On the five-year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, one of the most prominent figures from the attack organized a march retracing the steps supporters of President Donald Trump took before chaos ensued that fateful day.
Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the militant Proud Boys, called on people to join him in marching from the White House to the Capitol, as Trump’s supporters did five years ago to try and stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
Tarrio was sentenced to 22 years in prison for seditious conspiracy for having orchestrated the Jan. 6 attack, and was among the more than 1,500 people covered by a sweeping pardon from Trump.
The march Tuesday was meant to honor Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter who died while storming the Capitol. Along with Babbitt’s mother, Al Holt was among the approximately 100 people who showed up.
His reason for gathering, he said, was to “pay tribute to Ashli Babbitt, U.S. Air Force veteran, who was gunned down in cold blood inside the Capitol Building on Jan. 6.”
Meanwhile, Rich Graves was among those who showed up in protest of the gathering.
“Five years ago, I was stunned by what happened and what’s been going on since, where they say it was a day of love. It wasn’t. It was a terrible day in American history, and I can’t let these people whitewash it any longer,” Graves said.
The Associated Press and WTOP’s Scott Gelman contributed to this report.
