Tensions Are Rising Among Jan. 6 Defendants In A D.C. Jail

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🗓️ 14 April 2022

⏱️ 11 minutes

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Summary

A U.S. House investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is entering its final phase before lawmakers' findings become public later this spring.

As that probe continues, prosecutions are running on a parallel track. Dozens of defendants are now awaiting trial and being held in together in a single unit at a Washington, D.C. jail.

While corrections officials have said the accused insurrectionists are being kept from the jail's general population "for their own safety and security," that decision has come with some unintended consequences, including a bitter divide among the defendants.

Tom Dreisbach of NPR's Investigations team spoke to some of the defendants.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	People are still trying to piece together what exactly happened that day.
0:09.2	January 6th, how it unfolded, who was involved, what role former President Donald Trump and his
0:15.0	closest allies played in citing the violence at the Capitol. It's now been nine months since a
0:20.4	House committee formally began investigating the attack. We have interviewed more than 800 people.
0:27.3	We have more than 100,000 documents. It's an intense, wide, professional investigation.
0:36.8	That's Democratic Congresswoman Zolaughgren of California. She spoke to NPR Thursday morning
0:42.0	about the decisions the panel needs to make in the coming weeks and whether or not the committee
0:46.0	will ask Trump to testify. We're looking very seriously at that. Obviously he's a central figure
0:51.8	in this. I am mindful, however, that his track record of truthfulness is a bit squishy. We've
1:01.2	not made a final decision. I personally believe we should invite him in. That's just my view.
1:06.8	The committee has not yet made a decision on that. The panel has entered the final phase of
1:11.9	its investigation before it starts making findings public later this spring. While the investigation
1:17.7	at the federal level continues, the prosecution is running on a parallel track. Some of those
1:23.2	charged in the insurrection have already been sentenced to the verdict in the first federal trial
1:27.7	related to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Guy Reffit, seen here on the Capitol steps,
1:32.8	found guilty on all five felony counts, including others, not even gone to trial yet. Like Edward
1:38.1	Jake Lang, who allegedly beat a police officer with a bat on January 6th, he posted videos on his
1:44.6	Instagram live from the Capitol that day. Or defendant Brandon Fellows. FBI documents alleged
1:54.3	fellows posted an Instagram photo showing himself at the riot on a police motorcycle wearing a fake
2:00.8	beer. That's the photo there. Both Lang and Fellows have pleaded not guilty. And both have been
2:06.8	housed in the same section of the same jail in Washington, D.C., away from the general population.
2:12.7	But consider this, the decision to jail January 6th defendants in the same unit has come with
	...

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