Donald Trump has spent years rewriting the narrative of the Jan. 6 attack, but in recent weeks the former president has leaned toward a specific claim: “Not one of those people had a gun.” said the Republican two weeks ago, referring to the insurgent rioters.
He added a few days later: ‘There were no weapons down there; we had no weapons. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.’ (In context, “we” referred to those who attacked the U.S. Capitol, while “the others” referred to law enforcement.)
Shortly afterwards, Trump sat down with Howard Kurtz of Fox News, the Republican candidate lied again about the unarmed rioters. When Kurtz referred to reality, it was the former president completely incredulous – as if the very idea of the criminals carrying guns was ridiculous.
It’s been a rough week for Trump’s talking point. Bloomberg Law reports this:
A Texas man was found guilty of two felonies, including carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds, and two misdemeanors, during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the Justice Department announced Thursday. According to the DOJ, Mario Mares traveled to Washington with several firearms and ammunition. On the morning of January 6, 2021, Mares and others attended the rally on the National Mall carrying handguns. Mares then walked to the Capitol, entered the restricted perimeter and remained on the Capitol grounds while carrying their pistols.
Federal prosecutors not only issued a press release about a judge finding Mares guilty, but also released a photo of the rioter’s weapons.
Two days earlier, NBC News reports this“A Donald Trump supporter who, federal authorities say, plotted to kill FBI special agents who indicted him on Jan. 6 appears to have been armed with a handgun as he became the fourth rioter to breach the U.S. Capitol , prosecutors said during the trial. Tuesday.”
Unfortunately, this is not the end of the list. It was earlier this year when NBC News reported about John Emanuel Banuelos, who appeared to be filmed firing gunshots into the Capitol on January 6.
The NBC News report added: “While numerous were rioters armed of guns on January 6, it was unknown that no one had actually fired their weapons; Banuelos is the first to be accused of this.”
Despite Republican rumors that the rioters were not armed during the pro-Trump violence, the facts have been clear for some time. To remind this Washington Post report from two years ago?
The full picture of how many people among the crowd were armed before the riot occurred is unclear, but court records, witness statements, and accounts from police officers and rioters have provided mounting evidence that multiple people brought firearms into Washington before January 6, 2021. Six men were believed to be those day for having weapons near the U.S. Capitol, and a seventh who arrived after the riot ended was arrested the next day.
The same report noted a Jan. 6 defendant who explained during his trial that from his vantage point on the west side of the Capitol, he counted eight firearms carried by five people. Other rioters have been charged with bringing weapons onto the Capitol grounds.
A New York Times report highlighted a series of other specific January 6 rioters who were identified as having carried firearms during the attack.
In other words, Trump’s statement “not one of those people had a gun” is getting worse.
This message updates our related previous reporting.
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