Wrapped up in their thick coats, around ten people face the cold outside a Washington prison. They pray and sing their support for those on the other side of the gate, detained for their role in the attack on the Capitol after Donald Trump’s defeat three years ago.
Almost every evening, these defenders of the former president gather in this “freedom corner”, in a quiet neighborhood of the American capital, to share pizzas, hot chocolates, support their loved ones and convey a political message.
“I have the feeling that it is important to show the other families of January 6 that they can hold on, that they will be fine,” Nicole Reffitt explains to AFP. Her husband was the first to be convicted for his role in the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, when Congress certified Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
This small nighttime crowd waving American flags is not isolated: many Americans still believe that, despite all evidence to the contrary and as a new election year begins, Donald Trump won the election in 2020.
“Political prisoners”
Nearly 1,300 people have been charged in the sprawling case of the Capitol assault, and around 40 of them are currently in pre-trial detention awaiting sentencing in this Washington prison, according to this small group.
It was formed from 2022, notably around the mother of Ashli Babbitt, an attacker who was killed by the police on January 6. “After Ashli was killed, I wanted to give her a voice,” says her mother, Micki Witthoeft. “I think she would have supported the men inside.”
If she says she is not in favor of granting pardon to all those involved that day, she assures that they were condemned too harshly.
That evening in front of the prison, the police monitor the circle of faithful, while some broadcast these small ceremonies live on YouTube. And as is often the case, they call those inside on the phone, whom they refer to as “political prisoners”.
“A joke”
The latter talk, during their few authorized minutes, about the weather, the news of the day, or even ask for financial assistance. At 9:00 p.m., several calls were made at the same time to sing the American anthem together.
It is this spirit of solidarity that Nicole Reffitt seeks, to be the “field team” who brings warmth and comfort to other families and helps some of the accused relatives during court hearings. At the beginning of January, when Joe Biden, 81, launched his campaign by directly attacking Donald Trump, 77, she preferred “more youth” to lead the country.
On the phone, Tamara Perryman, whose husband is accused of violence against a police officer on January 6, 2021, discusses the election with another inmate of the assault on the Capitol, Frank Rocco Giustino. “You are not really delinquents,” she tells him, he agrees and denounces it “a prank,” before the phone cuts off after the authorized time limit.
To end their evening in the light of the street lamps, these watchmen hold each other by the shoulders in a circle and sing together “God bless the USA”, the famous patriotic ode on which Donald Trump takes the stage during his meetings.
