FRANKFORT, Ky. — The governing body of the Republican Party of Kentucky officially recognized Americans charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

What You Need To Know

  • The Republican Party of Kentucky passed a resolution Saturday recognizing Americans as "wrongfully detained" due to their involvement with the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol

  • The GOP believes many have been arrested for exercising their constitutional rights 

  • Democrats say the GOP is doubling down on hate and division 

In a resolution passed Saturday, 34-32, the party said it believes many protesters on Jan. 6 are being “wrongfully detained” for exercising their constitutional rights. It’s identical to a resolution introduced by State Sen. Lindsey Tichenor, R-Smithfield, on Friday in the Kentucky Senate.

Both resolutions state many Americans, including Kentuckians at the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection are having their First, Fifth and 14th constitutional amendment rights stripped of them by being “held without due process” for exercising their right to free speech.

More than 1,200 Americans, including Kentuckians, have been charged in relation to actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in a gathering turned violent, resulting in five deaths and many injuries. It was an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 election in which President Joe Biden defeated then-President Donald Trump.

But the Kentucky Republican Party believes many were expressing their frustrations with the electoral process and that many protesters at the Capitol have been wrongfully accused and detained unconstitutionally.

The Kentucky Democratic Party, however, said in a statement that Kentucky Republicans are “doubling down on hate and division,” adding Kentucky voters rejected “hatred and extremism” this past November.

While Tichenor’s resolution has yet to be voted on or read, Senate Democrats are already giving it a no. Senate Minority Leader Gerald Neal, D-Louisville, said the evidence shows protesters used violence, caused destruction at the Capitol and shouted threats toward legislators.

He says anyone discounting that laws were broken is living in a “state of denial.”

“If you look at all the individuals that have been convicted; think about this: multiple courts, multiple juries, some indicating that they’re guilty of their own free will, others coming as well, it is impossible with that information in mind to suggest that there’s not a reality behind what took place on Jan. 6,” Neal said.

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