Capitol Hill riot prisoners wait for Mr. Trump’s pardon

A flash of light flashed from the prison window, amid cheers from the crowd on duty outside. This signal has become an almost nightly tradition at Washington Central Prison. When it begins to get dark, those imprisoned inside will turn the lights on and off once, as a sign to the crowd of their support.

That action especially aroused excitement for about 20 people who gathered on the sidewalk outside the prison on January 5, despite the cold weather.

It was the night before the fourth anniversary of the Capitol Hill riot on January 6, 2021, when thousands of people stormed the US Capitol building in Washington in an attempt to overturn the previous election results with a loss for for Republican candidate Donald Trump.

For nearly 900 days, this group has regularly gathered to show support for those convicted in the riot, some of whom are being held at Washington Central Prison.

The mood of those inside is currently very excited, strongly motivated by Mr. Trump’s spectacular election victory last November.

His second term will begin in just two weeks. As part of his agenda, Mr. Trump has promised pardons for those convicted for their actions four years ago when they stormed Capitol Hill.

“The energy here today is absolutely amazing,” Dominic Box, who is in jail for breaking and entering and causing chaos at Capitol Hill, said in a call from prison. Box’s words were broadcast over loudspeakers by outside supporters.

Box said he is full of hope as President-elect Trump’s inauguration is about to take place. “We expect amnesties to be issued soon, possibly this weekend,” he said.

“Many people, including me, have started to pack up,” Box added. “Eventually we will all walk out of this prison door.”

According to the US Department of Justice, 1,583 people have been charged in connection with the riot on January 6, 2021, with acts such as attacking, resisting or obstructing law enforcement officers, or assault with weapons. deadly gas.

Amnesty for those convicted in connection with the Capitol Hill riot will be a priority for Mr. Trump after taking office, observers say.

He has long claimed, without providing evidence, that the 2020 election was “stolen” due to widespread vote fraud. In a state case in Georgia and a federal case in Washington, Mr. Trump is accused of leading a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results.

But Trump denied the criminal charges against him, calling them a “political witch hunt”. From his own situation, Mr. Trump also described the sentences for the defendants who rioted on Capitol Hill four years ago as unfair.

He repeatedly called these people “political prisoners” or “hostages”, and pledged to review their cases “in the first hour” he returned to the White House.

The statement from the US President-elect shows Americans’ different perspectives on the day of the riot.

Trump’s supporters largely dismissed their actions as a simple protest, while Democrats emphasized the violence of the attack, which took place as lawmakers were certifying the results of last year’s election. 2020.

US President Joe Biden on the weekend once again described the riot as “a real threat to democracy”. In the article published in the newspaper Washington Posthe condemned President-elect Trump’s attempt to recast the Capitol Hill riot as a patriotic act.

“A relentless effort has been made to revise, even erase, the history of that day, to explain it as a protest that had just begun to spiral out of control. That is not what it was. happened,” President Biden wrote.

Some right-wing politicians and organizations also condemned efforts to downplay the severity of the riots.

The Rule of Law Association, an institute founded by conservative lawyers and judges, argued that the nature of the Capitol Hill riot made it necessary for participants to be severely punished.

“Mr. Trump’s promise to pardon those who caused the riots is an act that disregards the rule of law and we have condemned them in the strongest terms,” ​​the group said.

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

Many people accuse law enforcement of trying to trap those who caused chaos in the US Congress four years ago. Others believe that the violent actions of a few people were used to smear all those present that day.

The government has repeatedly denied such claims.

In a phone call with the crowd outside the detention center, Box reiterated his claim that no Capitol Hill police officers died as a direct result of the attack.

However, the Capitol Police confirmed that five officers died in connection with the riot, including police officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked and died a day later after suffering two strokes, and four others. committed suicide in the following months.

However, Box still considers his work an act of free speech, protected by the First Amendment of the US constitution.

“None of the defendants who participated in the events of January 6, whether in custody or on the FBI list or free today, did anything other than participate in these activities.” protected under the First Amendment to express our grievances and concerns to the world about the election that was certainly stolen in 2020,” Box stated.

Brandon Fellows, 30, was also charged in the riot. He spent nearly three years in a Washington jail, after prosecutors presented evidence that he broke into the Capitol building through a broken window and smoked marijuana in the senator’s office. Dr. Jeff Merkley.

Fellows was later charged with contempt of law for his outburst during court proceedings. He was later released, but was placed under house arrest and not allowed to travel more than 50 miles from Washington. Fellows attended the January 5 protest outside the Washington detention center wearing a MAGA hat, a sign that he continues to support President-elect Trump.

“I just hope that Mr. Trump will pardon me so I can get out of Washington and start my life over again,” Fellows said, adding that he wants to restart his tree and chimney business. which he ran before his arrest.

The nighttime gatherings were initiated by Micki Witthoeft, mother of Ashli ​​Babbitt, the woman shot dead by police when she tried to enter the parliament building through a broken window on January 6, 2021 .

Among the protest organizers was Nicole Reffitt. Her husband, Guy Reffitt, was the first defendant involved in the riot to be sentenced in 2022. She later moved to Washington from Texas to help other defendants with the proceedings.

Nicole still believes that her family was targeted and “pressured” by the government.

“It’s a very scary feeling,” she said.

Guy Reffitt was sentenced to nearly 7 years in prison on charges of disturbing public order, obstructing legal proceedings and bringing weapons into parliament.

A video of the scene on January 6, 2021 shows Reffitt, a member of the Texas Three Percent militia, saying “I just want to see Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s head hit every damn step” “.

With the hope that Mr. Trump will soon pardon her husband, Nicole still asserts that politics has distorted justice in Guy’s case.

She and other protesters created a countdown calendar to calculate the time until the President-elect’s inauguration. They have never been as full of hope as they are now.