A Night Outside a DC Jail With the January 6 Insurrectionist Fan Club

Vashington, DC— For more than 900 days, right-wing protesters have been gathering at 7 in the evening on the corner of 18th and E Sts. SE outside the Washington, DC Central Detention Center. There, they called on the US government to release the accused, who are in prison on January 6. The core members of this group were so dedicated to their cause that they left their lives behind and moved to DC. And while it was cold enough Monday to move the inauguration indoors, it wasn’t cold enough to keep J6ers fans from gathering as they have for nearly two and a half years at the so-called Liberty Corner.

On a typical night at Freedom Corner, protesters spin noisemakers that create a constant blaring noise; they put the defendants’ calls on speakerphone and keep her close to the microphone. The calls and speeches of their imprisoned allies range from complaints about food to discussions of “next time you want to storm the Capitol” or who “needs to brush off the end of the rope.”

So on Monday night, while others were crammed into Capital One Arena to watch Trump’s inaugural parade or prepare for one of the many black-tie nights, a small group of us camped out outside the prison. This time, instead of gathering at the usual corner, we ended up right in front of the main entrance. Regulars, supporters of Donald Trump who came to the inauguration and members of the press waited to see if the new president would follow through on a campaign promise: to pardon the J6ers on the first day.

In the crowd, fans were torn between being mad at the press for being there, or mad at us for not being there enough. Sure enough, J6er has written “kill the media” on one of the Capitol doors, but he can’t someone a pencil in Freedom Corner protesters for an interview with cable television?

I was with two other female journalists when I was approached by two far-right men who are being held live. “Are these your girlfriends?” – asked one man to the other, rudely intimidating. He quickly switched to throwing out random theses. “Do you guys hate America or what? I’m just curious. Hey guess what? I just wanted to let you guys know. Trump won, you morons.”

He decided he wanted to make sure his online audience could see who we were. “Get their faces really good,” he said. (We weren’t hiding, and one of the three of us was a TV reporter.) When he shoved the phone in our faces, we each called ourselves without prompting. “Now I have all your names!” – he announced triumphantly, as if he had solved a great secret, as he left.

But just because one person decides you’re an antifa journalist to be bullied doesn’t mean everyone else does. Some people were happy that the media witnessed their pampering. Brandon Fellows, who was sentenced to 37 months in prison for his part in the Capitol riots (and an additional five months for behavior in court), told me his motorcycle had been stolen the night before, but he didn’t care. Nothing mattered except that the pardon had come and he had celebrated until late the night before. “We were partying like we just did,” Fellows told me around 4:30. in the morning the morning of January 20.

Pro-democracy protesters are being held in jail across the street from Jan. 6 supporters, but that doesn’t stop them from being heard. When a group of several young neo-Nazis appeared, passing by Princess of Anarchy yelled, “Ryan Sanchez, you are a Nazi, and you Sieg Heil about women.”

Sanchez, who was a member of several white nationalist groups, including Identity Evropa and the Rise Above Movement, was watched by a small group throughout the night. The group was easily recognizable by their clothing, which looks like a cross between a school shooter and military cosplay. “Ryan Do Your Sieg Heil”, Anarchy Princess mocked him. “Show the cops you’re a real Nazi.”

“Is it illegal?” one of Sanchez’s friends asked rhetorically, while a grinning Sanchez told her, “You have to earn it.”

Sanchez and his friends seemed to be welcomed by the Freedom Corner crew; J6er thanked Sanchez for his continued support of their community. Though in contrast, it was a different story: Later that evening, at a nearby bar a block from the jail, a patron punched one of Sanchez’s friends in the face. “People died in the Holocaust,” a witness told me, the attacker explained as he left the bar.

The pardon extends to convicted felons, and most of the J6ers in the D.C. Jail were still awaiting trial. Only two, convicted the week before, were allowed to leave on Monday evening. The rest will be released, but the courts need a little more time sign up on the release of those in pretrial detention. A representative of the federal government explained the situation to the crowd. He introduced himself as Paul Ingrassia, the White House’s new liaison to the Department of Justice.

Last summer, Ingrassia threatened to sue me when I wrote that he stood in front of me for almost 20 minutes on rally conducted by white nationalist Nick Fuentes. Ingrassia is an attorney who helped represent Monosphere star Andrew Tate, who is under investigation for multiple felony sex crimes. Ingrassia also defended Tate’s beliefs and coddled Tate on social media. Now he works for the president.

Ingrassia is located in photo two pardoned prisoners late Monday night. “HISTORIC DAY IN AMERICA! 🇺🇸”