The crowd cheered and music blared.
Family members, ardent supporters and former detainees gathered outside a Washington, D.C., prison Monday night, swiveling their hips and pumping their fists to a remix of “YMCA” in a scene reminiscent of a Trump rally. was seen.
They were there to celebrate President Trump's broad pardon of nearly all 1,600 defendants on January 6th, but only those who remained in this particular prison on the morning of the presidential inauguration were pardoned. Only about a dozen of the defendants were found guilty. The nightly vigil, which has continued for nearly two and a half years, has become a center of emotional support for those charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol four years ago.
Mickey Wittheft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by police on January 6, 2021, as rioters tried to storm the building, said she would normally give all detainees nationwide. The meeting began with a roll call. . But that's not the case on Monday.
“It's just a variable, so we'll skip it tonight,” Wittoft said. “Everyone's leaving.”
Newly appointed White House Justice Department liaison Paul Ingrassia said Monday's release included two brothers, Andrew and Matthew Ballentine, who were convicted just days earlier. There were only people.
Brandon Fellows, 30, who served time in a Washington, D.C., prison after being convicted of crimes including interfering with the certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s election victory, addressed the crowd. Fellows, who was photographed smoking marijuana in the office of Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., emphasized the long road ahead for those released from prison.
“Keep in mind, guys coming out, it's going to be a little tough. It's going to be tough,” Fellows said.
Mary Pollock, 24, accompanied her father from Florida in hopes of reuniting with her siblings, Olivia and Jonathan Pollock, who had been held in prison after breaking the terms of their release two years ago. was.
“They have continued to lift spirits there,” she said. “They are encouraging other J6 prisoners.”
The scene outside the prison was a departure from the usual vigils held at the back of the facility, beneath windows that allow detainees to peer outside. Incarcerated men and women and their families called supporters throughout the night to update them on the status of their release, but also, as always, to proclaim their innocence.
The crowd was buoyed by Trump's promise to grant sweeping pardons on his first day in office. They were already expecting fulfillment of another of his vows to prosecute his rivals. Trump told NBC News in December that the entire Jan. 6 committee “should be in jail.”
“They should be sitting in that prison. They're not innocent people,” said Tia Myers, 53, of Fort Thomas, Kentucky. She said she was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and was investigated by the FBI, although she did not go there. Inside the building.
Many of the rally attendees sought to rewrite the violent history of the January 6 attacks, a claim Trump himself has supported at rallies, in press conferences and on television.
“I saw police waving at everyone,” Myers said of herself and others who came to the Capitol that day with the false belief that Trump had won the 2020 election. spoke. She quickly added, “Obviously we're not in.”
Scott Tapley, a native of Goshen, Indiana, brought his two adult daughters to Washington for the inauguration four years ago to watch Trump address supporters at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. However, those who went inside said so. So he protested “peacefully and patriotically,” only to be treated unfairly by the judicial system.
“I'm very happy to see them released,” Tapley said. “Today is a day of joy and happiness that cannot be expressed in words.”
Even before Trump officially pardoned them, Payton, 20, and Sarah Reffitt, 28, were restrained in expressing their joy. As the daughters of Guy Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenters paramilitary group who was the first to be charged in the January 6 incident, they saw their lives forever changed by the events of that day.
With tears in his eyes, Peyton said he wished his father, now in custody in Oklahoma, had been home to frustrate him. But her family had a lot of work to do, she added. Her brother Jackson turned their father in to the authorities, and their home was raided 10 days after the Capitol attack.
She said she believed her father should be held accountable, but worried that her father's time in prison and her mother's desire to have him released were “toxic.”
“Everything else was taken away and this is what they're left with.” She added, “They can't just walk away, that's sad.”
