Judge in Trump’s election interference case rejects ‘hostages’ label for jailed Jan. 6 defendants

WASHINGTON (AP) — The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election interference case rejected the notion Wednesday that jailed defendants charged with some of the most violent crimes of the U.S. Capitol riot are “hostages” — a label Trump and his allies have frequently used to describe the prisoners.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said the Capitol riot defendants who remain jailed in Washington, D.C., don’t deserve to be called hostages or heroes for their actions during the mob’s attack on Jan. 6, 2021.

“They’re being kept there because they are dangerous people,” Chutkan said during a sentencing hearing for Antony Vo, a man convicted of storming the Capitol with his mother.

During his trial, Vo attended a nightly vigil that supporters of Jan. 6 riot defendants hold outside the Washington jail. The judge previously ruled that Vo’s attendance at the vigil violated a condition of his release.

Chutkan rolled her eyes and shook her head when she learned from a prosecutor during Wednesday’s hearing that the vigil’s organizers refer to their gathering spot outside the jail as “Freedom Corner.”

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