Police in Washington, D.C. arrested six people from Michigan following the insurrection attempt at the U.S. Capitol building.
Most of the arrests so far are for curfew violations. But one Michigan man was arrested for possessing a pistol and a “large capacity” ammunition clip, according to an arrest sheet from D.C. Metropolitan Police.
Many Trump supporters traveled from Michigan to be at Wednesday’s rally on the national mall, but it’s not clear how many participated in breaking into the Capitol building.
“I know I wasn’t there to break into the Capitol,” says Audra Johnson, a Trump supporter from West Michigan. “I was there to voice my opinion. And I can’t think of anybody I know that was there to break into the Capitol.”
Johnson said she was near the Capitol building in the afternoon, but didn’t know what was happening inside. She says she can’t condone people breaking into the building, but she understood the frustration many people feel about the election. Johnson says she has Republican friends who were among those at the TCF Center in Detroit who complained about irregularities in how absentee votes were counted.
Numerous lawsuits were filed in Michigan with claims of irregularities, and the state Legislature held a seven-hour hearing about the complaints. Many of the claims in those hearings were untrue, or represented misunderstandings of the state’s election laws and processes.
All of the election results were lawfully certified in Michigan. The Michigan Bureau of Elections also promised the "most comprehensive" audit in the state's history. By law, audits in Michigan cannot overturn election results.
Johnson says she doesn’t blame the president for what happened at the Capitol building, and she still supports him fully.
And she says she believes Trump supporters helped uncover flaws in Michigan’s election process. She says she doesn’t plan to stop fighting for changes.
“And if that means that we fight on with Trump as our President, or Biden as our President, then so be it,” Johnson said over the phone while in the car driving home from D.C. “I don’t think this is going to stop anything at this point.”
