A Republican-appointed judge on Thursday denounced as “shameless” efforts by prominent Republican politicians to reframe the Jan. 6 uprising in a positive light, including portraying Trump supporters who dismissed Congress as having done nothing wrong and calling out those convicted of crimes political prisoners or hostages.
“In my 37 years on the bench, I cannot recall a time when such unjust justifications of criminal activity have become more prevalent,” wrote Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the Federal District Court in Washington. “I am dismayed to see distortions and outright lies creeping into the public consciousness.”
The remarks, made in a seven-page filing that Judge Lamberth described as notes for what he had said Thursday at a retrial for a Jan. 6 rioter, amounted to a scathing and extraordinary broadside against a vast web of conspiracy theories. and falsehoods about the attack on Capitol Hill that have permeated the right.
Criticizing the rioter, James Little, for showing a “clear lack of remorse”, the judge used the opportunity to “set the record straight” on what he described as a wider disinformation campaign, citing evidence he has absorbed from presiding over several January 6 prosecutions .
“I have been shocked to see some public figures trying to rewrite history, claiming that the rioters behaved ‘orderly’ like ordinary tourists, or martyring those convicted on January 6 as ‘political prisoners’ or even, incredibly, ‘hostages’.” wrote Judge Lamberth, a 1987 appointee of President Ronald Reagan. “All this is absurd. But the court fears that such destructive, misguided rhetoric could portend further danger to our country.”
The judge did not name the public figures he accused of spreading misinformation. But both former President Donald J. Both Trump and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, the fourth-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, have used the term “hostages” to describe people being prosecuted for trespassing on Capitol Hill and attacking police officers as part of the mob. who tried to block Congress from certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s electoral victory.
Another Trump-aligned Republican lawmaker, Representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia, said in May 2021 that footage of rioters entering the Capitol and passing through Statuary Hall showed they did so “in an orderly manner” resembling “a normal tourist visit. “
And another Georgia Republican, Rep. Majorie Taylor Greene, toured a D.C. jail where the Jan. 6 defendants were being held in March and said they were being “treated as political prisoners” for their beliefs.
Such comments represent broader efforts by many Trump-era Republicans and conservative voices to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 uprising as a patriotic act by peaceful protesters who are now being prosecuted. Polls show that Republican voters increasingly believe them.
Instead, Justice Lamberth wrote, “The rioters interfered with a necessary step in the constitutional process, interrupted the lawful transfer of power, and thereby endangered the American constitutional order. Although the rioters failed in their ultimate goal, their actions nonetheless resulted in the deaths of many people, the injury of more than 140 members of law enforcement, and lasting trauma for our entire nation. This was not patriotism. it was the antithesis of patriotism.”
Judge Lamberth also rejected the idea that the criminal justice system denies such defendants their free speech rights. People have the right to believe and claim that the 2020 election was stolen, the judge wrote, but that does not give them the right to enter a restricted area or riot on Capitol Hill.
“This is a matter of right and wrong,” Judge Lamberth wrote. “The kid can’t admit he was wrong, although he came close today. So it is up to the court to tell the public the truth: Mr. Little’s actions and the actions of others who broke the law on January 6 were wrong. The court does not expect its observations to completely stem the tide of falsehoods. But I hope a little truth goes a long way.”
