Greene, Democrats offer tale-of-two-jails after visit with Jan. 6 defendants

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and a pair of Democratic lawmakers supplied a tale-of-two-jails on Friday after a bunch visited the Washington, D.C. jail, the place pre-trial Jan. 6 defendants are being held.

Greene led the journey to the D.C. jail and was joined by different members of the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee from each events. Greene — who beforehand visited the ability in November 2021 and has been pushing to return since — earlier this month stated she wished to tour the jail to handle “the human rights abuse” inside.

However after rising from the ability, lawmakers from reverse events supplied contrasting accounts of the situations they’d simply witnessed.

“What we noticed in the present day is precisely what we’ve recognized all alongside — it’s a two-tiered justice system, and there’s a really completely different remedy for pre-trial Jan. 6 defendants and the inmates or, you understand, different charged defendants and inmates,” Greene informed reporters exterior the jail. A protester blew a loud whistle throughout her remarks.

“These males are being held, their due course of rights have been being violated, they usually have been mistreated,” she added, calling the defendants “political prisoners.”

Greene stated the group was not capable of tour the whole jail, however they did go into the Jan 6 pre-trial defendant wing.

“They informed us tales of being denied medical remedy, they informed us tales of assault, they informed us tales of being threatened with rape and guards laughing about it,” she stated.

The congresswoman did, nonetheless, say that there had been “some modifications” since her earlier go to to the ability, noting that the jail was cleaner. However she claimed that the inmates needed to “clear up, scrub the flooring, scrub the bogs, scrub their cells and paint the whole space, and that occurred on this previous week” earlier than lawmakers have been allowed to tour the ability.

After the go to, the 2 Democrats who took the journey to the jail — Reps. Robert Garcia (Calif.) and Jasmine Crockett (Texas) — rejected Greene’s description of the situations Jan. 6 defendants have been in.

“These are folks which can be being handled fairly pretty,” Garcia informed MSNBC’s “Deadline: White Home” throughout an interview. “These have been situations the place they’ve entry to medical care 24 hours a day, they’ve tablets for leisure. Clearly they’re being handled by the parents which can be there with what their wants are, they will talk with their households, they usually’ve executed an enormous hurt to our nation.”

“And so to see Marjorie Taylor Greene proper now happening media, mendacity concerning the go to, saying that they have been in horrible situations, is simply not true,” he added.
Crockett — who beforehand labored as a public defender — stated she witnessed “privileged folks” throughout her go to to the jail in an interview with MSNBC’s “The ReidOut.”

“The privilege that I noticed was really fairly astounding, despite the fact that we have been supposed to speak about or evaluation how dangerous the situations have been,” she added. “If something, I’ve by no means seen a jail that afforded so many privileges to anybody and as I stated, I’ve been licensed in Texas, Arkansas and in federal courts for nearly twenty years.”

The Texas Democrat stated “it’s sort of like there’s seemingly two variations of what occurred on Jan. 6; I had a very completely different expertise strolling into this jail.”

Greene and two different GOP lawmakers despatched a letter to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) earlier this month asking that she direct the D.C. Division of Corrections to rearrange for lawmakers “to go to and evaluation” the amenities.

“The DC Jail Services’ reported mistreatment of pre-trial detainees related to the occasions on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, increase the Committee’s and Members’ considerations that DC and DOC is violating detainees’ constitutional and human rights,” the letter reads.

Final yr, dozens of Jan. 6 detainees requested to be transferred to the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, claiming that there was “black mildew” within the facility and “worms” of their meals.

The request got here to fruition on Friday, when a bunch of bipartisan lawmakers visited the ability. The Washington Submit famous that the Jan. 6 defendants have been within the newer Correctional Remedy Facility, and never the Central Detention Facility, which is older.

Garcia and Crockett have been the one two Democrats to attend. A spokesperson for Oversight Democrats on Friday stated the Democrats on the journey “will reduce by Republicans’ makes an attempt to whitewash the harmful realities of January 6.”

“There must be somebody that was gonna hold them trustworthy,” Crockett stated after the go to. “I imply, we all know that the those who have been happening this journey — particularly the one which led this journey — they’ve just a little little bit of a problem with the reality.”

A lot of different Republican lawmakers joined Greene, together with Reps. Byron Donalds (Fla.), Eli Crane (Ariz.) and Anna Paulina Luna (Fla.).

Following the go to to the jail, Greene claimed that Jan. 6 was not an rebellion.

“Now for 2 years, we’ve heard the story from the folks on the Jan. 6 committee, we’ve heard the story about the way it was an rebellion and I’m gonna let you know one thing proper now, it was not an rebellion,” Greene stated. “And President Trump didn’t inform anybody to enter the Capitol that day. And as a member of Congress who lawfully objected towards Joe Biden’s electoral faculty votes, I used to be following my obligation and so have been my colleagues that additionally did the identical factor.”

“What we’ve got to do is we’ve got to work as exhausting as attainable to defund the two-tiered justice system. And we’ve got to return freedom and due-process rights to those pre-trial Jan. 6 defendants,” she added.

Garcia stated the “worst half” of the go to was “after we really noticed the inmates, the Republicans rushed to them like they have been celebrities.”

“Speaking to them, patting them on the again, interacting with them. These are people that confirmed no regret,” he added, referring to the Jan. 6 defendants.