“We pack our things”: January 6 prisoners prepare to pardon Trump | Donald Trump news

Washington DC – A flash from the prison window was met with cheers from the small crowd waiting outside.

The signal has become a near-nightly tradition at the D.C. Central Detention Facility. When the sunlight begins to fade, the detainees inside try to turn off the lights as a signal to their supporters.

But the gesture sparked particular enthusiasm among about two dozen people who gathered on the sidewalk on Sunday, despite the freezing temperature.

It was the night before the four-year anniversary of January 6, 2021, when thousands violently stormed the United States Capitol. An extraordinary attempt To overturn Donald Trump’s loss in the 2020 election.

For the past nearly 900 days, a small group has gathered to show their support for those convicted in the riots, some of whom are incarcerated inside the D.C. Detention Center.

However, the mood of entrants was high, largely due to Trump’s victory in the November election. It was an unprecedented reversal in political fortunes that saw the president-elect rebound from his 2020 defeat.

His second term is scheduled to begin in just two weeks. As part of his agenda, Trump promised to pardon those convicted for their actions four years ago, in the attack on the Capitol.

“The energy here today was absolutely incredible,” Dominic Box, who was convicted of violent entry and disorderly conduct, said in a phone call from prison.

His words were broadcast to his supporters outside, who raised their mobile phones to the microphone.

Box expressed hope for Trump’s imminent inauguration. “We expect this pardon to be issued by the end of the week,” he said.

“Many of the men, myself included, started packing our belongings,” he added. “Each of us will walk out these doors for the last time.”

at least 1,583 people They were charged in connection with the events of January 6, 2021, according to the US Department of Justice.

Nearly 608 of them were charged with assaulting, resisting, or obstructing law enforcement officers. This includes 174 people charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

“Political hostages” or rebellion?

in many ways, Pardoning convicts Regarding January 6, it will be a huge achievement for Trump.

The Republican leader has long claimed, without evidence, that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him through widespread voter fraud.

Trump has also faced legal jeopardy over his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

In a state case in Georgia and a federal case in Washington, D.C., he was accused of leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. The D.C. case has since been dismissed, in light of his re-election.

But Trump rejected the criminal charges, calling them a “political witch hunt.” Compared to his own situation, he described the sentences handed down to the defendants on January 6 – especially to non-violent offenders – as unfair.

He has, at various times, referred to these defendants as “political prisoners” and “hostages,” saying his administration would begin reviewing their cases “in the first hour” of his second term.

Trump’s comments highlight the differing narratives that emerged on January 6.

Trump supporters largely dismissed the riot as a simple protest, while Democrats highlighted the violence of the attack that occurred as lawmakers were trying to certify the 2020 election.

On Sunday, US President Joe Biden once again described the January 6 attack as a “real threat to democracy.”

In a column in the Washington Post, Biden denounced Trump’s attempts to reframe the US Capitol attack as an act of patriotism.

“Vigorous efforts have been made to rewrite — even erase — the history of that day,” Biden wrote. “To explain it as a protest that just got out of control. This is not what happened.”

Likewise, some right-wing politicians and institutions have condemned efforts to downplay the January 6 attack.

For example, the Rule of Law Association, an institute founded by conservative lawyers and judges, said the unusual nature of the storming of the US Capitol warranted harsh punishment.

The group said: “(Trump’s) statements in which he promised to pardon rioters mock the rule of law, and we condemned them in the strongest possible terms.”

“I wish he would move me”

But for the protesters who gathered outside the D.C. detention center, there was no doubt that the prosecutions were rife with injustice.

Many accused law enforcement of seeking to trap the rioters of January 6. Some also argued that violent acts committed by a few people were used to discredit all those present.

The authorities have repeatedly refute those claims.

In his broadcast phone call, Box repeated the oft-repeated claim that no Capitol Police officers died as a direct result of the attack.

However, Capitol Police confirmed that five deaths were related to the riot: one officer, Brian Sicknick, was assaulted and died the next day after suffering two strokes, and four others died by suicide in the following months.

However, Box framed his actions on January 6 as an act of free speech, protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

“None of the defendants charged on January 6, whether imprisoned, FBI-listed or released today, did anything other than engage in what should have been protected First Amendment activities, address our grievances and listen to our concerns to the world about… “Which is undoubtedly a problem.” “The stolen election in 2020,” Box said.

Brandon Fellows, 30, was also charged in the January 6 incidents. He spent nearly three years in a D.C. prison, after prosecutors showed evidence that he entered the U.S. Capitol through a broken window and smoked marijuana in Senator Jeff Merkley’s office.

He was later charged with criminal contempt for outbursts during court proceedings.

But Veloz was released on probation, confining him to an 80-kilometre (50-mile) radius around Washington, D.C. He attended Sunday’s protest outside the D.C. Detention Center wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a sign of his continued support for Trump.

“I just hope he (Trump) moves me so I can leave and start my life,” Fellows said, adding that he wants to resume the tree and chimney business he ran before his arrest.

“An extension of Donald Trump”

The nightly vigils were first started by Miki Whithoeft, the mother of Ashli ​​Babbitt, a woman who was shot and killed by Capitol Police as she tried to climb through a broken window on January 6.

Nicole Rivett has been one of the main organizers ever since. Her husband, Jay Reffitt, was the first of the January 6 defendants to be convicted in 2022. In the aftermath, she moved to Washington, D.C., from Texas to assist other defendants in the legal process.

“When you have the absolute power of the United States government against you or your loved ones, it’s a very frightening and frightening feeling,” she told Al Jazeera.

Jay Reffitt was charged with civil disorder, obstruction of official proceedings and remaining in a restricted building with a firearm.

A Jan. 6 video recording showed Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia, saying, “I just want to see (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi’s head hit every royal staircase on the way out.” He was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison.

Nicole Reffitt hopes a Trump pardon is around the corner, and asserts that politics distorted justice in her husband’s case.

She and her fellow protesters prepared an “Advent Calendar” to mark the days until Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

“I’ve seen half-truths and exaggerations used as legal fact and a D.C. jury saw my husband as an extension of Donald Trump,” Reffitt said. “This is not how justice is supposed to be done in America.”