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The attack on the nation's Capitol one year ago today was not an insurrection, local Republicans say.

"Donald Trump was not trying to overthrow the government," Michael Adam explained Wednesday, stressing that he was commenting independently of his position as Jefferson County Election Commission chairman. "Donald Trump was trying to get a vote to not accept the election results from [Georgia], Wisconsin and Arizona."

Oxford Languages defines "insurrection" as "a violent uprising against an authority or government." David Singer, the Jefferson County Republican Committee chairman, said those who stormed the Capitol were uprising against the election process but not the government.

"People like buzzwords," Singer said. "Some people call it a riot. Other people call it an insurrection."

Adam pointed out that Trump was "nowhere near the Capitol" when about 800 members of a mob, according to early media reports on the incident, stormed the building in hopes Congress would not certify the results of the presidential election, which incumbent Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

The attack occurred after Trump spoke at a rally near the White House, 2.3 miles west of the Capitol. Trump was impeached on suspicion of inciting an insurrection but was acquitted by the Senate on Feb. 13.

Five people died as a result of the attack, according to multiple reports: Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, 42; Ashli Babbitt, 35; Benjamin Phillips, 50; Kevin Greeson, 55; and Rosanne Boyland, 34. About 140 Capitol Police officers were injured.

Adam said there was "no reason" for the Capitol to come under siege.

"I think it was terrible," he said. "I think it was wrong. It was no reason to attack it. I think it was wrong. I think it was another party other than the Republicans that started it. I think good American citizens got conned into going into the building.

"Then again, I think it made the whole situation where they could not dispute the votes, so I think it was bad for everybody."

In refuting claims of an insurrection, Adam cited media reports that an extremist group and Guardsmen allowed the attackers to go inside the Capitol. A report on the damage to the Capitol two days later indicated broken glass, broken doors and graffiti, according to The New York Times.

He also questioned why Babbitt was shot to death, adding she was not armed.

"Even that guy who wore a funny-looking hat didn't do anything wrong," Adam said, referring to Jacob Chansley, who sported a horned viking helmet, carried a 6-foot spear and was shirtless with a tattoo on his chest. "He was told by the cops to 'come here' [through a door]."

Chansley was sentenced to 41 months in prison for criminal conduct, according to the U.S. attorney's office in D.C.

Adam also took issue with votes that he believes should not have been counted based on media reports that he heard or read.

Biden won by narrow margins in Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, giving him enough votes in the Electoral College to defeat Trump, 306-232.

While Singer denounced the attack, he pointed out that his committee focuses on state and local issues rather than national issues, adding that he took the election numbers at face value.

"I believe we have fair and free elections in Arkansas," Singer said. "Can I give a valid opinion on Michigan and Arizona based on press reports? No. I didn't dispute anything. There were people raising questions. Nobody is advocating any sort of violence. Violent riots are unacceptable under any circumstances."

Adam said he doesn't know for sure whether the votes in key states were legitimate, but he gave an idea of alleged voter fraud in his own county from the 2020 general election as an example of what may or may not have happened in swing states.

"We had people who voted the same day they registered, and that's illegal," Adam said. "You have to wait 30 days after you register. Some people who voted in Arkansas voted with a Texas ID. Some people who voted in Arkansas voted with a Tennessee ID."

Those voters could have been referred to prosecutors on suspicion of voter fraud, but commissioners declined, Adam said. He declined to say why for the record.

Instead, they were given provisional ballots, and about 10 of about 200 suspect ballots were actually good, Adam said.

Asked whether Trump should have been reelected, Adam said there's no way that could happen once the Electoral College certified Biden's victory.

"If you read the Constitution, you know that can't happen," he said. "There's no way Donald Trump can be president," he said. "Maybe he should be president, and maybe he shouldn't be president, but there's no legal way."

Trump would do a better job as president, however, Adam assumes, adding that Trump would have handled the military exit from Afghanistan better than Biden, controlled inflation and continued to build a wall on the southern border to control illegal immigration.

But whatever came under attack on Jan. 6, 2021 -- be it a building, elected officials inside it, the Constitution or democracy itself -- Singer did not lose confidence that America or its foundations were protected.

"I can honestly tell you I did not think, 'Oh, my God. Democracy is under attack,'" he said. "To me, it looked like a riot run amok. I watched it unfold as any other riot that went amok in the last 1 years. The people were wrong. They were disorderly."

U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., whose district covers Jefferson County, condemned the events of last Jan. 6.

"The attack on the U.S. Capitol one year ago today was wholly un-American and a national disgrace that resulted in the tragic loss of life," Westerman said in an email to The Commercial. "In the face of that adversity, our democratic process prevailed. Those events did not stop the peaceful transition of power or the continued exercise of democracy. One year later, our nation has proven, once again, that liberty is stronger than fear and violence. I am confident in our country's resolve to never allow such reprehensible events to occur again."

Commercial Editor Byron Tate contributed to this story.

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Year later, parties disagree on Jan. 6: Wasn't insurrection, GOP says - Arkansas Online