As federal prosecutors bring an array of criminal charges against dozens of people who carried out a gruesome attack on the nation’s capital last week, one question remains: Was it terrorism, insurrection, or a coup — and does it matter?

Lawmakers in both parties have emerged in the days since the attack to deem it “domestic terrorism,” including President-elect Joe Biden, who said the supporters of President Trump who overtook the U.S. Capitol were a “riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists.” National security experts agree — the rioters achieved a smattering of all three.