There are lots of tales about January 6 that fall by the wayside. Some January 6 defendants bought intensive media protection, particularly within the instant aftermath of January 6, however this isn’t consultant of the general physique. Most defendants have remained anonymous, faceless hostages. Actual People have been rendered as caricatures as a manner of pigeonholing them and glossing over the actual experiences of that difficult day. Listed below are extra of their tales.
Kash Kelly
January 6, defendant Kash Kelly was well-known as a conservative activist, streamer, and influencer earlier than January 6. In truth, outdoors of notoriety from January 6 protection, Kash was probably the most well-known defendant to be held with us contained in the DC jail or “DC Gulag.” The Indiana native is the founding father of the Streetlights Unity Movement, and has devoted his life to turning city youth away from lives of crime, himself being a former Latin King having turned away from gang life.
Kash Kelly went to the Capitol on January 6 intending to guide a sit-in protest solely to bear witness to police brutality in opposition to protestors. Kash ended up strolling by the Capitol, taking pictures with statues, and leaving the constructing. For this, he was arrested after January 6.
Regardless of having solely been charged with misdemeanors after January 6, Kash Kelly wound up contained in the DC Gulag. Contained in the jail, Kash finally joined the custodian group within C2B (the “Patriot Pod” wing of the jail), and he labored to enhance racial relations between the largely black jail employees and the largely non-black January 6 inmates.
Kash additionally helped his fellow defendants in an much more necessary manner by releasing his personal private mobile phone video from January 6. In response to the feds in early 2021, and contradicting the claims of most defendants within the aftermath of January 6, police by no means launched flashbang grenades into the crowds on January 6.
On Might 27, 2021 Julie Kelly published video from Kash proving the federal government had lied about its usage of ordnance on the crowds on the West Terrace. This was extremely necessary to these of us accused of planning to storm the Capitol however who truly reacted to extreme power from police.
Upon ending his sentence final yr, Kash resumed his activism and returned to livestreaming. Lately, Kash Kelly, myself, Kenneth Harrelson, and Robert Gieswein – all January 6 defendants and authentic 2021 inmates from the DC Gulag – reunited to debate our recollections of life contained in the jail:
January sixth – Reflecting 4 Years Later with @KashLeeKelly1 https://t.co/xqdO6FDrJa
— Free ⭐️ FreedomUncut.com (@Freedom4us4all) January 7, 2025
After my initial interview with defendant Michael Curzio, I subsequent had the advantage of interviewing Kash Kelly. Kash recounted his background, his expertise on January 6, life main as much as his arrest, his time contained in the DC Gulag, and life after jail. That is January 6 Unfiltered with Kash Kelly:
Kash has additionally lately gotten married and had a toddler. You may assist Kash and his work HERE.
Karl Dresch
Defendant Karl Dresch is one other OG member of the DC Gulag crew. A Michigan native, and the son of a respected state legislator, Karl wasn’t shy about politics and was actively concerned within the native Republican scene. Karl got here to Washington, DC, on January 6 to take heed to President Trump’s speech with buddies. He later peacefully walked all through the Capitol constructing and exited the constructing. Karl would then spend half a yr in solitary confinement, in varied jails after his arrest, and most prominently within the DC jail – the DC Gulag.
Karl was a staple of life within the Gulag, recognized for his jolly disposition, friendliness, and absurd humor. After Michael Curzio bought time served on his misdemeanor plea deal, Karl Dresch was capable of get an analogous deal. Whereas Curzio’s decide compelled him to serve the utmost sentence of 6 months for his misdemeanor to make a degree, in Dresch’s case he ended up serving greater than his most sentence due to when the plea deal was accepted, that means Karl served over 6 months on a misdemeanor cost that carries 6 months most.
Upon exiting the DC jail to freedom, Karl Dresch would give one of many first interviews a January 6 inmate would ever give on the situations contained in the Gulag. Washington congressional candidate Jerrod Sessler was conveniently outdoors of the DC jail with a movie group. Sessler was surprised to study that Dresch was not solely a January 6 defendant however had additionally been contained in the jail for months. Karl would recount the situations contained in the jail and the therapy of his fellow defendants.
Sessler uploaded the interview, which caught vital consideration, and Dresch and Sessler have stayed buddies since. Karl wouldn’t overlook these of us left in DC and remained an advocate for us. Very like with Michael Curzio and Kash Kelly, I reconnected with Karl after I completed jail, and equally had a long-form interview with him. That is January 6 Unfiltered with Karl Dresch:
Now that January 6 defendants are not topic to probation or supervised launch, I and others can converse freely with one another. The patriots I languished with behind bars within the DC Gulag have been swiftly reconnecting. With every day, increasingly more signal on to inform their story. What actually occurred on January 6, how they have been smeared by the feds and media, and what they suffered by whereas locked up, and way more.
My cellphone has been on fireplace at present as I reconnected with lots of the males I used to be incarcerated with after January 6. And I’m now ready to unveil a mission that has been simmering in my head a while.
For 3 years after January 6, as I and different J6 political prisoners languished… pic.twitter.com/mForP3n8Ky
— Tim Hale – Criminally Humorous J6er (@LouisofMonmouth) December 26, 2024
These interviews, together with a whole bunch of pages of main paperwork, will kind the idea for a multi-volume historical past sequence, Artifice and Betrayal: The Historical past of the DC Gulag. Now that their voices have been restored, the defendants would be the ones to jot down the authoritative historical past of January 6 and the lawfare that adopted, not the prosecutors and media.
You may observe Kash Kelly HERE and Karl Dresch HERE.
