‘Packing our bags’: Inmates are preparing for Trump’s pardon on January 6. donald trump news

Washington DC – A flicker from the prison window greeted the small crowd waiting outside.

The signal has become an almost nightly tradition at the DC Central Detention Facility. When the sunlight begins to fade, the prisoners inside try to dim the lights to signal their supporters.

But that sentiment struck a special chord Sunday among the nearly two dozen people who gathered on the sidewalk despite the frigid temperatures.

It was the night before the fourth anniversary of January 6, 2021, when thousands of people stormed the United States Capitol in an extraordinary effort to overturn Donald Trump’s 2020 election defeat.

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

Still, the mood inside was high, largely due to Trump’s November election victory. It was an unprecedented reversal of political fortunes that saw the President-elect recover from the 2020 defeat.

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

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

His words were broadcast by supporters outside, who held mobile phones near the microphone.

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

“Many people, including me, started packing their things,” he added. “Each of us will walk out of these doors for the last time.”

According to the US Department of Justice, at least 1,583 people have been charged in connection with the events of January 6, 2021.

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

‘Political hostage’ or rebellion?

In many ways, pardoning those convicted in connection with January 6 would be a major accomplishment for Trump.

Republican leaders have long claimed without evidence that the 2020 election was “stolen” from them through widespread voter fraud.

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

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. In light of his re-election, the DC case has been dismissed.

But Trump has dismissed the criminal charges as “political witchcraft.” Drawing an analogy from his own position, he has described the sentences given to defendants on January 6 – particularly non-violent offenders – as unfair.

He has several times called those defendants “political prisoners” and “hostages” and said his administration would begin reviewing their cases “in the first hours” of his second term.

Trump’s statements highlight the differing stories that have emerged about January 6.

Trump supporters have largely dismissed the riot as an ordinary protest, while Democrats have highlighted the violence of the attack, which occurred as lawmakers attempted to certify the 2020 vote.

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

In a column for The Washington Post, Biden condemned Trump’s efforts to reframe the US Capitol attack as an act of patriotism.

“There is an incredible effort underway to rewrite – even erase – the history of that day,” Biden wrote. “To explain this as a protest that has just gotten out of control. It did not happen.”

Some right-wing politicians and institutions have also condemned attempts to downplay the January 6 attack.

For example, the Society for the Rule of Law, an organization founded by conservative lawyers and judges, has argued that the extraordinary nature of the storming of the US Capitol demands harsher punishment.

“(Trump’s) statements promising to pardon rioters make a mockery of the rule of law and we condemn them in the strongest possible terms,” ​​the group said.

‘I hope he takes me on a trip’

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

Many accused law enforcement of framing the January 6 rioters. Some have also argued that the violent actions of a few have been used to discredit all present.

Officials have repeatedly denied those claims.

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

However, the Capitol Police have said that five deaths were linked to the riot: one officer, Brian Sicknick, was attacked and died a day later after suffering two strokes, and four others died by suicide in the following months. Died.

Nevertheless, Box defined his actions on January 6 as an act of free speech, protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“Any defendant of January 6, whether incarcerated or on the FBI list or walking free today, has done anything other than engage in protected First Amendment activities, redress our grievances, and listen to our concerns before the world. Which is without question. A 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. jail after prosecutors showed evidence 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 expressing anger during court proceedings.

But the fellows have been released on probation, which restricts them to an 80 km (50-mile) radius around Washington, DC. He participated in Sunday’s protest outside the DC Detention Center wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a sign of his continued support for Trump.

“I just hope (Trump) will spare me so I can leave and get on with my life,” Fellows said. He said he wanted to restart the tree and chimney businesses he ran before his arrest.

‘Donald Trump’s expansion’

The vigil was first started by Mickey Witthoft, the mother of Ashli ​​Babbitt, the woman who was shot by Capitol Police as she attempted to climb through a broken window on January 6.

Nicole Reffitt has been one of the main organizers ever since. Her husband, Guy Reffitt, was the first defendant in the January 6 case to be convicted in 2022. Subsequently, he moved from Texas to Washington, DC to help other defendants with legal proceedings.

“When you have the full force of the United States government against you or your loved one, it’s a very scary feeling and very intimidating,” he told Al Jazeera.

Guy Reffitt was convicted of civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and being in a restricted building with a firearm.

A video recording from January 6 shows Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia, saying, “I just want to see (House Speaker Nancy) Pelosi’s head hit every f**king stairwell on her way out ” He was sentenced to almost seven years in prison.

Nicole Reffitt, who hopes relief from Trump is on the way, says politics distorted justice in her husband’s case.

He and his fellow protesters set up an “advent calendar” to mark the days until Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

“I saw half-truths and exaggerations used as facts of the law, and a D.C. jury saw my husband convicted as an extension of Donald Trump,” Reffitt said. “Justice in America shouldn’t be done this way.”