CNN
—
In a formal written statement on Friday, impartial presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeated the wildly inaccurate declare that the contributors within the January 6, 2021, riot on the US Capitol “carried no weapons” – after which, three hours later, stated he was retracting the declare as a result of he had discovered he was incorrect.
The declare that all the January 6 rioters have been unarmed has been made repeatedly by former President Donald Trump – and repeatedly debunked. However Kennedy nonetheless deployed the declare within the Friday assertion that his marketing campaign stated was meant to “make clear his views on the occasions of January 6, 2021” within the wake of his marketing campaign’s controversial comments, in fundraising emails earlier this week, that appeared to downplay the actions of a number of the rioters.
After CNN requested the marketing campaign for touch upon Kennedy’s use of the false “carried no weapons” declare, and CNN and others printed articles that known as the declare false, Kennedy despatched one other assertion saying he was incorrect.
“My understanding that not one of the January 6 rioters who invaded the Capitol have been carrying firearms was incorrect,” Kennedy stated within the follow-up assertion. He famous that “a number of” rioters have been convicted of carrying firearms on the Capitol, whereas “others assaulted Capitol police with pepper spray, bludgeons, and different makeshift weapons.” He stated, “This conduct is inexcusable.”
Information First: The declare that January 6 rioters didn’t carry any weapons just isn’t even near true, as video footage confirmed that very day and as quite a few court docket instances have additional confirmed. Individuals who illegally breached Capitol grounds in the course of the riot have been armed with all kinds of weapons, together with guns, stun guns, knives, batons, baseball bats, flagpoles and chemical sprays. The Justice Division said in its most up-to-date replace on Capitol riot instances that 122 of the individuals who have been charged in connection to the riot “have been charged with getting into a restricted space with a harmful or lethal weapon.”
Kennedy’s Friday statements
Kennedy’s preliminary Friday assertion additionally included a hodgepodge of different claims about January 6, starting from debatable to inaccurate, which have been promoted by Trump and different right-wing figures.
Kennedy issued the assertion the day after his marketing campaign tried to distance itself from its personal fundraising emails that referred to individuals accused of collaborating within the 2021 riot as “activists” who’ve been “stripped of their constitutional liberties.” Kennedy marketing campaign spokesperson Stefanie Spear claimed that language was “an error” by a “new advertising contractor” that didn’t mirror Kennedy’s precise views.
Within the Friday assertion, Kennedy stated that “it’s fairly clear that most of the January 6 protestors broke the legislation in what might have began as a protest however was a riot.” However he additionally pledged that, as president, he would appoint a particular counsel “to analyze whether or not prosecutorial discretion was abused for political ends on this case.” And he stated this: “I’ve not examined the proof intimately, however cheap individuals, together with Trump opponents, inform me there may be little proof of a real rebellion. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or potential to grab the reins of presidency, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’”
About three hours later, Kennedy took again the “carried no weapons” declare. He added within the retraction assertion: “I’ve by no means minimized or dismissed the seriousness of the riot or any crime dedicated on that day.”
Quite a few January 6 rioters carried weapons
Particular experience on January 6 proof was not essential to know the “carried no weapons” declare is fake.
Since early 2021, it has been clear from video footage that there have been a wide range of weapons within the crowd on Capitol grounds in the course of the riot. Prosecutors have since obtained convictions in opposition to rioters who carried the whole lot from a tomahawk ax to a hockey stick.
And whereas it’s potential that most rioters have been unarmed – we’ll possible by no means get an entire stock of any hid weapons carried by the various rioters who have been permitted to go house with out being searched – it has been confirmed in court docket that a minimum of a number of the rioters carried weapons.
Mark Mazza of Indiana introduced two loaded handguns onto Capitol grounds on January 6; he was sentenced to five years in jail after pleading guilty to carrying a pistol with out a license and to assaulting an officer with a harmful weapon (a baton). One other rioter who was armed with a gun on January 6, Man Reffitt of Texas, was sentenced to greater than 7 years in jail after a jury convicted him on multiple charges, together with getting into and remaining on restricted Capitol grounds with a firearm.
Christopher Alberts of Maryland, who had a pistol in the course of the riot, was found guilty on multiple charges, together with illegally possessing the gun on Capitol grounds, and was sentenced to 7 years in prison. Jerod Thomas Bargar of Missouri pleaded responsible to getting into and remaining on restricted Capitol grounds on January 6 with a pistol and received probation.
As well as, Mark Ibrahim, who was an off-duty special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration on the time of the riot, has been charged with crimes together with carrying a firearm on Capitol grounds on January 6; he has pleaded not responsible. And simply final month, John Banuelos of Illinois was charged for allegedly twice firing a pistol in the air after having illegally entered Capitol grounds; his case, too, is unresolved.