Trump golf club to hold awards gala for those convicted in Jan. 6 attack

August 23, 2024 7:44 pm • Last Updated: August 23, 2024 7:44 pm

By Brian Niemietz

Violent insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. Over months, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection has issued more than 100 subpoenas, done more than 1,000 interviews and probed more than 100,000 documents to get to the bottom of the attack that day in 2021 by supporters of Trump. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)

Police with guns drawn watch as rioters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Over months, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection has issued more than 100 subpoenas, done more than 1,000 interviews and probed more than 100,000 documents to get to the bottom of the attack that day in 2021 by supporters of former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

New York ― Former President Donald Trump plans to host a Jan. 6 event at his New Jersey golf club next month to celebrate the criminals convicted for their involvement in the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Join us for an unforgettable evening at the J6 Awards Gala, where we will honor and celebrate the 20 defendants who contributed to the powerful ‘Justice for All’ song,” as well as “all J6 defendants who have shown incredible courage and sacrifice,” reads an invite from Stand in the Gap, the group sponsoring the Sept. 5 event at Trump National Golf Club Bedminster.

“Justice for All” was recorded by the January 6 Prison Choir, made up of a small number of the nearly 500 people who have been put behind bars for their roles in the deadly riot. The song features 20 inmates singing “The Star-Spangled Banner” while the former president recites the Pledge of Allegiance.

Donald Trump and former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani are listed as “invited guest speakers” to the event, where a table for 12 costs $30,000. It’s not known if Giuliani will attend the party, while a New York Times source said Trump doesn’t plan to be there.

Trump, who’s seeking reelection and awaiting sentencing on his own felony convictions, refers to MAGA supporters who participated in the attack on the Capitol as “hostages” he plans to turn loose if he becomes president again.

Money raised at the event will provide aid to the Trump loyalists arrested in connection with the uprising and their families, according to organizers.

Olivia Troy, who served as counterterrorism advisor to Vice President Mike Pence — who Trump supporters tried to hang for overseeing the certification of President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win on Jan. 6 — expressed outrage over the J6 Awards Gala.

“Trump hosting a Jan. 6 Awards Gala is absolutely horrid,” she wrote on social media. “Celebrating the people who endangered the life of his own vice president and glorifying violence is a dangerous assault on our democracy and a disgraceful rewriting of history. We must all stand together against him.”

Invites to the gala do not state what kind of awards will be handed out nor how winners will be decided.

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