Jan. 6 rioters, supporters work to rewrite history of the attack on the Capitol
As Former President Donald Trump runs for the White House again, he’s made rewriting the history of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack one of the touchstones of his campaign.
He calls January 6 rioters convicted of crimes at the Capitol and serving federal prison time, “hostages.” He’s also dangled the possibility of sweeping pardons for Capitol rioters.
Over the course of a months-long investigation, ABC News has found Trump’s rhetoric is being welcomed by current and former Jan. 6 defendants and their families. Some are seeking to echo his message on far-right media and even the campaign trail, trying to paint January 6 not as a violent attempt to stop the certification of the 2020 election, but as a peaceful demonstration. Others are in prison, following the 2024 election closely and waiting for a pardon.
“I do feel like a hostage. I can't believe that this is happening," Rachel Powell said. "I mean, any other protester that have done some terrible horrible things, and they've got a slap on the wrist or they've gotten fines."
Powell called ABC News from federal prison, where she is currently serving a more than four year sentence for her actions on January 6.
ABC News pressed Powell — whose seen on video from Jan. 6 trying to smash through a window of the Capitol with an ice axe — on her thoughts about the more than 140 police officers the Department of Justice says were injured that day.
“Well, none of us in here hurt police officers or went there with that intention,” she said.
Powell mailed ABC News a photo that appears to have been taken inside of her federal prison, showing her and three other women she says are fellow Jan. 6 inmates. The words Trump 2024 are written in marker at the top.
“I truly believe my husband is at this point, he is a hostage," Nicole Reffitt told ABC News.
Reffitt's husband was sentenced to seven years in prison for his actions on January 6. Prosecutors say he brought a handgun, body armor and plastic handcuffs to the Capitol that day.
Nicole said her husband’s only regret is what happened to his family after he was charged. Still, she says he had every right to be there that day.
Reffitt is part of a community of protestors who gather every night on a sidewalk outside the Washington, D.C., city jail, which still houses some January 6 defendants.
They advocate for the release of the accused rioters, flying American flags, reciting a roll call of those found guilty, and — every night around sunset — singing a rendition of the national anthem. Accused Capitol rioters incarcerated in that same jail, just feet away, call in live on the phone and sing along in protest.
Trump has played a recording of that jailhouse rendition of the anthem to start some of his campaign events, including his first rally of his 2024 campaign in Waco, Texas.
The vigil, ABC News found, is just one example of a vast network of people seeking to paint January 6 defendants as wrongfully convicted. The movement has shifted from the fringes of the Republican Party in the immediate wake of the Capitol attack, to the mainstream with Trump and other Republican notables echoing the messaging.
For example, ABC News found at least seven convicted Capitol rioters ran for Congress in 2024. Roughly half have already lost their primaries or dropped out.
One of them is Derrick Evans, a former West Virginia House of Delegates member, who served three months in federal prison for his involvement in Jan. 6 and says he doesn't feel shame for his actions.
Evans was convicted of trespassing at the Capitol and attempting to obstruct the certification of the 2020 election, a charge the Supreme Court has recently found was applied in an overly broad manner to January 6th cases. Many alleged rioters convicted of that charge are now seeking to have their sentences reduced.
In Evans’ case, prosecutors use a live-stream video filmed by the then-lawmaker as evidence. Evans later issued an apology for his actions on Jan. 6 and resigned from the state legislature.
"Do I regret what my family was forced to go through because of my actions? Absolutely," Evans said. "Do I regret that I was a part of something that allowed the media to paint this false narrative, to paint something, to twist this narrative that it wasn't? Absolutely. Do I have shame in terms of what I specifically did? No."
After his release from prison, Evans started to publicly cast doubt on the history of Jan. 6. He wrote a book titled “Political Prisoner” and started running for Congress, portraying himself as a political martyr and repeatedly insisting that the Jan. 6 he saw was largely peaceful.
ABC News showed Evans multiple videos he recorded on Jan. 6. In one video, rioters are seen pushing through police barricades on the Capitol’s east front and shoving against police riot shields. But like Powell, Evans tried downplaying the images.
"Show me where someone puts their hands on a police officer," Evans said.
When pressed, Evans did acknowledge rioters assaulted police officers on the Capitol’s west side, which saw some of the most violent moments that day.
"The police officers are the ones that really started the whole violence over there,” Evans quickly added, repeating a claim that Trump has promoted and several Jan. 6 defendants have tried, unsuccessfully, to use as a defense in court.
According to the Department of Justice, over 140 police officers were injured that day. Evans was defeated in the Republican primary race by incumbent Rep. Carol Miller this spring.
While Powell, Evans and Refitt aren't backing down from their stances on the Capitol attack, Pam Hemphill, an 69-year old cancer survivor and onetime MAGA social media notable, told ABC News she has deep regrets about her actions that day.
After her story caught the attention of far-right social media personalities, Hemphill was featured on a post shared by Trump, which claimed that she was being unfairly treated for her actions on January 6th, for which she was sentenced to two months in prison. She received an outpouring of support and still has the letters Trump supporters wrote to her behind bars.
But Hemphill considers any assertion that she was a political prisoner an insult.
"They said, 'well, we gotta fight the government and prove to them they're wrong.' But I was wrong, I was guilty," Hemphill said. "That's what gaslighting is. It makes you feel like you're nuts. 'Oh Pam we had the right to be in there that day, it's our House.' That's all delusional."
Hemphill told ABC News that she will never vote for Trump again. But she’s an outlier. Every other of the more than a dozen January defendants or family members contacted by ABC News for this story said they still support Trump.
According to the Department of Justice, more than 1,400 people have been charged in connection with Jan. 6. More than 500 are charged with violent crimes. And between the thousands of people tied to that day, some have established deep bonds and a sense of community, fueled by a deeply rooted belief that they are being persecuted.
And it’s that feeling Donald Trump has tapped into as he runs for the White House again.
