NPR Removes Reference to 'Attack' by Trump Supporters

NPR removed the term 'attack' from the article to describe the January 6, 2021, event at the US Capitol. The original text stated that the police officers were defending the Capitol 'from an attack by a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters,' while the revised text says they defended the Capitol 'from a violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021.' This change shifts the language to focus on the violence of the event rather than implying a premeditated attack. The removal of this term matters because it affects how readers perceive the nature of the event and the actions of the police officers involved. The change also alters the tone of the article, moving from a more confrontational description to a more factual one.

Related Changes

Officers who defended Capitol from rioters sue to block payouts from fund +1446 -576
− By The Associated Press FILE - Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Jan.
+ Tom Dreisbach Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S.
− 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.
+ Capitol on Jan.
− John Minchillo/AP hide caption WASHINGTON — Two police officers who helped defend the U.S.
+ 6, 2021.
− Capitol from an attack by a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters sued on Wednesday to block anyone — including Jan.
+ Brent Stirton/Getty Images hide caption Two police officers who defended the U.S.
− 6, 2021, rioters — from receiving payouts from a new $1.776 billion settlement fund for people who claim to be victims of politically motivated prosecutions.
+ Capitol from a violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021, filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Trump administration, arguing that the newly-announced $1.8 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is both illegal and dangerous. At the same time, former Jan. 6 defendants are already preparing their applications to the fund and anticipating major payouts.
− The officers' attorneys filed the federal lawsuit a day after acting Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the fund's creation during a congressional hearing.
+ NPR Investigation: January 6, 2021 Criminal records of Jan.
− Blanche, a personal attorney for Trump before joining the Justice Department, wouldn't rule out the possibility that rioters who assaulted police on Jan.
+ 6 rioters pardoned by Trump include rape, domestic violence The Justice Department has indicated that the fund will be used to compensate an unspecified group of people "who suffered weaponization and lawfare" under previous presidential administrations.
− 6 would be eligible for fund payouts.
+ It is widely expected that at least some of the money will go to Trump supporters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, and later received presidential pardons.
− The lawsuit claims the government's "Anti-Weaponization Fund" is an illegal slush fund that Trump will use to "finance the insurrectionists and paramilitary groups that commit violence in his name." It describes the fund's creation as "the most brazen act of presidential corruption this century" and calls for dissolving it.
+ Facing questions from members of Congress and reporters, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Vice President JD Vance did not rule out payments to Jan. 6 rioters convicted of violent crimes against police officers.
− "No statute authorizes its creation, the settlement on which it is premised is a corrupt sham, and its design violates the Constitution and federal law," the suit says.
+ "We're not making commitments to give anybody money," Vance said Tuesday at the White House. "We're just making commitments to look at things case by case." A screenshot of a video showing D.C. Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges being attacked at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia hide caption Daniel Hodges, a Washington, D.C., police officer who was repeatedly assaulted and crushed in a door frame by Jan. 6 rioters, is one of the plaintiffs seeking to block the fund.
− The fund stems from a settlement of Trump's $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS over the leak of his tax returns.
+ "Why would you pay people who attacked the police at the Capitol of the United States who tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power?" Hodges told NPR.
− It's designed to compensate those who believe they were mistreated by prior administrations' Justice Department.
+ "Why would you pay people who wanted to assassinate the vice president?
− Decisions on payouts will be made by a five-member commission appointed by the attorney general.
+ You know, the list goes on and on. It doesn't make any sense." NPR Investigation: January 6, 2021 Trump's airbrushed version of Jan. 6 distorts history. See the evidence for yourself Hodges said he and other officers who defended the Capitol continue to receive death threats, and that giving money to the people convicted of assaulting police could feed further harassment and violence.
− More than 100 police officers were injured during the Capitol riot.
+ "If they get this payout, then they'll have significant financial resources," Hodges said, "and they have no ethical qualms about it, so what would stop them from carrying out any more violence?" Hodges continues to serve on Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department and spoke to NPR in his personal capacity. Former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn joined the lawsuit, which names acting Attorney General Blanche, as well as President Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as defendants. Dunn and Hodges are represented by Brendan Ballou, a former federal prosecutor who worked on Jan.
− Nearly 1,600 people were charged with Jan.
+ 6 cases and now leads the anti-corruption group Public Integrity Project. Former Department of Justice Special Counsel Brendan Ballou speaks during a hearing of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Capitol Hill on Jan.
− 6-related crimes, but Trump used his pardon powers to erase all of those cases in a sweeping act of clemency last year.
+ 7. Mark Schiefelbein/AP hide caption "The Trump slush fund is potentially the most corrupt act of presidential power in American history," Ballou told NPR.
− The plaintiffs suing Trump over the fund are Metropolitan Police Department officer Daniel Hodges and former U.S.
+ The lawsuit targets the unusual way in which the fund was created.
− Capitol Police officer Harry Dunn, who is running in Maryland for a seat in Congress.
+ Trump sued the federal government — of which he is the head — for $10 billion over the IRS leak of his private tax records, and then created this fund as part of a settlement over the claim. "Donald Trump was functionally on both sides of the case," Ballou said. The lawsuit also notes that Trump's mass pardons restored gun rights for many Jan.
− Hodges and Dunn both testified before Congress about their harrowing experiences on Jan.
+ 6 defendants.
+ The "Anti-Weaponization Fund," Ballou argues, could also provide them with a major financial windfall. "They can get money, they can get guns," Ballou said. "And right now they have the endorsement of the president showing that they will be financially rewarded for their violence." Credit: NPR Jake Lang used a bat to attack police protecting the Capitol on Jan.
6.
− Videos captured a rioter ripping a mask off Hodges as he was pinned against a door during a fight for control of a tunnel entrance.
+ His trial for assault and other charges was pending when Trump ordered the case dismissed and released him from jail.
− The officers claim the fund "encourages those who enacted violence in the President's name to continue to do so." "Dunn and Hodges already face credible threats of death and violence on regular basis; the Fund substantially increases the danger," the suit alleges.
+ Lang does not dispute that he used the bat against police, but argues that his actions were justified as self-defense, because he believed that the 2020 election had been stolen.
− A commission, whose members will be chosen by Blanche but have not yet been announced, will be charged with deciding who gets paid and how much.
+ Since his release from jail, he has become a white power, anti-immigrant, antisemitic and anti-Muslim activist and provocateur. He has been recorded on video using racist slurs, including the n-word, and giving a Nazi salute.
− Blanche said in a CNN interview on Wednesday that the board will have to consider the person's actions, among other factors, when deciding whether to give them money.
+ When contacted by NPR for comment on Wednesday, Lang answered the phone by saying, "Jake Lang's office, America's newest billionaire." Lang said he was joking about becoming a billionaire, but confirmed that he plans to apply for compensation through the "Anti-Weaponization Fund" and expects other Jan.
− But the attorney general added: "Whether the commissioners will give that person money — that claimant — it's up to them." Blanche said "it's abhorrent" to harm law enforcement, but added that "people that hurt police get money all the time" from suing the government.
+ 6 defendants to do the same. "The misdemeanor cases should be looking to receive several hundred thousand dollars," Lang said, "and some of the cases like mine may be looking at upwards of a million dollars." Lang said Trump's message in establishing the fund was clear. "If you sacrifice for your country, if you do the right thing in the face of evil, you will be rewarded for your bravery, for your patriotism, for the love of your country," Lang said.
− He dismissed backlash to the fund as "fake outrage." Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also are named as defendants in the officers' lawsuit.
+ "That's the message President Trump is sending." Jake Lang (right), who was charged with eight counts of assaulting officers before his pardon, threatens D.C.
− Spokespeople for the Justice and Treasury departments didn't immediately respond to requests for comment on the suit.
+ Metropolitan Police officer, including Commander Jason Bagshaw (left), during a Jan. 6 rally and memorial march marking five years since the attack on Jan. 6, 2026 in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images hide caption If Lang receives compensation from the Trump administration, the money could go towards his legal expenses. He is currently facing criminal charges in Minnesota, where he was recorded knocking down an ice sculpture protesting federal immigration enforcement, and in Washington, D.C., where he was charged with threatening a police officer. Lang has denied all wrongdoing in both cases.
− One of the attorneys for the officers is Brendan Ballou, a former Justice Department prosecutor who handled Jan.
+ Lang is one of dozens of former Jan.
− 6 cases.
+ 6 defendants who have been charged or convicted of additional crimes since Trump issued mass pardons to the rioters.
+ In Florida, defendant Andrew Paul Johnson is currently serving a life sentence in prison for sexually abusing two young children. According to a police affidavit filed last year, Johnson told his victims that he would share a portion of restitution money that he expected to receive from the Trump Administration. "This tactic was believed to be used to keep [the victim] from exposing what Andrew had done to him," the affidavit said. Andrew Paul Johnson was sentenced to life in prison for sexually abusing children. He received a full pardon from President Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 riot. Hernando County Sheriff's Office hide caption The mother of one of the victims, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect her child's privacy, told NPR that Johnson told the children he would buy them things with "my Trump bucks." Johnson made those comments well before the announcement of the "Anti-Weaponization Fund," but at a time when some Trump Justice Department officials, including U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, were publicly discussing restitution for Jan. 6 defendants. "He said not to tell anybody," one of Johnson's victims testified at his trial. "We were scared," Johnson's other victim testified. "Like, we didn't realize that this stuff was not okay because we were 12 years old." U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., pressed Blanche about Johnson's case at a congressional committee hearing. Investigations A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump was sentenced to life in prison for child sex abuse Blanche said the facts of the case were "disgusting" and "it's horrible that that happened." But he did not state whether Johnson would be eligible to apply for compensation through the "Anti-Weaponization Fund." Speaking at the White House, Vance said that law schools and the media are biased against Jan. 6 rioters and Trump supporters compared with other criminal defendants. "There are people who objectively committed heinous crimes, but the American media and the American legal academy has decided that even though they committed bad crimes, their sentence was disproportionate — they were mistreated in some way," Vance said. "You know who never ever gets an ounce of sympathy when it comes to that disproportionate sentencing is people who voted for Donald Trump and participated in the Jan. 6 protest." According to NPR's database of the nearly 1,600 Jan. 6 criminal cases, the median prison sentence for Capitol riot defendants was 30 days. About a third of the rioters who went through sentencing received no jail time.
Sponsor Message Become an NPR sponsor