Federal prosecutors are saying the unrest on January 6 resulted in "approximately $1,495,326.55 damage to the United States Capitol." The figure was disclosed last week in a plea agreement with one of the January 6 defendants.
What's notable about the $1.5 million is how remarkably small it is. The government can misplace that much on a National Science Foundation study of lizards walking on treadmills. In 2017, then–former vice president Joe Biden paid $2.7 million for his Delaware North Shore beach house, or $1.2 million less than estimated repairs to the Capitol from an event Biden called the "worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War."
