Ex-Capitol Police chief: Plaque honoring J6 officers not installed because 'politically divisive'

Recently retired Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger says that a plaque honoring police officers for their response to the Jan. 6, 2021 riot has not been installed because it is "very politically divisive."

The plaque – a cast bronze memorial to the officers that reads, “their heroism will never be forgotten” – was approved in a 2022 omnibus spending package that required it to be installed near the west front of the Capitol building by March 2023, according to The Washington Post. Republicans took control of the House of Representatives in January 2023 and the GOP House speakers since then have not had it installed.

Architect of the Capitol, Thomas E. Austin, said during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing last month that any modifications made to the House side of the Capitol are directed by the Speaker's Office and that he had not received instructions to install the plaque. The plaque remains in a Capitol basement utility room.

House Speaker Mike Johnson's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

Behind the divisiveness: political gain, disinformation

Manger told CNN last week that he thought the issue was so divisive “that I don’t imagine there’s any discussions even going on.”

The divisiveness surrounding the plaque comes from two directions. To begin with, Democratic Party leadership pounced on the opportunity to use the issue as a way of disparaging President Trump in particular, and Republicans in general.

Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on the House floor the prior week, to applause from his Democratic colleagues, that “791 days have passed and this Republican Congress has refused to comply with the law. It’s time to honor those heroic officers. It’s unconscionable, it’s unpatriotic, it’s unfathomable, it’s unacceptable and it’s un-American, and you need to honor those officers and treat them with the dignity and respect that they deserve.”

Multiple Democrats and others on the left have focused on the issue.

In a tweet after the riot, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., referred to the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 as “a terror attack,” which she said resulted in “almost 10 dead.” Journalist Glenn Greenwald commented on Twitter that the claim of “‘almost 10 dead’ from the 1/6 riot is deceitful in the extreme. Four people died on 1/6: all Trump supporters.”

The false narrative that as many as five police officers were "killed" on Jan. 6 has been reanimated, despite the Capitol Police stating that Brian Sicknick, the one police officer who died in a hospital the day after the riot, "died of natural causes." 

Four other police officers committed suicide in the days and months after the riot, and anti-Trump comments on social media have claimed that the plaque was designed to "honor the five fallen officers."

Despite being incorrect, the narrative appears on the Facebook page of MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow, and similar far-left accounts. As of the publication date, Maddow has not disclaimed, disputed or removed that disinformation. The plaque makes no mention of any "fallen" police officers, and merely honors all who served. 

Capitol Police: "They know how bravely they responded

The police chief will retire this week after starting his role in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. “I will tell you that my cops, many of them, were here on January 6,” Manger said. 

“They don’t need anybody to tell them what happened or what it was, because they were here and they experienced it. They know the truth. They know what happened on January 6, and they know how bravely they responded.”