GOP Fallout: Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Jail Visit Pulls Party Closer to Jan. 6 Rioters

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and several Republicans went to a Washington, D.C. Jail to meet some of the people arrested in connection with the events on Jan. 6. During their visit, the prisoners cheered and hollered for something called “Let’s Go Brandon!” They were actually insulting President Joe Biden.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy recently met with the mother of Ashli Babbitt, a veteran who tragically died when police shot her at the Capitol on January 6th. He also gave Tucker Carlson from Fox News special permission to watch some footage from that same day at the Capitol, even though Carlson had spread some untrue stories about what happened.

The House Republicans are trying hard to change the truth about what happened in the Capitol. This was when supporters of Donald Trump took over and tried to hurt people. They want to make it seem like domestic extremism, or violence from people in our country, is not a big risk.

Republicans are trying to make the people who broke into the Capitol building during the January 6th riot look like innocent victims instead of criminals. Even though many of them have been found guilty for serious crimes, Donald Trump is asking for them to be pardoned. Some House Republicans are even calling them “political prisoners.” This is worrying because it’s a way to change what really happened and make it sound better than it actually was.

Heidi Beirich, the co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said that Marjorie Taylor Greene and other Republicans are trying to change what really happened in history. They are showing that something bad that happened to our country isn’t a big deal.

Mr Greene showed people around the local jail on Friday, as almost one thousand individuals were given charges by the Justice Department for their involvement in the attack on the Capitol. The twenty or so defendants being held in jail are folks who fought against police at the Capitol – there was a lot of blood and destruction.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said that she thinks it’s dumb to try and change what happened at the Capitol event because Fox News has 41,000 hours of video showing what happened.

Greene told the Associated Press that “we can’t rewrite history”, but we can show people the truth by exposing what occurred.

After the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, some people in America tried to change how they remembered those times. They wanted to make it look like states had more power than ending slavery or Martin Luther King Jr.’s work.

Congress is now run by the Republicans and they are questioning what happened at the Capitol Building on January 6th. Some people are raising money and supporting people who were charged in connection to that day.

Recently, a Republican group checked how the government treated people who disagreed with school rules and sometimes got mad enough to break things. They’ll soon also check if people’s right to talk freely online is being looked after properly.

McCarthy said that the government might call parents “terrorists” if they go to a school board meeting, but this isn’t something that usually happens.

The Attorney General Merrick Garland recently gave an order to federal law enforcement officers to stop people from causing trouble during school board meetings. He said there had been a big jump in the number of cases where school officials were being harassed or threatened.

The House Judiciary Committee, led by Republicans, did an investigation and found out that in one case the FBI questioned a mom who allegedly told a school board “we are coming for you”. In another example, someone (called a tipster) called into a federal hotline saying that they knew of a dad who was against COVID mask mandates. The caller said this person was likely an insurrectionist because he had lots of guns and seemed angry with the government.

McCarthy claimed that parents should be allowed to go to school board meetings without being called “terrorists”. Even though Greene admitted the Capitol attack was wrong, she argued that there is an unequal justice system where Jan. 6 defendants are unfairly seen as criminals purely because of their beliefs.

Democrats said that is untrue. There have been problems with the local jail for a while, but the U.S Marshals found out recently in 2021 when they surprise inspected it that some parts of it didn’t meet the minimum expectations. The people charged for Jan. 6 were being held in a better part of the jail which wasn’t seen as bad during the inspection.

Two Democratic representatives went on a tour that was led by Republican representative Greene. Before the tour, these two Democrats had visited jail-like facilities before but Rep. Crockett from Texas said this one was “as good as a jail can be”. Congresman Garcia from California noticed the way Republicans treated Jan 6th defendants like stars when they all arrived at the facility; shaking their hands, patting their backs, etc.

When they left, the people on trial started chanting the phrase “Let’s Go Brandon!” about Biden. Garcia said that even though Marjorie Taylor Greene and others treat them like famous people, these are actually brave individuals who have tried to overthrow something—and this should not be forgotten. This story has been corrected to say Ashli Babbitt was in the Air Force, not the Navy.