Donald Trump hugged a woman who spent time in prison for her role in the January 6 insurrection. She later said that former Vice President Mike Pence and “every single” member of Congress who voted to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory should be executed.
At a diner in New Hampshire, Mr Trump was notified by the people in the room that QAnon believer Micki Larson-Olson was a “January 6er”.
Mr Trump approached her, said she was “terrific” and told her to “hang in there”. He then embraced her, video from the episode shows, according to The Hill.
She told NBC News the following day that Mr Trump is the “real president,” adding that she “would like a front seat of Mike Pence being executed”.
“The punishment for treason is death, per the Constitution,” Larson-Olson said. “I believe every single person, every single person that stole a voice from our collective voice of ‘We the people, of the people, for the people, by the people,’ deserves death, and no less than that.”
She was arrested after climbing the scaffolding at the Capitol on January 6 2021, according to the Department of Justice. In September, she was sentenced to six months behind bars.
She took part in the insurrection dressed as Captain America, waving flags, and resisting officers trying to get her off the scaffolding as she clung on to it with her arms and legs. The Justice Department said she screamed and fought the six officers required to restrain her as she called them “traitors”.
“My only regret is that I wasn’t stronger, that I couldn’t hold on longer,” she told NBC. She drove 2,600 miles from Abilene, Texas to attend the Trump event in New Hampshire.
Both Democrats and Republicans visited January 6 defendants at a jail in Washington DC earlier this year.
Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene slammed the conditions at the jail, while the Democrats said the defendants were receiving fair treatment.
Mr Trump said last year that he would “very, very seriously” consider pardoning those convicted after the insurrection if he wins the 2024 election.
During a recent rally in Waco, Texas, the event began with a recording of Mr Trump reading the pledge of allegiance as January 6 defendants sang the national anthem in the background.
