Packing our bags: January 6 prisoners prepare for Trump pardons | Donald Trump News

Washington, DC A flicker 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 Center. When the sunlight begins to fade, the inmates inside attempt to flicker the lights as a signal to their followers.

But this gesture aroused particular exaltation among the twenty people gathered on the sidewalk on Sunday, despite the freezing temperature.

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

For nearly 900 days, a small group has gathered to show support for those convicted of the riots, some of whom are incarcerated at the Washington DC Detention Center.

Still, people's moods inside were good, largely because of Trump's election victory in November. It was an unprecedented reversal of political fortune that allowed the president-elect to bounce back from his 2020 defeat.

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

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

His words were broadcast by fans outside, who held a cell phone to a microphone.

Box expressed hope for Trump's impending inauguration. We expect those pardons to arrive, and by the end of the week, he said.

Many men, including me, started packing our belongings, he added. Each of us will pass through these doors for the last time.

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

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

Political hostages or insurrection?

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

The Republican leader has long claimed, without proof, that the 2020 elections were stolen from him thanks to widespread electoral fraud.

Trump also faced legal risks for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. 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, given its re-election.

But Trump called the criminal charges a political witch hunt. Drawing an analogy with his own situation, he called the sentences handed down to the Jan. 6 defendants, especially non-violent offenders, unfair.

He has repeatedly called these defendants political prisoners and hostages, saying his administration would begin reviewing their cases within the first hour of his second term.

Trump's statements highlight the divergent narratives that have emerged about January 6.

Trump supporters largely dismissed the riot as simply a protest, while Democrats highlighted the violence of the attack, which took place 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.

A woman arranges candles during a vigil in support of January 6 prisoners in Washington, DC [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera]

In a Washington Post column, Biden denounced Trump's attempts to reframe the attack on the U.S. Capitol as an act of patriotism.

A relentless effort is underway to rewrite, if not erase, the history of that day, Biden wrote. To explain this as a protest that just got out of hand. That's not what happened.

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

For example, the Society for the Rule of Law, an institute founded by conservative lawyers and judges, argued that the extraordinary nature of the storming of the U.S. Capitol warranted harsh sanctions.

[Trumps] Statements promising to pardon the rioters constitute a travesty of the rule of law, and we have condemned them in the strongest possible terms, the group said.

I hope he shuttles me

But for the protesters gathered outside the Washington DC detention center, there was no doubt that the legal proceedings were fraught with injustice.

Many have accused law enforcement of trying to frame the January 6 rioters. Some also argued that the violent actions of a few were used to defame everyone present.

Authorities have repeatedly refuted these claims.

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

The Capitol Police, however, maintained that five deaths were linked to the riot: one officer, Brian Sicknick, was assaulted and died a day later after suffering two strokes, and four others committed suicide in the months following.

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

No January 6 defendant, whether incarcerated, on an FBI list, or on the loose today, did anything other than engage in what was purported to be First Amendment-protected activity, to redress our grievances and express our concerns to the world over what is undoubtedly theft. elections in 2020, Box said.

Brandon Fellows, 30, was also charged in connection with the events of January 6. He spent nearly three years in the Washington DC prison after prosecutors showed evidence that he entered the US Capitol through a broken window and smoked marijuana in Senator Jeff Merkley's office.

He was later charged with criminal contempt for outburst during a court proceeding.

But Fellows was released on probation, which limits him to a 50-mile radius around Washington, DC. He attended the protest outside the DC detention center on Sunday, wearing a Make America Great Again hat, a sign of his continued support for Trump.

I just hope that [Trump] commutes me, so I can leave and start my life, Fellows said, adding that he wants to restart the tree and fireplace businesses he ran before his arrest.

Extension of Donald Trump

The nightly vigils were first started by Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli ​​Babbitt, a woman fatally shot by Capitol Police while trying to climb through a broken window on January 6.

Since then, Nicole Reffitt has been one of the main organizers. Her husband, Guy Reffitt, was the first Jan. 6 defendant to be sentenced in 2022. Afterward, she moved from Texas to Washington, D.C., to help other defendants navigate the legal process.

When you have the power of the United States government against you or your loved one, it's a very scary and very intimidating feeling, she told Al Jazeera.

Nicole Reffitt speaks to supporters of January 6 prisoners in Washington, DC [Joseph Stepansky/Al Jazeera]

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

A Jan. 6 video recording showed Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenters of Texas militia, saying, “I just want to see [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosis head hit every fucking step on the way out. He was sentenced to almost seven years in prison.

Hoping a reprieve from Trump is imminent, Nicole Reffitt maintains politics distorted justice in her husband's case.

She and her 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 law and a Washington jury that viewed my husband as an extension of Donald Trump, Reffitt said. This is not how justice is supposed to happen in America.

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