Thousands of Trump supporters gather in front of White House for ‘Save America’ rally

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Police led a man away in handcuffs and Donald Trump Jr and girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle gave a rousing speech declaring that the GOP was ‘Donald Trump’s party’ as thousands of the president’s supporters make one last-ditch effort to urge Congress not to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

Authorities expected at least 30,000 people to gather on the Ellipse just south of the White House where backers of the president are demanding that Republicans in Congress refuse to certify Biden’s victory.

The procedural vote in Congress on Wednesday, which will be presided over by Vice President Mike Pence, is largely ceremonial, but Trump has convinced his supporters that there is hope of undoing the election results. 

At least 10 people were arrested for gun possession crimes and other violations and others were seen clashing with counter-demonstrators as thousands of Trump supporters lined up before dawn near the White House on Wednesday. 

Two of those arrested were illegally carrying firearms without permits, according to The Washington Post. 

One man from North Carolina, identified as Thomas Gronek, 46, was detained after he was caught carrying a gun without a license.

The man rode into the capital on a multicolored school bus which was stopped by police near Ninth Street and Constitution Avenue NW.

Police boarded the bus and confiscated a rifle and a handgun as well as a drum magazine that holds additional ammunition.

The driver of the bus did not have a driver license and was also arrested, according to police. 

An inventory of the confiscated items aboard the bus includes a Springfield 9mm handgun, a Ruger .22 caliber rifle, an extended ammunition magazine that can hold 110 bullets, and 300 rounds of ammunition of various calibers.

Police also said they found fireworks. 

DC police and US Park Police also detained a man at Freedom Plaza who allegedly had a handgun tucked under a jacket.

Others were arrested for carrying firearms without a license, crossing police lines, assault, and assaulting police officers.

Two of those arrested are from Texas, two are from North Carolina, three are from Maryland, and one each is from Virginia and Colorado.

The state of residence of one of those arrested is not known as of this writing.

The ages of those detained range from 24 to 52. 

On Tuesday night, police said they arrested Harlan Boen, 48, of Colorado, outside the Wilson Building on the 1300 block of Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

Boen was charged with illegal firearms possession and possession of unregistered ammunition.

According to police, he had 13 cartridges of .40 caliber ammunition. 

Trump was expected to address his supporters later in the morning during a rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House.

Many in the crowd were photographed not wearing masks and gathered in tight quarters, shoulder to shoulder, despite the raging pandemic and the nationwide surge in the number of coronavirus cases. 

The National Park Service issued a permit expecting some 30,000 people to attend though official attendance figures aren’t expected until later on Wednesday. 

Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, gave a rousing speech to his father’s supporters in which he called on Republican members of Congress to ‘be the hero and not the zero’ – or else he would work to unseat them by supporting an opponent in the primary.

‘If you’re gonna be the zero and not the hero, we’re coming for you and we’re going to have a good time doing it,’ Don Jr said on Wednesday.

‘I suggest you choose wisely.’ 

Don Jr added: ‘The people who did nothing to stop the steal – this gathering should send a message to them.   

‘This isn’t their Republican Party anymore. This is Donald Trump’s Republican Party. This is the Republican Party that will put America first.’

Don Jr’s younger brother, Eric, also appeared on stage and spoke alongside his wife, Lara. 

Eric told the crowd of the president’s supporters that he couldn’t believe Biden won more votes than his father.

‘This guy [Biden] couldn’t fill up a classroom, and look at these crowds here,’ he said. 

‘He hides in his basement. No one buys it.’ 

Hours after a humiliating defeat in one Georgia Senate race and the prospect of losing another, Team Trump showed no sign of conceding.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani once again raised allegations of widespread election fraud – which he said also occurred in the Georgia Senate runoff elections.

‘If we’re wrong we will be made fools of, but if we’re right a lot of them will go to jail. Let’s have trial by combat,’ he said, without explaining exactly what he meant by combat.

‘I’m willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation on the fact that we’re going to find criminality there,’ said the former New York mayor. 

Trump and his allies have suffered dozens of losses in state and federal courts with suits charging election fraud. 

After claiming fraud in Trump’s election, John Eastman claimed fraud in the count Tuesday night, which allowed Rev. Raphael Warnock to be called as the winner in one runoff and has Democrat Jon Ossoff leading in another.

Explaining how the fraud he claims occurred happened, Eastman said: ‘You know the old way was to have a bunch of ballots sitting in a box under the floor … They put those ballots in a secret folder in the machines, sitting there waiting until they know how many they need … I can now in that machine match those unvoted ballots with an unvoted voter and put them together in the machine. How do we know that happened last night in real time? You saw when it went to 99 per cent of the vote total, and it stopped.’

He pointed to a point late in the vote count while counties were still tabulating votes – a version of Trump’s complaint that he led in early returns on election night in November. Last night, Republicans led until addition in-person votes came in in populous Democratic-leaning counties.

‘That means they were unloading the ballots from that secret folder,’ he claimed.  

Lou Murray, a life insurance salesman from Boston who traveled to the nation’s capital take part in the rally, said he and many others still hoped Congress and Vice President Mike Pence would not certify the vote.

‘I hope Vice President Pence has courage today and I hope any politician who thinks he has a future shows courage to stand up and do what’s right,’ Murray said.

About an hour before Trump was set to speak, there were massive, dense lines at security checkpoints near the White House. At the Lincoln Memorial, dozens of Trump supporters stood on the steps with large Trump flags.

Nirav Peterson, who flew in from Seattle to attend the rally, said there would be a groundswell of anger and activism if Trump doesn’t serve another term and said Republicans who don’t back him should face primary challenges.

‘People are angry. This isn’t going to go away,’ Peterson said as she took video of the large crowd gathered beyond the steel barriers at the foot of the Washington Monument.

‘You have a huge, huge portion of the people who aren’t going to take it anymore.’ 

Like many others, Peterson was not wearing a mask. She said she opposes the shutdowns prompted by the pandemic and doesn’t believe anyone has died from COVID-19.

More than 350,000 people have died from the virus in the US. 

Organizers planned an afternoon march to the Capitol, where Congress will be voting to affirm the Electoral College results, which Trump continues to dispute.

A number of prominent Trump supporters were expected to attend the protest events, which began Tuesday with a rally at Freedom Plaza near the White House. 

They include Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and longtime Trump ally Roger Stone, the recipient of a pardon by the president.

As temperatures dropped to the low 40s Tuesday night and a steady rain swept onto the streets, hundreds of protesters remained in Freedom Plaza. 

‘I’m just here to support the president,’ said David Wideman, a 45-year-old firefighter who traveled from Memphis, Tennessee.

Wideman acknowledged he was ‘confused’ by a string of losses from Trump’s legal team in their attempt to overturn the results of the election and didn’t know what options Trump had left.

‘I not sure what he can do at this point, but I want to hear what he has to say,’ Wideman said.

Trump tweeted his support for the protesters: ‘Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office.’

In a Tuesday evening tweet, Trump called on Democrats and fellow Republicans to look at the ‘thousands of people pouring into D.C.’

In another tweet, he warned that antifa, the umbrella term for leftist militant groups that Trump has said he wants to declare a terrorist organization, should stay out of Washington.

The rallies had local officials and law enforcement bracing for potential violent street clashes.

Many businesses in downtown Washington boarded up their windows, fearful that the protest could devolve into the unrest seen in May and June when dozens of businesses were vandalized.

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser called in National Guard troops to help bolster the city’s police force.

She urged residents to stay away from downtown Washington and to avoid confrontations with anyone who is ‘looking for a fight.’

But, she warned, ‘we will not allow people to incite violence, intimidate our residents or cause destruction in our city.’

Election officials from both political parties, governors in key battleground states and Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have said there was no widespread fraud in the election.

Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two challenges rejected by the Supreme Court. 

A pro-Trump rally December 12 ended in violence as hundreds of Trump supporters, wearing the signature black and yellow of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, sought out confrontations with a collective of local activists attempting to bar them from Black Lives Matter Plaza, an area near the White House.

At least two local Black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn down and set ablaze.

On Monday, police arrested the leader of the Proud Boys, Henry ‘Enrique’ Tarrio, 36, after he arrived in Washington before this week’s protests.

Tarrio was accused of burning one of the Black Lives Matter banners in December and was found with two high-capacity firearm magazines, police said.

A judge signed an order Tuesday banning Tarrio from entering the District of Columbia, with very limited exceptions related to his criminal case.

In addition to the National Guard, federal agents were on standby, in case they were quickly needed in the city this week.

The federal Bureau of Prisons said about 100 ‘specially trained officers’ were sent to the Justice Department headquarters to assist other security personnel but would remain ‘in a reserve capacity unless needed.’

Trump supporters and members of the Proud Boys clashed with police in the nation’s capital on Tuesday night, one day before Congress is expected to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.

Police attempted to contain the crowd, who hurled abuse at the officers stationed in the streets, and accused them of failing to protect the constitution.

‘You lost both sides of support,’ yelled one man. ‘We had your f***ing back, but we ain’t got your back no more!’

Chants of ‘f*** Antifa’ broke out, and some recited the Pledge of Allegiance as they tried to break through the police lines. 

Earlier in the evening, protesters — many without masks — gathered in Freedom Plaza to decry the vote in the Electoral College.  

Roger Stone, the Republican operative pardoned by Trump in July, told the crowd Trump was ‘the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln’ because he had ‘freed this slave’.

Stone was convicted in November 2019 of lying under oath to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election.

‘I have two things I want to conclude by saying,’ said Stone on Tuesday night. 

‘One. Roger Stone did nothing wrong. 

‘Two. Donald Trump is the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln because he freed this slave. 

‘We will not let him down, and he will not let America down.’ 

MyPillow founder Mike Lindell addressed the crowd to promote conspiracy theories about how Democrats allegedly stuffed ballot boxes. 

He also alluded to the possibility of civil war if Trump’s loss is not reversed.

‘You need to pray for our vice president to look up to God and say, ‘I need to make a decision, Lord,’ and make the right decision for our country,’ Lindell said, alluding to Mike Pence’s role overseeing Wednesday’s Electoral College certification process. 

‘You don’t have a [civil] war when the other side didn’t win anything … they were trying to steal it from us.’ 

As temperatures dropped to the low 40s and a steady rain swept onto the streets, hundreds remained in the plaza into nightfall. 

The speakers included former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom the president pardoned after he was twice convicted of lying to the FBI in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

‘We stand at a crucible moment in United States history,’ Flynn told the crowd. ‘This country is awake now.’

The president was expected to personally address his supporters in Washington on Wednesday during a rally on the Ellipse, just south of the White House. 

The protests coincide with Wednesday’s congressional vote expected to certify the Electoral College results, which Trump continues to dispute. 

Proud Boys’ leaders have shared with their followers that they intend to attend the rally ‘incognito’ and wearing ‘ALL black.’

Tarrio revealed on Parler that ‘the Proud Boys will turn out in record numbers on Jan 6th but, this time, with a twist.’

He wrote: ‘We will not be wearing our traditional Black and Yellow.’

The group’s standard uniform is black and yellow Fred Perry polo shirts, military armor, and MAGA hats.  

Tarrio wrote: ‘We will be incognito and we will spread across downtown DC in smaller teams.’

Joe Biggs, an organizer for the group, confirmed the alleged plans on his Parler account.    

The rallies had local officials and law enforcement bracing for potential violent street clashes.   

Election officials from both political parties, governors in key battleground states and Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have said there was no widespread fraud in the election. 

Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two challenges rejected by the Supreme Court.

A pro-Trump rally on December 12 ended in violence as hundreds of Trump supporters, wearing the signature black and yellow of the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, sought out confrontations with a collective of local activists attempting to bar them from Black Lives Matter Plaza, an area near the White House. 

At least two local black churches had Black Lives Matter banners torn down and set ablaze. 

In addition to the National Guard, federal agents were on standby, in case they were quickly needed in the city this week. 

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, said that unlike during the unrest in May and June in Washington, it did not plan to deploy agents from Customs and Border Protection to the demonstration Wednesday.

‘Right now, we have not been asked to deploy. However, we have a modest quick reaction force that will be on standby just in case our assistance is requested,’ the agency’s acting commissioner, Mark Morgan, said. 

A November pro-Trump rally drew about 15,000 participants. 

The December 12 rally drew smaller numbers, but a larger contingent of Proud Boys.