WASHINGTON (AP) – Supporters of President Donald Trump have descended on the nation’s capital to applaud his baseless allegations of electoral fraud pending a vote in Congress to confirm Joe Biden’s election victory.
The president is expected to address his supporters in person at a Wednesday morning rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.
Just blocks from the White House, protesters – many without masks – gathered in Freedom Plaza on Tuesday to denounce the vote in the Electoral College. As the temperature dropped to the low 40s and steady rain flooded the streets, hundreds stayed in the square until dark.
“I’m just here to support the president,” said David Wideman, a 45-year-old firefighter who traveled from Memphis, Tennessee.
Wideman acknowledged that he was “confused” by a string of losses from the president’s legal team in their attempt to reverse the election results and did not know what options Trump still had.
“I’m not sure what he can do at the moment, but I want to hear what he has to say,” Wideman said.
Trump tweeted his support for the protesters: “Washington is inundated with people who don’t want an election victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats. Our country has had enough of it, they don’t take it anymore! We hear (and love) you from the Oval Office. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! “
Speakers included former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, who the president pardoned after being convicted twice of lying to the FBI in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“We are at a melting pot moment in the history of the United States,” Flynn said to the mostly maskless crowd. “This country is now awake.”
The protests coincide with Wednesday’s congressional vote, which is expected to confirm the results of the electoral college, which Trump continues to dispute.
In a Tuesday night tweet, Trump called on Democrats and fellow Republicans to look at the “thousands of people pouring into DC.” In another tweet, he warned that antifa, the umbrella term for left-wing militant groups, that Trump has said he is a terrorist organization should stay out of Washington.
The gatherings featured local officials and law enforcement officials bracing for potential violent street clashes. Many businesses in downtown Washington closed their windows, worried the protest could turn into unrest in May and June, when dozens of businesses were destroyed.
Columbia County Mayor Muriel Bowser called in National Guard troops to join the city’s police force. She urged residents to stay away from downtown Washington and avoid confrontation with anyone “looking to get into a fight.” However, 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 states on the battlefield and former Trump Attorney General William Barr have said there was no widespread election fraud. Nearly all of Trump’s and his allies’ legal challenges have been rejected by judges, including two challenges rejected by the Supreme Court.
A pro-Trump rally on December 12 ended in violence as hundreds of Trump supporters, dressed in the signature black and yellow of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, sought confrontation with a collective of local activists who tried to keep them from Black . Lives in Matter Plaza, an area near the White House. At least two local black churches had taken down Black Lives Matter banners and set them on fire.
On Monday, police arrested Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio, 36, after arriving in Washington ahead of this week’s protests. Tarrio was charged with burning one of the Black Lives Matter banners in December and was found with two large firearms magazines, police said. A judge signed an injunction on Tuesday banning Tarrio from entering the District of Columbia, with very limited exceptions related to his criminal case.
In addition to the National Guard, federal agents were also on standby should they be needed in the city soon this week.
The federal Bureau of Prisons said that about 100 “specially trained officers” were sent to Justice Department headquarters to assist other security personnel, but would “remain in a reserve capacity unless necessary.”
The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said that unlike during the May and June unrest in Washington, it did not intend to send agents from customs and border protection to the demonstration Wednesday.
“At the moment we have not been asked to bet. However, we have a modest rapid response force that will be on standby in case our assistance is requested, ”said the agency’s acting commissioner Mark Morgan.
The organizers planned to get into the night on Tuesday and on the Ellipse all day Wednesday. An afternoon march was also scheduled to the Capitol, where Congress will vote to confirm election results. A number of prominent Trump supporters were expected, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, who was pardoned by the president.
Stone was convicted of lying to Congress while investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and sentenced to three years in prison. Trump commuted the sentence when Stone appealed and later fully pardoned.
A pro-Trump rally in November drew about 15,000 participants. The December 12 meeting drew smaller numbers, but a larger contingent of Proud Boys.
During previous pro-Trump protests, police shut down Black Lives Matter Plaza themselves, but the clashes spilled over into the surrounding streets. Black Lives Matter Plaza closed on Tuesday.
“We know historically from the last few demonstrations that BLM Plaza was a focal point,” Contee said a day earlier. “We want to make sure that is not a problem.”