WASHINGTON (AP) — A deeply divided Congress on Thursday showed the world a very unsettled view from the U.S. Capitol: Rather than a national crisis that pulled the country together, the deadly riot on Jan. 6, 2021, only seems to have pushed lawmakers further apart. 

Some members marked the anniversary of the Capitol insurrection with a moment of silence. Others spent the day educating Americans on the workings of democracy. 

And still others said they don't think the deadliest domestic attack on Congress in the nation's history needs to be remembered at all.

President Joe Biden offered himself as a guardian of American democracy in a visceral speech Thursday discussing the horrors of the Jan. 6 insurrection that sought to overthrow his 2020 election victory. Trump’s refusal to accept the reality of his defeat spawned a conspiracy that came close to shattering the nation’s system of government and continues to ripple through society a year later.

“I did not seek this fight, brought to this Capitol one year ago today, but I will not shrink from it either,” Biden said in his 25-minute address from Statuary Hall, where rioters had roamed one year earlier. “I will stand in this breach. I will defend this nation. And I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy.”

The aftermath of Jan. 6 hangs heavy over snow-covered Capitol Hill, in the relationships that deepened between lawmakers who feared for their lives that day and those that have frayed beyond repair. 

The Capitol, before the riot a symbol of the openness of American democracy, remains closed to most visitors in part because of the coronavirus pandemic public health concerns, but also because of the escalated number of violent threats against lawmakers. Representatives are required to pass through metal detectors because Democrats say they cannot trust their Republican colleagues not to bring firearms to the House during floor proceedings.

In the hours after Biden's address, dozens of lawmakers gathered to share their stories of that day’s terror and resilience.

Rep. Colin Allred, D-Texas, recalled that he and colleagues on the House floor took off their jackets in expectation of fighting for their lives.

We were ready to try and defend our colleagues from whatever was going to come through those doors,” he said. Allred, 38, is a former NFL linebacker, but no one knew what to expect and finally officers evacuated them.

“As we were exiting the House floor, I saw the glass breaking. I saw the officers staying behind with their guns drawn. And I thought about the opportunity that they had given me,” he said.

Allred said he and his wife had one young son at home and a second was weeks away from being born. “Had those officers not held that line, I would not have met my son Cameron.” He said that since he was raised by a single mother, he’d long been committed “to making sure that my boys knew me.”

Among those in the room Thursday were Charles and Gladys Sicknick, parents of Brian Sicknick, 42, a Capitol police officer who was injured fighting off the mob and who died the following day.

Looking at Sicknick’s parents, Allred said, “Your son’s sacrifice allowed me to meet mine.”

Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., said that as she sought cover in the House visitors’ gallery, she spoke to her family to reassure them she was all right.

“Which my son said, ’Mom, we know what’s going on. We can hear breaking glass. How can you say you’re OK? And that was just like a dagger through my heart,” she said.

On Thursday, she recalled the moments after that call, which were captured in a widely used photograph of her being comforted by Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger and veteran of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

“The memory I have that is the strongest, as I lay there feeling like I might be having a heart attack, feeling Jason Crow take my hand and say in this very calm and soothing voice, ‘You’re going to be okay, you’re going to be okay.’ And it was about the best thing anybody could have possibly said to me at that moment.”

Outside of the House and Senate chambers, a number of top Republicans commemorated the anniversary of the insurrection by calling the day a stain on the history of the country. 

Most also took the chance to criticize the Biden-Harris administration for its own response to the day, accusing the nation’s top Democrats of politicizing the anniversary. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who a year prior stood on the floor of the Senate and said overruling the will of the people “would damage our republic forever,” reiterated his condemnation of the attack in a statement Thursday, calling the insurrection a “dark day for Congress and our country.”

“The United States Capitol, the seat of the first branch of our federal government, was stormed by criminals who brutalized police officers and used force to try to stop Congress from doing its job,” the statement read in part. “This disgraceful scene was antithetical to the rule of law. One year later, I am as grateful as ever for the brave men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police who served our institution bravely that day and every day since. I continue to support justice for those who broke the law.” 

McConnell went on to slam Democrats for attempting to “exploit this anniversary to advance partisan policy goals” that he claimed long predated the insurrection on the Capitol. While McConnell did not specify what goals he meant, the GOP leader has been vocal in recent weeks about his opposition to a proposal from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who on Monday said the chamber would vote on a filibuster rules change by Jan. 17 should voting rights legislation not pass before that date. 

“It is especially jaw-dropping to hear some Senate Democrats invoke the mob’s attempt to disrupt our country’s norms, rules, and institutions as a justification to discard our norms, rules, and institutions themselves,” McConnell’s statement continued. 

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who last year called the insurrection “wrong and un-American,” said the anniversary is not top of mind for most people in his state.

“I can tell you that in the last year I've probably been to 40 different cities in Kentucky and talked to hundreds and hundreds of Kentuckians,” the senator told Spectrum News in an interview this week. “Not one has asked me about (the anniversary). So it’s not something that's really pressing on the minds of Kentuckians.”

At the end of the day, a group of lawmakers from the House and the Senate gathered on the front steps of the U.S. Capitol as a final commemoration of the anniversary. 

The prayer vigil, announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in late December, was “intended as an observance of reflection, remembrance and recommitment, in a spirit of unity, patriotism and prayerfulness,” a statement from Pelosi’s office read in part.