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In photos: Maskless Trump supporters descend on D.C. to protest the election results

12 December 2020
 Dan Ackermann

Thousands of protesters, including many not wearing face masks despite a citywide mandate, rallied in Washington, D.C., Saturday, refusing to accept President Trump lost the 2020 election.

Driving the news: Thirty-nine days after the election, Trump continues to make baseless claims of voter fraud and refuses to concede to President-elect Joe Biden. The Supreme Court on Friday handed Trump and his allies their most significant legal defeat, rejecting a lawsuit that sought to invalidate 10 million votes in four battleground states.

  • Saturday's protest also comes just days before Electoral College meets to vote for president and vice president. Biden is expected to have 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232 votes. A candidate needs 270 to win.

The state of play: Waving Trump flags and chanting "four more years," groups are rallying and marching at different spots around the nation's capital to show their support for Trump.

  • The president tweeted Saturday morning: "Wow! Thousands of people forming in Washington (D.C.) for Stop the Steal. Didn’t know about this, but I’ll be seeing them! #MAGA."
  • He later flew on Marine One over the protests as he headed to the Army-Navy football game at West Point.
  • Counter-protesters are also gathering.
  • At least five people were arrested Friday night into Saturday morning, D.C. police said. Local media reported that some fights between Trump supporters and counter-protesters broke out.
  • A similar protest took place in D.C. last month.
Thousands flock to the nation's capital to show their support for President Trump. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AFP via Getty Images.
Former national security advisor Michael Flynn delivers his first public remarks since Trump pardoned him in late November. Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
Trump supporters hold a prayer vigil Saturday morning outside the Supreme Court. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group with ties to white nationalism, march in support of Trump. Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images
Many protesters did not adhere to a city-wide mask mandate, prompting concerns from D.C. residents. Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
Trump supporters rally in front of the U.S. Capitol. Photo: Oliver Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
Protesters gather on the National Mall to support Trump. Photo: Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images
A protester wears a Trump mask as thousands gather to protest the election results. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images
Saturday's protest comes 39 days after the election. Photo: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.