JAN 7, 4:39 PM

Trump Insurrectionists Lodge At D.C. Airbnbs — Much To Washingtonians’ Distress

On Wednesday morning, as Congress gathered on Capitol Hill to certify the country’s Electoral College votes for President-elect Joe Biden, Andrew Kravetz was at his H Street row home, drinking coffee and scrolling through Twitter in his pajamas.

For months, outgoing President Donald Trump called on his supporters to “stop the steal” of the 2020 presidential election despite no evidence of fraud. As his legal challenges failed in state and federal courts, Trump invited supporters to protest the results in D.C. on the day his loss would be formalized.

Link to tweet

Kravetz had just scrolled past a screenshot of a “rallying cry” for armed Trump supporters and Proud Boys to meet blocks from his house at Lincoln Park when he heard a noise. It was a white SUV idling outside his door, with a group of men dressed in black wearing “patriotic-looking face paint” and backpacks.

Link to tweet

“[I was] scared for my family,” he said. He flicked his window blinds shut and went upstairs to tell his wife Keya Chatterjee, a newly elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner. Instead of being fearful, she was angry. ... “I knew there was a plan to stage a coup attempt,” she said. “It was all over the internet…It felt like something that should have been prevented.”

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Although Wednesday’s rally had been publicized for weeks, the scale of the events seemed to balloon in the days prior. Two days before, the National Park Service adjusted the permit for one of the demonstrations from 5,000 to 30,000.

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