Trump-Backed Candidate Rants About ‘Political Prisoners’ at Pro-Rioter ‘Justice for J6′ Rally’
Joe Kent, a Trump-endorsed candidate challenging Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA), called the Jan. 6 rioters who have been charged with various crimes “political prisoners” during a speech at the Justice for J6 rally on Saturday.
“Our fellow citizens when their constitutional rights are taken, if we do not speak out against that we are guilty of standing by and watching those rights erode,” he said. “Make no mistake what governments do overseas, they will do here and they’ve already started.”
“It’s Banana Republic stuff when political prisoners are arrested and denied due process,” Kent continued. “That happens overseas all the time. Unfortunately, we conducted operations like that when I was in Iraq serving overseas. And it did nothing but further radicalize people. It is very dangerous.”
Kent then blasted Democrats for allowing the arrested Jan. 6 rioters to be “detained and have their due process denied.”
“That’s not the way this works — this is a slippery slope and we are on it right now,” he said before encouraging the rally-goers to call their representatives and “show up at every single rally for these political prisoners.”
According to the Justice Department, “at least 165 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including over 50 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.” Over 55 people have been charged with entering a restricted area with a “dangerous or deadly weapon.”
The more common charges included entering restricted federal grounds and impeding/obstructing an investigation.
Insider reported that a total of 643 Capitol rioters have been charged so far.
The Washington Post has reported that of the 643, only “78 remain jailed pending trial, with a majority of those still detained accused of assaulting police officers or some of the worst violence seen that day.”
The Post added that “Defendants are being jailed pending trial at lower rates than federal defendants nationwide charged with similar offenses.”
Kent argued that defending the Capitol rioters was about defending democracy and was about what America’s forefathers, veterans, and law enforcement have worked for — including the Capitol Police who were present on Jan. 6.
He said he was “extremely grateful” for the Capitol Police officers at the rally on Saturday, as well as those who were there on Jan. 6.
“They are not our enemies,” Kent told the crowd. The Capitol Police faced significant right-wing criticism due to the killing of Ashli Babbitt. The responsible officer, Michael Byrd, was fully exonerated.
“Our enemies are those that will deny people of their constitutional rights and then take a narrative that labels all of us as terrorists or insurrectionists for just questioning things,” Kent continued. “It’s our God-given right and duty as Americans to actually question things, to question the narrative.”
Watch above, via video from Brendan Gutenschwager
