Security Heightened As Supporters Of Jan. 6 Defendants Rally Near The Capitol

WASHINGTON, DC — Police took no chances Saturday as protesters gathered in Washington, D.C. for the “Justice for J6” rally in support of the hundreds of people arrested and charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Police in riot gear guarded the streets in a powerful show of force. Security fencing around the Capitol had been reinstalled, and multiple congressional offices were closed. Dump trucks lined roadways, providing another form of crowd control.

The crowd, however, never showed up.

By the time rally concluded around 2 p.m. EDT, a few hundred protesters had gathered in support of the Jan. 6 defendants. Over 600 known defendants currently face charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Rioters committed over 1,000 assaults against police officers, according to prosecutors.

Police on Saturday did work to separate the handful of Trump supporters and counterprotesters who had arrived hours before the rally was supposed to kick off. Overall, the protest remained peaceful.

Police agencies throughout D.C. had ramped up security preparations ahead of the demonstration, where hundreds of protesters sympathetic to the Jan. 6 attack were expected to gather.

The Department of Homeland Security informed law enforcement agencies they are aware of a “small number of recent online threats of violence” connected to the “Justice for J6” rally, including “online discussions encouraging violence the day before the rally.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approved a request from Capitol Police to provide 100 D.C. National Guard troops in case law enforcement requires additional support for the rally. The Guard members will be armed only with batons, not firearms, due to instructions from Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson, according to a Washington Post report.

National Guard troops will be stationed at the D.C. Armory on Saturday and will only be deployed at the request of Capitol Police.

Former President Trump has voiced support for the rally, which was organized by a nonprofit group led by former Trump campaign staffer Matt Braynard.

"Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest," Trump said in a statement Thursday.

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In an interview with the Federalist, though, Trump called Saturday’s rally a setup for Republicans. “On Saturday, that’s a setup,” Trump said. “If people don’t show up they’ll say, ‘Oh, it’s a lack of spirit.’ And if people do show up they’ll be harassed.”

The people who committed violence on Jan. 6 “should be locked up for a very long time,” Braynard told reporters at the rally site on Saturday prior to the start of the event.

“But in that process, many innocent people were swept up and overcharged disproportionately to the way they’ve been treated in the past,” he said.

Braynard called for the U.S. Department of Justice to treat the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 with the goal of overturning the November 2020 presidential election the same way as other people who have protested inside the Capitol.

He cited the people who protested in 2018 at the Supreme Court hearing for then court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and the environment activists who held a sit-in inside the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). In both cases cited by Braynard, the protesters went through the proper security measures to enter the Capitol complex.

The Kavanaugh protesters were handcuffed and arrested inside the Capitol complex after they disrupted the hearing. They were then freed from jail later in the day after paying a fine. About 50 environmental activists who staged a peaceful protest inside Pelosi's office in November 2018 were arrested.

At the Jan. 6 rally, Trump supporters beat police officers and caused widespread damage to the Capitol complex. In total, 138 police officers were injured and five died following the insurrection, four of which were by suicide.

Braynard said it was "stupid of them and naive of them to walk" into the Capitol after their fellow Trump supporters had fought with police to gain entry into the complex. "But that doesn't mean they should be treated like criminal scum like the others who did commit violence that day," he added.

Only a handful of attendees could be seen wearing any type of Trump gear at Saturday's event as opposed to the Jan. 6 event where most of the participants were wearing Trump hats, scarves, or shirts.

On Saturday, a total of four people had been arrested as of 2:30 p.m. In the morning, the Capitol Police stopped a vehicle along Louisiana Ave. NW, north of the Capitol, and arrested two people for felony extraditable warrants out of Texas. One warrant was for possession of a firearm, while the other warrant was for a probation violation, the police said.

At 1:30 p.m., someone spotted what appeared to be a handgun on a man in the crowd. The witness told Capitol Police officers, who detained the man. The man, who did have a gun, was charged with unlawful activities, the police said.

Congressional leaders were briefed on security preparations and intelligence this week and expect law enforcement to be far better prepared for Saturday's rally. On Jan. 6, Capitol Police did not request backup from the National Guard until the building had already been breached, a decision that led to intense criticism and the resignation of several agency leaders.

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