WASHINGTON ― House Republicans have launched an investigation into the alleged mistreatment of Donald Trump supporters locked in the District of Columbia Jail on charges related to the January 6, 2021 riots at the US Capitol.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.), along with committee members Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Clay Higgins (R-La.), want the government of the District of Columbia to provide the catalog on January 6. the prisoner’s complaint and an explanation of why his trial has not yet begun.
In a letter to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser, the Republican said he was concerned the city was “violating the constitution and human rights.”
The request comes amid a broader effort by Republicans to rewrite the history of the Capitol riots at the same time Fox News host Tucker Carlson told millions of viewers that the riots were more of a tourist visit than an uprising. Carlson said his false claims have been backed up by hours of video footage provided specifically to him by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
Greene has long lamented the impeachment of accused Capitol rioters at the DC Jail, a facility notorious for problems such as broken doors, broken air conditioners and inmate deaths. Greene said last year, before he was named to the Oversight Committee, that he would push for an investigation.
In the letter, Republicans said they were not investigating the prison — only the misdeeds of Trump supporters locked up there, who Greene called political prisoners.
“The Committee is concerned by reports that the detainees of January 6 face a unique form of persecution because of their politics and beliefs, which represent a number of human rights abuses,” the Republic wrote.
The attack on the Capitol began after Trump held a rally where he lied that the 2020 election had been stolen from him and was a joint meeting of Congress to certify the Electoral College count. Of the approximately 1,000 people charged with riot-related crimes, more than 500 have pleaded guilty and 53 have been found guilty at trial.
Federal criminal defendants are usually not held in jail before trial, unless they are accused of violent or sexual offenses, have a prior criminal record or the government convinces a judge that they can flee. Greene told HuffPost this week that some of the defendants arrested on January 6 while awaiting trial just trespassed on the Capitol grounds.
“There are a lot of people out there who aren’t accused of violent behavior,” Greene said. Neither he nor his office shared any specific examples.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia — the federal prosecutor overseeing the January 6 case — told HuffPost this week that there are about a dozen Capitol siege defendants in pretrial detention.
“Almost all of these defendants were charged with assault and none were charged with misdemeanor offenses,” the spokesman said.
In December, Greene participated in an event where several Capitol rioters accused of violent crimes spoke by phone from behind bars and asked for donations online.
A spokesperson for the DC Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment.