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U.S. Capitol riot defendant Pam Hemphill supports Donald Trump's new federal indictment because, as the former president once said, "no one is above the law."
Trump was indicted Tuesday in the Department of Justice's investigation of his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, culminating in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. It is the third indictment against the former president and the second federal indictment against him. DOJ special counsel Jack Smith previously indicted Trump on 40 criminal counts, including 32 related to the Espionage Act, in connection with the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.
Trump now faces four counts as a result of Smith's probe of the 2020 election's aftermath and the Capitol riot. He is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights. He has denied wrongdoing in all the cases against him.
Pam Hemphill, the now 70-year-old grandmother who pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful parading, demonstrating or picketing at the Capitol riot, told Newsweek that as disappointing as a Trump indictment may be, "no one is above the law."
"Trump used to tell us that about [former Secretary of State] Hillary [Clinton] or [President Joe] Biden, so it applies to him as well. The Republican Party used to be the party of law and order. I'd like to see it return to that principle," she said.
Hemphill said that if Trump supporters like her were forced to serve time in federal prison for answering his calls to show up at the Capitol that day, the former president should face a similar sentence himself.
"[Trump] manipulated me to be there and fight for him," Hemphill said.
Hemphill was arrested in August 2021 after the FBI received a tip that the Boise, Idaho, grandmother traveled to Washington, D.C., for the Stop the Steal rally on January 6. Posts made to her Facebook page, including one where she is seen holding a large firearm, corroborated that claim. One witness who knows Hemphill personally told the FBI that videos shared online put her inside the Capitol on the day of the riot.
"Video surveillance footage obtained from the Capitol Police shows Hemphill, holding a selfie stick with a phone attached, enter the East side of the Capitol Building with a group of rioters at or around 3 pm on January 6, 2021," federal investigators said in a statement of facts. "In this video, Hemphill can be seen wearing a dark coat with a hood, a blue baseball cap and a pink scarf."
Since pleading guilty, Hemphill has launched a Twitter Space called #StopTheSpin to "debunk the unfounded accusations about J6, Trump, Project 2025 and more."
Trump criticized the indictment on Truth Social ahead of its release. He wrote that it was "fake" and intended to hurt his 2024 campaign. Trump questioned why it took over two years to indict him and likened it to election interference.
While Hemphill supports Trump being held to the same standards as those who entered the Capitol, she told Newsweek it's "sad that we are even in this moment."
"No one wants to see a former president be indicted or put in prison, but the American people are only in this position because Trump broke the law," she said. "If we are to love America and the freedoms we enjoy, we must respect its laws and the Constitution in order to keep it."
She said she believes Trump's new indictment should end with the same process that she and all the other accused Capitol rioters went through.
"The facts should be applied to the law, and the law should be applied without fear or favor of who Trump is or what his dwindling cult might do in reaction," she said.
About the writer
Katherine Fung is a Newsweek senior reporter based in New York City. She has covered U.S. politics and culture extensively. ... Read more