![Most nights at 9pm, defendants in the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol flicker the lights in their jail cells to signal to supporters outside that it’s time to sing The Star-Spangled Banner](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/05/04/TELEMMGLPICT000334385424_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq46itNgSBlU78_fxyO8nK2VL8JZJwYQahh39tlhZSrcE.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Trump plays song by jailed Capitol rioters at his rallies
In Justice for All, the former president recites the Pledge of Allegiance over the J6 Prison Choir singing The Star-Spangled Banner
![Most nights at 9pm, defendants in the Jan 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol flicker the lights in their jail cells to signal to supporters outside that it’s time to sing The Star-Spangled Banner](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/05/04/TELEMMGLPICT000334385424_trans_NvBQzQNjv4Bq46itNgSBlU78_fxyO8nK2VL8JZJwYQahh39tlhZSrcE.jpeg?imwidth=680)
Donald Trump has been playing a song by the J6 Prison Choir of jailed Capitol rioters at his rallies.
About 20 inmates gather every night at a jail in Washington DC to sing The Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States.
The Washington Post has identified five members of the choir from a clip posted to Rumble, an online video platform.
Four of them have been charged with assaulting police and using an array of weapons, including a crowbar and chemical spray.
One of the officers who was attacked at the Capitol, Brian Sicknick, died the following day.
The song, called Justice for All, consists of the former president reciting the Pledge of Allegiance over the choir’s recording of The Star-Spangled Banner.
Producers include Kash Patel, who served in Mr Trump’s administration in the national security department.
Rioters ‘were treated very badly’
Mr Trump said it was his idea to play the song at his rallies.
“Those people were treated very badly… I think it’s a disgrace,” he said.
The former president has vowed to release those jailed for their part in the Jan 6, 2021 riot, during which his supporters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to prevent Joe Biden’s presidential election victory being ratified.
“Our people love those people,” Mr Trump said at a rally in Waco, Texas, on Mar 25 – the first in his election campaign.
“What’s happening in that prison, it’s a hellhole... These are people that shouldn’t have been there,” he added.
![As footage from the Jan 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol is displayed in the background, Donald Trump stands while Justice for All is played during a campaign rally at Waco Regional Airport on March 25, 2023](/https/www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/world-news/2023/05/04/TELEMMGLPICT000332836788_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqA7N2CxnJWnYI3tCbVBgu9T0aesusvN1TE7a0ddd_esI.jpeg?imwidth=350)
On Thursday, four members of the far-Right Proud Boys were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their part in the Jan 6 insurrection.
Those convicted included the group’s former leader, Enrique Tarrio, who was not in Washington when the mob stormed the Capitol.
This was the last of three major sedition prosecutions arising out of the Jan 6 riots, which saw several rioters, including members of another far-Right group called the Oath Keepers, convicted of sedition – a rarely used charge dating back to the American Civil War.
A bipartisan Senate report linked seven deaths to the insurrection, during which an estimated 150 police officers were injured.
'They leave out inconvenient things'
The song, which was released in early March under the auspices of The Justice for All Project, has become a runaway commercial success.
The track sold 33,000 downloads in just six days as it soared to the top of the iTunes charts, eclipsing Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift, according to data released by Luminate.
The brother of one of the police officers who were killed during the riot said he was outraged by the video of the J6 Prison Choir and Mr Trump’s support for the rioters.
He told the Washington Post yesterday: “The rallying cry is that no police officer died on Jan 6.
“They leave out inconvenient things, like my brother’s first stroke happened on Jan 6, and he was put on life-support and died the following day.
“And they do that over and over, and over again.”