A group of Republican senators wrote Attorney General Merrick Garland Monday to say January 6th rioters who are being prosecuted may be receiving 'unequal justice' – and called for similar treatment of those who clashed with police in protests sparked by the death of George Floyd last summer.
The senators did not defend the rioters who stormed the Capitol during the electoral vote count – saying they 'fully support' prosecutions of those who took part. But they called into question what they cast as a disparity and demanded information from DOJ about tactics authorities used to run down Capitol rioters, while seeking similar information on protests last summer that sometimes turned violent.
'The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is currently dedicating enormous resources and manpower to investigating and prosecuting the criminals who breached the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. We fully support and appreciate the efforts by the DOJ and its federal, state and local law enforcement partners to hold those responsible fully accountable,' the senators wrote Garland.
A mob of supporters of then-U.S. President Donald Trump climb through a window they broke as they storm the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. A group of Republican senators wrote AG Merrick Garland to say there may be 'unequal justice' in the treatment of people who took part in 'mass unrest' last summer and those who stormed the Capitol.
The complaint about 'unequal' prosecutions comes as some Republicans have sought to soften the melee that took place at the Capitol, with Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) comparing rioters to those on a 'normal tourist visit.'
But they pointed to people who 'used peaceful protests across the country to engage in rioting and other crimes that resulted in loss of life, injuries to law enforcement officers, and significant property damage.'
It was a reference to clashes between protesters and police in Portland, Seattle, and other U.S. cities over the spring and summer.
'A federal court house in Portland, Oregon, has been effectively under siege for months. Property destruction stemming from the 2020 social justice protests throughout the country will reportedly result in at least $1 billion to $2 billion in paid insurance claims,' they wrote.
The senators sought information on arrests from protests this summer
They sought information about 'mass unrest, destruction, and loss of life throughout the United States' in the spring and summer of 2020
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., in April compared the riot to a 'peaceful protest'
The letter was signed by Rick Scott (l), Ron Johnson (second from l) and Tommy Tuberville (r), all Republican senators
'We join all Americans in the expectation that the DOJ’s response to the events of January 6 will result in rightful criminal prosecutions and accountability,' the senators wrote Garland.
Among them were Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida, and Ted Cruz of Texas.
Tuberville has said he spoke by phone with former President Trump on Jan. 6th. He says he informed Trump that Secret Service agents had taken former Vice President Mike Pence out of the building – a sign of just how risky the event had become. The episode featured in the impeachment debate.
'Mr. President, they've taken the vice president out. They want me to get off the phone, I gotta go,' Tuberville says he told Trump, who maintained in weekend remarks that he was the victim of election fraud. He said 2020 would 'go down as the crime of the century.'
Scott, who runs the GOP's Senate campaign arm, went to Mar-a-Lago this past spring to present Trump with a new 'Champion of Freedom' award.
Johnson has compared Jan. 6th in comments on Fox News to a 'peaceful protest.'
'Even calling it an insurrection, it wasn't,' Johnson said in April. 'You know, I condemned the breach. I condemned the violence, but to say there were thousands of armed insurrectionists breaching the Capitol intent on overthrowing the government is just simply false narrative.'
The senators wrote Garland: 'As you are aware, the mission of the DOJ is, among other things, to ensure fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans. Today, we write to request information about our concerns regarding potential unequal justice administered in response to other recent instances of mass unrest, destruction, and loss of life throughout the United States.'
The senators asked a series of questions which appeared to put a focus on hardball police tactics.
'Did federal law enforcement utilize geolocation data from defendants’ cell phones to track protestors associated with the unrest in the spring and summer of 2020? If so, how many times and for which locations/riots?' they asked.
'How many individuals who may have committed crimes associated with protests in the spring and summer of 2020 were arrested by law enforcement using pre-dawn raids and SWAT teams?
'How many individuals were incarcerated for allegedly committing crimes associated with protests in the spring and summer of 2020?'
'How many of these individuals are or were placed in solitary confinement? What was the average amount of consecutive days such individuals were in solitary confinement?'
'How many of these individuals have been released on bail?' they asked Garland.
They asked the same series of questions about the Capitol riots – where a series of indictments contained snippets of information about how law enforcement tracked down people who breached the Capitol despite making few arrests on Jan. 6th, when a mob overran police.
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