“Hello domestic terrorists!” pardoned Jan. 6er Tasha Abaulragheb jokingly greeted her fellow participants to start off the event, eliciting laughter.

The organizers held several speaking engagements along the march, often featuring the same speakers. Many obviously felt emboldened, going further than just expressing gratitude for their newfound liberty and demanding “retribution.”

One of the foremost advocates of this was former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, a prominent figure of the day, who, despite his infamous reputation elsewhere, was held up as a celebrity by many Jan. 6 rioters.

“Retribution is what we seek. And what is retribution?” Tarrio asked at the opening press conference. “Retribution doesn’t mean violence; it means accountability. And until we … see the accountability against those who have weaponized the government, assaulted peaceful protesters, we will not stop.”

He vowed that the group would be there every Jan. 6 anniversary and every Fourth of July until this retribution was achieved, then shifted to thanking Trump.

“Something important for me to say is, I want to thank President Donald J. Trump because for me, and the people behind me, we wouldn’t have our lives back and our families would still be suffering at the hands of the Biden regime,” he said, a sentiment held near unanimously by the demonstrators.

He pinned the failure to fully achieve this “retribution” on Trump’s appointees rather than Trump himself. He bemoaned the lack of “Deep State” arrests and bashed Attorney General Pam Bondi, calling on her to “do her job,” triggering a chant of “Do your job!”

When interviewed later in the march, Tarrio expressed his gratitude toward Trump and said the Proud Boys would always “stand by” him. When asked if he’d do anything differently, he said no, arguing he did nothing wrong.

“Am I guilty of celebrating what happened on the day of Jan. 6? Of course,” he added.

When asked by the Washington Examiner if he believed the Proud Boys’ association with the president harmed the latter’s reputation, Tarrio replied in the negative.

“No, I don’t think so. I think that what you see is a lot of different … versions of the MAGA movement. And I think we’re one,” he said.

“The media continues to lean in that MAGA supporters are somehow extremists, and we’re not. So I think … it’s worked out, right? He won by a landslide in 2024,” Tarrio added.

Tarrio echoed the complaints of those present when he argued that retribution was the primary motivation for many of Trump’s voters.

“It’s not just me and the people behind me, and it’s not just the 1,600 other people — it’s millions, tens of millions of Americans that wanted to vote for one thing and one thing only: It wasn’t cheaper eggs; it was retribution and accountability,” he said.

Different Jan. 6 protesters offered varying responses to what proper retribution would entail. The most common theme in speeches was calling for the prosecution of police officer Michael Byrd, who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Babbitt’s mother spoke several times, demanding justice for her daughter.

In May 2025, the Trump administration agreed to pay nearly $5 million to Babbitt’s family after they brought a lawsuit against the government due to her death, arguing U.S. Capitol Police were negligent in their use of force against the “unarmed” Babbitt.

Others present believed retribution entailed the firing and arrests of judges who handed down harsh sentences on Jan. 6 defendants. Others sought retribution that dated back to the 2020 election, still maintaining their belief that the election had been “stolen.”

One marcher floated the idea of financial “reparations” for Jan. 6 defendants, though he implied this should be addressed through lawsuits and resolved in the courts.

Robert Morss, a former airborne ranger and high school history teacher, said one of their primary motivations was to “fix history … set the record straight.” Conflicting accounts were given as to how events unfolded, with many referring to Jan. 6 participants as “heroes,” while others stressed that it was an “inside job.”

The most heated moment of the day began around 15 minutes after the first press conference began, when the event was crashed by activist Patricia Eguino, also known as “Anarchy Princess.” Using a megaphone blasting a police siren, she screamed several attacks against the Jan. rioters, including “Traitors!” and several different curse words.

All the Jan. 6 rioters were familiar with Eguino, derisively calling her “Crazy Patricia.” She has attended numerous Jan. 6 events to protest, frequently insulting the participants.

She was quickly surrounded by Jan. 6 participants who attempted to stop the commotion. A couple attempted what appeared to be an impromptu exorcism, yelling, “We rebuke you in the name of Christ, Satan!” and “We rebuke you, you evil f***ing demon!”

A brawl quickly broke out between Eguino and another Jan. 6er woman, ending in the megaphone being snatched and smashed by someone else.

When asked for comment by the Washington Examiner, she yelled, “F*** the Jan. 6ers!” Then, she confirmed her identity.

After more confrontations, she was briefly detained by police. She was released and showed back up over an hour later, triggering another scuffle. The second time, the same woman who brawled with her the first time was detained instead, triggering outrage from fellow Jan. 6 rioters.

Eguino was the target of mutual animosity from many of the Jan. 6 participants, but some had a soft spot for her.

“I have a soft spot for her … even though she’d kill me,” pardoned Jan. 6 rioter Barry Ramon told the Washington Examiner. “God says love your enemies, and I don’t do a good job with that. But with her it’s easy.”

The event featured some confusion around symbols. One woman was holding up a sign reading “WWG1WGA,” a common QAnon slogan. When asked if she was associated with the QAnon movement, she revealed she didn’t know what WWG1WGA meant and had just been given the sign by someone else.

Another participant was holding an upside-down U.S. flag, symbolizing distress, during the commemorative march on the Capitol. When asked about his intention, he responded, “Oh, I didn’t see. It’s not mine. Sorry about that,” then turned it right-side up.

The gathering at the Ellipse was characterized by notable juxtapositions, with Jan. 6 rioters mourning and openly celebrating next to each other. Brian Betancur, a Jan. 6 defendant and immigrant from Argentina, had one of the most notable placards: his framed certificate of pardon. He said he has been able to return his life to mostly normal after his pardon.

Others saw their fortunes increase since Jan. 6. In an interview with the Washington Examiner, Morss revealed that he met his fiancée while participating in the Jan. 6 riot. They met in June at a Jan. 6 speaking event and were engaged a month later. Before Jan. 6, Morss was a high school history teacher, but after losing his job over the incident, he started multiple production companies. Morss views himself in a much better position now.

“They should have just left me alone because I was going to be exclusive to one classroom, one semester per year. Now I’m going to do something that puts me in hundreds, if not thousands, of classrooms all across the country, if not the entire Western Hemisphere,” he said.

“So they’ve made a monster out of me. They’ve made a monster out of all of us,” Morss added. “We have to take what the enemy wanted for evil and use it for good, and reveal how God always intended for us to suffer with a purpose.”

Until the final march hours in, protesters were limited to individual encounters. One such protester was Sam Speirs, a mother and photographer who said she was there because “I don’t want my kids growing up in a world where they’re afraid to be who they are.”

Her protests were directed against the Trump administration in general, but she sought to exert pressure on the January 6 rioters, whom she apparently viewed as staunch supporters of Trump.

“I want people to feel safe, and that includes these guys, not here necessarily. I want them to feel the pressure,” Speirs said. “I want them to feel the pressure that people are here, and they’re against what they’re saying.”

The main crowd of counterprotesters, numbering a couple of dozen, was waiting by the White House. The crowds crossing paths triggered venomous exchanges, kept in check by well-maintained police lines.

The protesters focused on inflammatory, even violent rhetoric to provoke a response from the Jan. 6 participants, who often responded in kind. Several protesters with megaphones frequently celebrated or mocked the assassination of Charlie Kirk, usually accompanying the taunts with profanity.

“What did Charlie Kirk get for Christmas? Nothing, ’cause he’s f***ing dead!” one yelled.

Several repeatedly accused the Jan. 6 rioters of being pedophiles or made crass comments about genitalia or their significant others.

Some protesters took a more measured approach.

Rose Griffis, replete with badges of several liberal causes and a banner reading “No glory in treason,” struck a notable look with a balaclava and metal masquerade mask. In an interview, she told the Washington Examiner that the mask was for aesthetic purposes and that she wasn’t trying to hide her identity.

Griffis maintained that she was originally there for a routine congressional visit but then learned of the commemorative march.

“We knew we at least had to hold down the fort,” she said. “And then, the counter marches kind of just goes with that territory, doesn’t it?”

She works in the restaurant industry, but estimates her time spent at protests equals that of her 40-hour work weeks. Griffis said protesting has become a sort of second job for her.

Her main problem was with the MAGA movement in general, believing that her negative interactions with MAGA protesters reflected the hearts and minds of the movement more broadly.

“Their daughter could change their mind when they get older and stray and think differently. Are they going to treat their daughter the same way they treat me in 10, 15 years, when they’re old enough to make their own choices? I think a lot of these folks, especially the Jan. 6ers, they only know what it feels like to walk in their shoes. And walking in other people’s shoes is really what teaches us how to work with people, you know?”

FIVE TAKEAWAYS FROM DEMOCRATS’ HEARING ON JAN. 6 ANNIVERSARY

Reflecting the sentiment of the other counterprotesters interviewed, Griffis said that her stance against Jan. 6 rioters and the Trump administration more generally was essential for the well-being of the United States as a whole.

“This is not a policy issue, this isn’t a money issue; this is a heart and mind issue. And when hearts aren’t in the right place, when minds aren’t aligned, we lose the entire purpose of what our republic is. We’ve forgotten how we got here, how we made this land, the people that we buried to make what we have, and to try to close it off now so others can’t enjoy it too. But more importantly, my adult daughter can’t enjoy it,” she said.