Thousands of people gather in DC to protest election results and show support for Trump

Thousands of Trump supporters gathered in the nation’s capital on Saturday to challenge the election results and support the president’s claims the election was invalid due to widespread voter fraud.

Saturday’s protest came just a week after media screened the president-elect Joe bidenJoe BidenTrump: New York Won’t Immediately Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Biden Seeing Yellen As Possible Treasury Secretary: Report Obama Hits Trump For Refusing To Concede Says There Is ‘No Legal Basis’ ‘for the PLUS challenges as the winner of the 2020 election.

The event, which was billed under many names including the Million MAGA March and Stop the Steal DC, began in earnest at the Freedom Plaza near the White House before noon.

President TrumpDonald John Trump Trump: New York Not To Receive COVID-19 Vaccine Immediately Biden Cites Yellen As Possible Treasury Secretary: Trump Report Puts Giuliani In Charge Of Election Prosecutions: MORE report himself led by the group in his procession shortly after 10 am on his way to play golf.

Women for America First, a group led by former Tea Party activist Amy Kremer, hosted the event at Freedom Plaza and received a permit to host 10,000 people in the area.

Although the number of protesters did not appear to reach this full capacity, some of the president’s supporters and staff celebrated the participation as a success.

“Over a million protesters for President @realDonaldTrump are descending into the swamp to lend their support,” tweeted Kayleigh McEnany, White House press secretary.

A mix of Trump supporters and right-wing groups dotted the crowd at Freedom Plaza, including scattered supporters of QAnon, sporting props from the right-wing militia group the Three Percenters, and dozens of members of the Proud Boys.

Many of the latter, a self-proclaimed “chauvinist” organization, wore shirts with the phrase “Stand Back, Stand By,” in reference to Trump’s message to them during a presidential debate in September.

The vast majority of protesters gathered in the square did so without a mask a day after the United States recorded a record 184,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Most carried signs or wore shirts alleging widespread election fraud, although no irregularities took place. Democrats, the Chinese Communist Party, Bill Gates and Fox News have also been the targets of chants and posters.

Biden is currently expected to win the Electoral College with 306 votes to 232 for Trump, according to a New York Times electoral map.

Many speakers at the rally urged Trump supporters not to give up hope, insisting that evidence of fraud would eventually come to light.

“It will be weeks, if not months, but we will be sticking with this president, Donald J. Trump,” said Infowars host Alex Jones.

A coalition of federal and state election officials as well as major manufacturers of voting equipment have declared the 2020 election the safest in the country’s history. They added that there was “no evidence” that a voting system had suppressed or lost votes.

After reciting the pledge of allegiance and singing the national anthem in crowds, a significant portion of the protesters marched to the Supreme Court.

There, many conservative figures including Kremer, a former White House aide Sebastian Gorka |Sebastian Lukacs GorkaSunday shows preview: Trump, lawmakers weigh in on COVID-19, masks and school reopens amid virus outbreak Trump appeals to Gorka for National Security Advisory Council Sunday shows preview: the coronavirus asks questions about school safety; Trump commutes Roger Stone’s sentence MORE and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell delivered speeches to a crowd of a few hundred people.

Kremer spent the majority of his speech criticizing tech companies – Facebook, Eventbrite, and Mailchimp – for allegedly shutting down his events.

“As much as Big Tech tried to stop us, I think we showed them today,” she said.

Lindell received huge applause from the crowd for claiming that the only reason Trump lost Minnesota was because Rep. Ilhan OmarIlhan OmarPelosi faces caucus divisions in Biden era Record number of black women elected to Congress in 2020 Six people whose election victories made history MORE (D-Minn.) “Run the state.” Biden won the state by more than 200,000 votes.

At the Supreme Court were also a group of a few dozen counter-demonstrators, almost all dressed in black and almost all masked.

A metal barrier and a police line divided the two groups, but that didn’t stop them from munching on each other. Trump supporters repeatedly erupted chanting “antifa,” while protesters pointed out the election was over.

Some small confrontations intensified, but not very far. Most of the clashes were purely verbal.

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department told The Hill that 10 people were arrested on Saturday “in connection with the protests,” noting that the number could rise further.

Protests appeared to run out of steam in the late afternoon, as Trump supporters dispersed from both Freedom Plaza and the Supreme Court.

After walking through the crowd of protesters on Saturday, the president took to Twitter to denounce the election results, urging supporters not to give up hope.

“We will win!” said the president.