'Sedition Caucus' Decries Treatment Of Jailed Capitol Riot Suspects

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and three other “Sedition Caucus” Republicans held a press conference Tuesday allegedly to decry the conditions at the D.C. jail, which is housing accused suspects awaiting trial for actions during the January 6 Capitol riot. But Greene and her three co-members used the event primarily to further false far-right claims about the insurrection, while wrongly claiming they are being “persecuted” by the government – a talking point Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly used.

“We have a January 6 committee that Nancy Pelosi is leading,” Greene said, falsely. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) is the chairman. “That is nothing but a political witch hunt on Republicans and Trump supporters all across America, and anyone that was at the Capitol on January 6.”

More than 600 people from more than 40 states have been charged. Only about 75 are currently in jail, and the charges are often far from casual misdemeanor ones. USA Today maintains a massive, daily-updated listing that currently contains information on 672 people.

Here are the charges for a recently-arrested suspect chosen at random:

“What’s happening to these people being held in custody is wrong,” Greene continued. “It’s unconstitutional. It’s a violation of their rights. And it is an abuse that I call on every single member of Congress to start paying attention to. We need investigations. It’s outrageous. The American people are purely upset, disgusted and cannot believe this is happening in our country.”

Greene claimed the defendants are “beaten” by guards and called “white supremacists,” although she did not say by whom. Some of the defendants infamously carried the flag of the treasonous Confederacy into the U.S. Capitol.

She also claimed those in the D.C. jail “are told they have to denounce President Trump” and “are told that their views are the views of cult members.” Many QAnon cult members were at the Capitol during the attack.

Greene said they are being treated “worse than we treat terrorists.”

But Greene also used the event to attack the Black Lives Matter movement and to suggest that those who engaged in the BLM protests over the summer of 2020 should have been jailed, ignoring that state and local police forces have prosecuted the few violent protestors – some of whom have been documented as far right wing instigators. Multiple reports found of the several hundred arrested, most were not “far left extremists,” despite what the right claimed at the time.

Greene concluded by blaming “Congress,” not the defendants, for their actions and current circumstances.

“Congress only cares about itself,” the GOP extremist told reporters. “It clearly demonstrates to the American people, it does not care about your business that got burned down. It doesn’t care about the job you lost. Congress doesn’t care about your city or community that was devastated by violence. They don’t care about you taxpayers that have to pay to fix and mend and and they don’t care about the person that assaulted you looted your store or hurt you in this violence. They don’t care about any of that,” she claimed.

Greene has voted against every measure that would assist the American people.

“They only care about themselves, and they’re willing to use the Department of Justice, the FBI, the prisons, the jails, the guards and any means possible to make sure that you never mess with them again,” she claimed, again falsely.

Watch this short excerpt: