WASHINGTON (AP) – Supporters of President Donald Trump have stormed the country’s capital to bolster his unfounded election fraud allegations ahead of a congressional confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory.
The president is expected to address his supporters in person during a Wednesday morning rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.
Only blocks from the White House, protesters – many without masks – gathered in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday to reject the vote in the Electoral College. While the temperature dropped to the low 40s and a steady rain washed down the streets, hundreds remained in the square until evening.
“I’m just here to support the president,” said David Wideman, a 45-year-old firefighter who traveled from Memphis, Tennessee.
Wideman admitted he was ‘confused’ by a series of losses by the president’s legal team in their attempt to overturn the election result and did not know what options Trump had.
“I’m not sure what he can do at this point, but I want to hear what he has to say,” Wideman said.
Trump tweeted his support for the protesters: ‘Washington is flooded with people who do not want to see an election victory stolen by the daring Radical Left Democrats. Our country has had enough, they will not take it anymore! We hear from you (and love you) from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA BIG AGAIN! ”
Speakers include former Trump security adviser Michael Flynn, who pardoned the president after he was twice convicted of lying to the FBI in the special investigation of Robert Mueller’s Russian investigation.
“We’re on a melting pot in American history,” Flynn told the mostly maskless crowd. “This country is awake now.”
The protests coincide with Wednesday’s congressional vote, which is expected to confirm the outcome of the Electoral College, which Trump continues to dispute.
In a Tuesday night tweet, Trump called on Democrats and fellow Republicans to watch the “thousands of people streaming into DC.” In another tweet, he warned that antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing militant groups that Trump said he wanted to declare terrorist organization, should stay out of Washington.
Local officials and law enforcement officers had the potential for violent street clashes at the rallies. Many businesses in downtown Washington have opened their windows, fearing the protests could turn into the unrest seen in May and June when dozens of businesses were vandalized.
Columbia District Mayor Muriel Bowser has called in National Guard troops to help strengthen the city’s police. She urged residents to stay away from downtown Washington and avoid confrontations with anyone seeking a fight. But she warned, “we will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.”
Election officials from both political parties, governors in key battlefield states and Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, said there was no widespread fraud in the election. Almost all of the legal challenges faced by Trump and his allies have been rejected by judges, including two challenges rejected by the Supreme Court.
A pro-Trump rally on Dec. 12 ended in violence when hundreds of Trump supporters, dressed in the signature black and yellow of the Proud Boys, an extremist group of right-wing extremists, sought confrontations with a collective of local activists which they tried to keep from Black Lives Matter Plaza, an area near the White House. At least two local black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn down and set on fire.
On Monday, police arrested Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, after he arrived in Washington ahead of the week’s protests. Tarrio is accused of burning one of the Black Lives Matter banners in December and was found with two high-capacity firearms magazines, police said. A judge on Tuesday signed an order banning Tarrio from entering the District of Columbia, with very limited exceptions to the criminal case.
In addition to the National Guard, federal agents were on standby in case they were needed in the city quickly this week.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said about 100 “specially trained officers” had been sent to the Justice Department headquarters to assist other security personnel, but that they “would remain in a reserve capacity unless necessary.”
The Department of Homeland Security has meanwhile said that, unlike during the May and June riots in Washington, it did not intend to deploy Customs and Border Protection agents after the demonstration on Wednesday.
“At the moment we have not been asked to deploy. However, we have a modest rapid reaction force that will be ready in case our help is requested, ‘said the agency’s acting commissioner, Mark Morgan.
Organizers planned to gather at the Ellipse again Tuesday night and Wednesday all day. An afternoon march to the US Capitol is also planned, where Congress will vote to confirm the outcome of the election. A number of prominent Trump supporters were expected to attend, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, the recipient of a pardon by the president.
Stone was convicted of lying to Congress during the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election and sentenced to three years in prison. Trump overturned the sentence when Stone followed up on an appeal and later issued a full pardon.
A pro-Trump rally in November attracted about 15,000 attendees. The December 12 rally drew smaller numbers, but a larger contingent of Proud Boys.
During previous protests against Trump, police closed Black Lives Matter Plaza itself, but the confrontations washed up to the surrounding streets. Black Lives Matter Plaza closed on Tuesday.
“We know that BLM Plaza has been a focal point over the past few demonstrations,” Contee said a day earlier. “We want to make sure this is not a problem.”