Members of the Home Oversight Committee on Friday toured a Washington, D.C., jail the place some Jan. 6 defendants are being held and provided contrasting descriptions of situations inside the power.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who spearheaded the go to, painted an image of constitutional violations and general mistreatment, whereas her Democratic counterparts stated the defendants have been being handled pretty with nothing out of the strange.
“Their due course of rights are being violated. And so they have been mistreated and handled as political prisoners,” Greene, R-Ga., advised reporters after the tour, flanked by fellow Republicans on the committee, together with Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Mike Collins of Georgia.
Greene, who beforehand visited the jail in November 2021, had labored with Home Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., to arrange the journey for members of Congress. Comer’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark about Friday’s tour.
GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who was additionally readily available for the tour, was seen exchanging a hug with Micki Witthoeft, the mom of Ashli Babbitt, a Jan. 6 rioter who was shot by police as she jumped by means of a damaged window whereas members of Congress fled.
The 2 Democrats on Friday’s tour disputed Republican characterizations of the jail and the Jan. 6 defendants.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, a former public defender, described the go to as “political theater,” including that she “didn’t see something that was alarming.”
California Rep. Robert Garcia advised reporters that the defendants have been “being handled very pretty appropriately,” including that Republicans have been “treating these insurrectionists like they’re pseudo celebrities.”
The Washington Corrections Division is holding 20 individuals charged in reference to the Jan. 6 riot, based on an evaluation this month by Simply Safety, out of about 1,000 individuals who have been arrested. 9 of the 20 have been convicted or have pleaded responsible, and simply three defendants on the D.C. jail haven’t been charged with bodily assaulting regulation enforcement officers in the course of the assault on the Capitol.
Ali Vitali and Ryan J. Reilly contributed.
