Capitol police brace for new ‘huge’ MAGA protest backing 6 January rioters

Comes as Trump’s former data chief says they plan on ‘going back to the Capitol.’

US Capitol Police said they are aware of a proposed rally that supporters of former president Donald Trump are planning in support of people who were arrested in connection to the insurrection on 6 January.

Matt Braynard, who was the data chief for Mr Trump’s campaign, told former White House strategist Steve Bannon on Mr Bannon’s podcast about a planned rally at the Capitol on behalf of “political prisoners” who were arrested for their actions on 6 January.

“We’re going back to the Capitol, right where it started. And it’s going to be huge,” Mr Braynard said. “We’re going to push back on the phony narrative that there was an insurrection.”

A spokesperson for the US Capitol Police said they cannot provide permits or details about security plans.

“We are aware of the proposed rally,” the spokesperson said.

The announcement comes after news this week that two additional officers who responded to the Capitol insurrection died by suicide.

Mr Braynard told Mr Bannon that the day was “largely peaceful” and that rioters were “egged on in many cases by the Capitol Police.”

Police officers who tried to push back against the rioters testified last week at the first hearing of the select committee to investigate the events of 6 January.