Contingent of Republicans Weigh Defunding DOJ Over Mistreatment of Jan. 6 Prisoners

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), with colleagues Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) (left), speaks at a press conference addressing the treatment of the Jan. 6 detainees at the D.C. jail in Washington on Dec. 7, 2021. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images)

During a field hearing on the Jan. 6 Capitol breach, a contingent of House Republicans weighed using the power of the purse to respond to alleged civil rights violations of Jan. 6 prisoners and defendants.

The hearing, hosted in the Capitol Visitor Center and open to the public, focused on the investigations, prosecutions, and targeting of individuals in the aftermath of January 6th, 2021. It was led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who was joined by Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Troy Nehls (R-Texas), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.).

(L-R): Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) head up a panel on Jan. 6 prisoners. (Joseph Lord/The Epoch Times)

Members of the crowd wore t-shirts calling for justice for Rosanne Boyland, one of the supporters of President Donald Trump killed that day. Another protestor named Ashli Babbitt, an unarmed Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd was also addressed during the hearing, with Nehls calling for an indictment of Byrd and an investigation into Babbitt’s death.

A small but outspoken contingent of Republicans has long sought to focus attention on the treatment of Jan. 6 prisoners and their families in the aftermath of the Capitol breach. Greene, who has been a leading force in this push, has said that defendants jailed in connection the Jan. 6 have faced “nothing short of human rights violations,” including being deprived of basic hygienic amenities like razors and showers, religious services, and visits from their families.

But it’s not only the Jan. 6 prisoners who have suffered, Republicans emphasized during a hearing—family members have also been punished by proxy.

At one point during the hearing, they heard emotional testimony from Geri Perna, the aunt of Matthew Perna, a nonviolent Jan. 6 convict who took his life after being convicted, unable to face the prospect of years in prison for entering the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Perna said that following the suicide, her brother—Matthew Perna’s father—saw a major decline in his condition. Previously diagnosed with Parkinson’s, the suicide decimated her brother’s already fragile health.

“I speak for my family because Matthew’s father cannot,” Perna told the panel through tears.

Government Watchlists

Other witnesses revealed that after the Capitol breach, family members of those accused of having played a role in the breach were placed on government watchlists.

Specifically, several family members, including Matthew Perna’s father, were given “quad-S” designation for flying purposes. Quad-S, a designation one level below the no-fly list, is intended for use on potential terrorists and others who, while being allowed to fly, are deemed a high-security risk.

Brandon Straka, the founder of the “Walk Away” movement who also testified to the panel, reported that his family, too, had been targeted by the quad-S designation after he appeared at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Brandon Straka sits in a simulated jail cell during a demonstration at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) held at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 5, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

These are not the only American citizens who have faced the dreaded “quad-S” classification on their tickets: Terry Newsome, a Chicago dad who exposed pornographic content in his kid’s school and was present in the capital city on Jan. 6, also found himself designated quad-S with no explanation.

Gaetz has already been investigating these allegations, and on June 3, sent a letter to the heads of the Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and FBI demanding answers.

‘Our Tool to Hold the Government Accountable’

Now, these Republicans are weighing using the House’s power of the purse to respond to these abuses, saying that appropriations are Republicans’ best “tool to hold the government accountable.”

Speaking to reporters after the conference, Greene discussed possible legislative responses to the abuses reported against Jan. 6 prisoners and their families.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) participates in a meeting of the House Oversight and Reform Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, on Jan. 31, 2023. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“What our focus is right now, it’s appropriations,” Greene said. “Our power here in the House is the power of the purse. Appropriations are our tool to hold the weaponized government accountable. And that is what our focus is right now.”

But she acknowledged that Republicans would have a fight within their own party to use this tool.

“It’s going to be a fight,” Greene said. “We’re going to have some of our colleagues that are going to want us just to fund the Department of Justice, with no ramifications whatsoever. But we completely disagree with that. And we will be fighting that all the way. We'll use our voting power, and we will be messaging and having as many conversations as we need to have.”

Greene added that she “[doesn’t] care” if it takes all summer.

”This is the most important battle we have,” she said. “American citizens are being treated worse than people that are invading our country with deadly fentanyl, human trafficking, sex trafficking and trafficking children.”

Gaetz agreed, opining that Republicans could use their constitutional power to see about altering funding for individual aspects of monitoring and jailing Jan. 6 prisoners.

“I think that some of the funds that are being used for consistent monitoring for the maintenance of extended prison sentences and probationary periods might need to be looked at in the capital,” Gaetz said.

Change of Venue

He also addressed concerns that Jan. 6 defendants are unable to receive a fair trial in Washington, where over 90 percent of the population votes Democrat. Critics say that this fact alone, meshed with the negative sentiments many in the capital have toward Jan. 6 defendants, means that these defendants are unable to receive a fair trial in the federal district.

Nevertheless, judges in Washington have repeatedly denied change of venue requests by Jan. 6 defendants.

Gaetz proposed that Congress could work to change the jurisdiction of these crimes, so Jan. 6 defendants could face a true jury of their peers.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) speaks during a hearing before the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government of the House Judiciary Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, on May 18, 2023. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

“One thing Congress could do is liberate any litigants from the constraints of jurisdiction in Washington D.C., that we may try to tailor that a little bit more,” Gaetz said when asked how Congress could respond to these venue concerns.

“We’ve heard time and again that people are really concerned about the myopic thinking in this town.

“We can set venue wherever we like,” he added. “And so we do that regularly on other matters, whether it’s various class action lawsuits or other types of product liability or IP litigation, we set venue in specific places due to expertise around the subject area. And so I think that Washington D.C. has got all the wrong expertise when it comes to these types of matters. And I think that the venue reforms really anchor in a specific legislative solution, some of the steps that we have to take.”

However, many Republicans have been silent on the issue, and it’s unclear whether the initiatives proposed could win widespread support.

Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) has in the past criticized the Jan. 6 prisoners, and it’s uncertain if he would support the proposed measures.