Judge in Trump Case Says ‘Hostages’ Label for Jailed Jan. 6 Defendants Is Wrong

The judge overseeing former President Donald Trump’s election interference case on April 10 said that describing defendants being held on charges related to the U.S. Capitol riot as hostages is wrong.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said that people involved in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol who remain jailed in Washington don’t deserve to be called hostages or heroes.

“They’re being kept there because they are dangerous people,” Judge Chutkan said during a sentencing hearing for Antony Vo, an Indiana man convicted of entering the Capitol with his mother.

President Trump has increasingly shown support for Jan. 6 defendants, including playing recordings of defendants in jail singing the national anthem. In 2023, he spoke at a fundraiser benefiting Jan. 6 defendants and said he'd contribute. “There have been few people that have been treated in the history of our country like the people that you love, like the people that have gone through so much,” he said at the time.

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