Trump claimed there was

Lower than two weeks earlier than Donald Trump might be inaugurated, he advised there have been no weapons within the possession of Capitol riot members on Jan. 6, 2021. His remark got here quickly after he mentioned he’d be contemplating pardons for some who had been convicted of crimes in relation to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

However a overview by CBS Information exhibits a number of Jan. 6 defendants who had been charged in reference to the siege had been carrying firearms on the Capitol grounds. Some pleaded responsible and acknowledged legal misconduct. One Illinois man was accused of firing a gun into the air as rioters stormed the Capitol. 

Trump has been pressed on whether or not he plans to pardon these convicted of violent Jan. 6 crimes, together with those that pleaded responsible to assaulting or beating cops. He has declined to speak about how he’ll consider pardon requests, however advised NBC Information’ “Meet the Press” final month he is “inclined to pardon many” of the defendants instantly upon his inauguration.

When he was requested at a information convention Tuesday concerning the scope of the pardons for these convicted of assaulting police throughout the riot, Trump as an alternative argued that there had been no weapons among the many hundreds of his supporters who had been a part of the Capitol breach.

“There was by no means prices of riot or something like that,” Trump mentioned of the Jan. 6 riot. “But when there have been, this is able to be the one riot in historical past the place individuals went in as insurrectionists with not one gun.”

The declare was instantly refuted by Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat who served on the Home Jan. 6 choose committee probing the assault on the Capitol.   

“He’s making an attempt to rewrite historical past and suppress the reality,” Aguilar mentioned.

Aguilar mentioned, “Our report, in addition to the Division of Justice studies, proceed to point out the quantity of weapons and weapons that had been within the D.C. space and on campus and within the constructing by these violent intruders.”

A CBS Information overview discovered a collection of instances during which rioters allegedly carried or brandished weapons. A number of the courtroom filings submitted by the U.S. legal professional in Washington, D.C., embody proof of weapons allegedly in rioters’ possession.

Prosecutors alleged John Banuelos of Illinois was within the riotous mob and “raised his jacket to disclose what seems to be a firearm in his waistband.”

Additionally they claimed “Banuelos will be seen waving the group in the direction of him earlier than pulling what seems to be a firearm from his waistband. Prosecutors mentioned in a legal grievance that open-source media and closed-circuit tv captured Banuelos elevating the gun over his head and, at roughly 2:34pm, firing two pictures within the air.”  

Charging paperwork embody black-and-white pictures allegedly exhibiting the firearm in Banuelos’ waistband.

Banuelos has pleaded not responsible and is scheduled for a courtroom look on Jan. 17 in Washington, D.C.

Mark Mazza of Indiana, who pleaded responsible in October 2022 to prices linked with the Jan. 6 assault, admitted that he took two firearms to the White Home Ellipse, the place Trump addressed a crowd of his supporters earlier than lots of them  marched to the Capitol. The Justice Division, in saying Mazza’s plea settlement, mentioned that he had “introduced a Taurus revolver, loaded with three shotgun shells and two hole level bullets, into Washington, D.C., to the Ellipse, after which to the Capitol,” including that He “later admitted to regulation enforcement that he was additionally armed with a second firearm, a loaded .40 semi-automatic pistol.” 

Nonetheless, in some unspecified time in the future earlier than 2:45 p.m. that day, in keeping with the Justice Division, “Mazza misplaced possession of the revolver.” Mazza was sentenced to 5 years in jail for carrying a gun and assaulting cops.

Christopher Alberts, who’s from the Baltimore space, was convicted by a jury in Washington, D.C., of felony and misdemeanor prices together with carrying a loaded gun onto Capitol grounds and assaulting regulation enforcement in his Jan. 6 case. He was sentenced to seven years in jail, which he’s serving at a federal penitentiary in Michigan. Prosecutors alleged Alberts, who they mentioned wore physique armor and carried a pocketknife throughout the riot, additionally had with him “in a holster, a 9-millimeter pistol loaded with 12 rounds of ammunition and a further bullet within the chamber.”  

“Alberts additionally wore a separate holster containing a further 12 rounds of ammunition, which included ‘hole level’ bullets,” the Justice Division mentioned.

In response to charging paperwork, a trial was scheduled for this month within the case of Mark Ibrahim, who was an off-duty U.S. Drug Enforcement administration agent.  Court docket paperwork alleged Ibrahim, who has pleaded not responsible, confirmed a DEA badge and firearm throughout {a photograph} taken three minutes after he arrived on Capitol grounds.

The federal government mentioned in its legal grievance that the pictures in proof of Ibrahim’s alleged firearm “are of such excessive decision that the serrations on the slide of Ibrahim’s DEA firearm are seen.”

Mario Mares of Texas was discovered responsible in October for his function within the riot. The Justice Division, in saying the decision, mentioned proof was introduced at trial that Mares and others had traveled from Texas to Virginia simply earlier than Jan. 6, 2021, “carrying with them varied firearms, together with each handguns and rifles, in addition to ammunition,” in keeping with a Justice Division information launch.

“On the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, Mares and others with him attended the rally on the Nationwide Mall carrying their handguns on their individuals however having left their rifles in Mares’ truck,” the discharge mentioned. “Afterward, Mares and others walked down towards the U.S. Capitol constructing between roughly 12:15 p.m. and a couple of:30 p.m., entered the restricted permitter, and remained on U.S. Capitol grounds till roughly 4:30 p.m., all whereas carrying their handguns.”

The Justice Division mentioned “a person with Mares posted to social media {a photograph} of six firearms, magazines, and the hats that seem to have been worn by Mares and others that day on Capitol grounds.” Within the photograph, the weapons and hats had been proven arrayed throughout what seems to be a mattress at a lodge.

Prosecutors additionally alleged that Mares had posted on social media that he “‘imagine[d] that each #patriot ought to on January 6 if you cannot make it to Washington DC you must go to your state capitol and native mayors places of work closely armed and drag out and both jail or execute all of the recognized CORRUPT #politicans for treason!'” amongst different related sentiments.”

And in one of many first wave of Jan. 6 legal instances, Lonnie Coffman was accused by the federal government of driving from Alabama to Washington, D.C., in a pickup truck that “contained a number of loaded firearms inside arms-reach of the driving force’s seat,” together with a 9mm Hello-Level handgun, a Windham Weaponry rifle and a Hatfield Gun Firm SAS shotgun, in keeping with the assertion of offense. 

The pickup additionally contained “a whole bunch of rounds of ammunition, large-capacity ammunition feeding units, a crossbow with bolts, machetes, camouflage smoke units, a stun gun, material rags, lighters, a cooler containing eleven mason jars, and different objects.” And the federal government additionally mentioned that as Coffman walked by D.C., and “within the route” of the U.S. Capitol and the rally on the nationwide mall on Jan. 6, “he knowingly carried on his individual two extra loaded firearms.”

Coffman pleaded responsible to a federal cost of possession of an unregistered firearm and agreed to cooperate with the federal government on different instances.