Trump calls people imprisoned for U.S. Capitol attack ‘hostages’

At a campaign event on Thursday, former President Donald Trump alluded to those detained in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, as “hostages,” marking his latest attempt to mobilize his fans who took part in the disturbance.

I refer to them as the ‘J-6 hostages,’ not as inmates. In what has transpired, I refer to them as the hostages. And it’s unfortunate,” Trump remarked during the Houston event.

Trump stood and gave a salute as a song by those who were behind bars for participating in the attack started to play. The song was written with assistance from Trump and the “J6 Prison Choir.”

The riot was an attempt to undo Trump’s defeat to Democratic President Joe Biden in the election, which the front-runner for the Republican candidacy in 2024 continues to assert fraudulently was the product of massive fraud.

In March, “Justice for All,” the song, was made available on several streaming services. The guys in jail sing “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the U.S. national song, as Trump delivers the Pledge of Allegiance.

Although Trump has previously championed the song, his choice of the word “hostage” represents his most recent attempt to paint the attackers as martyrs. Trump has made it a point of emphasis in his 2024 presidential campaign to portray the four criminal charges against him as politicized prosecutions.

Charges have been brought against over a thousand individuals about the Capitol assault. Five police officers died later, some of them by suicide, and four participants perished during the unrest.