Former President Donald Trump is set to make his first trip back to the nation's capital since the January 6, 2021 insurrection to meet with GOP lawmakers. And the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will be keeping him company with a mobile billboard playing video footage obtained from the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
According to NBC News, the billboard will feature an 11-minute video montage, played on a loop, of Trump's speech to a crowd of his supporters on January 6, along with footage of rioters laying siege to the U.S. Capitol immediately afterward. The mobile billboard will follow Trump's motorcade that day as he's shuttled between House and Senate buildings to meet with Republican members of Congress.
"Donald Trump is on Capitol Hill for the first time since the American people watched him rally his supporters to storm the Capitol, launching a violent insurrection to overturn our democracy," DNC spokesperson Alex Floyd told NBC News. "Trump has only doubled down on his dangerous record since then."
READ MORE: Trump fanning flames of Jan. 6 could be 'a real problem' for Republicans in 2024
Trump has not relented either in making the baseless claim that the 2020 election was fraudulent (even his own attorney general%20%E2%80%94%20Disputing%20President,outcome%20of%20the%202020%20election.) said there was no evidence of widespread fraud) or in his endorsement of the participants in the deadly January 6 riot. During a campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada last weekend, the 45th president of the United States referred to the people involved in the deadliest attack on the U.S. Capitol since the War of 1812 as "warriors."
"Those J6 warriors, they were warriors, but they were really, more than anything else, they’re victims of what happened. All they were doing is protesting a rigged election," Trump said on Sunday.
In addition to the "warriors" remark, Trump has referred to those incarcerated for their role in the insurrection as "political prisoners" and "hostages." While on the campaign trail, he has promised on multiple occasions to pardon most January 6 defendants, particularly those held at the Washington, D.C. jail, who are serving sentences for attacking police officers.
Three former police officers who protected the Capitol on January 6 have lately been campaigning for President Joe Biden in various battleground states. Former Capitol police officers Harry Dunn and Aquilino Gonell, along with former D.C. Metro police officer Daniel Hodges, have been speaking to audiences in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, which could play a decisive role in deciding who wins the Electoral College in November.
READ MORE: Nearly all J6 defendants Trump wants to pardon assaulted police officers: security experts
"Donald Trump is the greatest threat to our democracy and the safety of communities across the country today," Dunn said last week during a trip to Pittsburgh. "He has encouraged and continues to encourage political violence. He welcomes it. He champions it. My fellow officers and I experienced that type of violence at the hands of a mob of MAGA extremists on Jan. 6."
The former president has reportedly been in touch with Micki Witthoeft, who is the mother of Ashli Babbitt. On January 6th, Babbitt was fatally shot by a Capitol police officer after she broke through several police barriers and attempted to jump through a window into a room where members of Congress were sheltering in place. Witthoeft said Trump passed along a message "that [inmates are] on his mind, and when he gets in they’ll get out."
Click here to read NBC's full report.
READ MORE: 'I have nothing to worry about': Jan. 6 defendant tells judge Trump will win and pardon him
