Members of the House Oversight Committee on Friday visited the Washington, D.C., prison where some of the indicted are being held on Jan. 6 and offered contrasting details of conditions inside the facility.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who led the trip, painted a picture of constitutional violations and overall abuse, while her Democratic counterparts said the defendants were not being treated as normal.
“Their due process rights are being violated. And they have been mistreated and treated as political prisoners,” Greene, R-Ga., told reporters after the tour, Florida’s Reps. Flanked by fellow Republicans on the committee including Byron Donalds. Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Mike Collins of Georgia.
Greene, who was previously jailed in November 2021, enlisted House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., to organize the trip for members of Congress. worked with. Comer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment about Friday’s visit.
GOP Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, who was also present for the tour, was seen hugging Mickey Witthoft, the mother of Ashley Babbitt, a rioter who was shot by police on Jan. Hui had jumped from the window. Congress members fled.
On Friday’s tour, the two Democrats disputed the prison and the Republican characterization of the Jan. 6 defendants.
Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, a former public defender, described the visit as “political theater,” adding that she “didn’t see anything that was dangerous.”
California Representative Robert Garcia told reporters that the defendants were being “treated very fairly,” adding that Republicans were “treating these insurgents as if they were pseudo-celebrities.”
Of the nearly 1,000 people arrested, the Washington Department of Corrections has held 20 people charged in connection with the January 6 riots, according to an analysis this month by Just Security. Nine of the 20 have been convicted or pleaded not guilty, and just three defendants in a D.C. jail have not been charged with physically assaulting law enforcement officers during the attack on the Capitol.