WASHINGTON — American officials were startled by a suggestion by Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s foreign policy adviser that the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump could have achieved a “revolution” if more people had joined.

“The right of revolution is written into the Declaration of Independence,” Takashi Kawakami said in a recently posted interview with the Daily Cyzo, a digital publication. “This is why, watching it, I asked myself, ‘Has a revolution finally occurred? ‘”