what is occurring on Capitol Hill,” he wrote at 3:01 p.m., shortly after rioters tried to break into the Speaker’s lobby and House members were evacuated. “This is 3rd world style anti-American anarchy.”
Minutes later, Rubio appealed directly to Trump, who was in the last days of his first term as president.
“Mr. President @realDonaldTrump the men & women of law enforcement are under assault,” he wrote on Twitter, now X. “It is crucial you help restore order by sending resources to assist the police and ask those doing this to stand down.”
Trump by this point had posted a few tweets of his own, one of which accused Pence of not having “the courage to do what should have been done,” while another asked rioters to “stay peaceful!”
Later in the day, Rubio delivered remarks on the Senate floor, offering a scathing rebuke of the riot.
“My entire life I have lived with and next to people who came to America because their country was chaotic and their country was unsafe,” he said. “What I saw today — what we have seen — looks more like those countries than the extraordinary nation that I am privileged to call home.”
The next day, after the election certification was eventually carried out and dozens of police officers were recovering from injuries inflicted by Trump’s supporters, Rubio again offered his thoughts on Twitter.
“Some misled you…That the VP could reject ballots,” he wrote. “That objections could pass or used as leverage to force an audit… They knew the truth but thought it was a great way to get attention & raise money.”
Since joining the Trump administration, though, Rubio has largely avoided any discussion of the January 6 riot that he once forcefully condemned.
During a January interview with ABC News, Rubio was asked about his former remarks, following Trump’s decision to pardon around 1,500 of the rioters.
“I won’t be opining on domestic matters at this point,” he told host George Stephanopoulos.
When pressed on the matter, he followed up, saying, “As a senator, I had an opinion on all kinds of domestic matters…But now, I’m focused singularly on foreign policy and how I interact with our allies.”
A spokesperson for Rubio did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Independent.
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