Corporate media’s pearl-clutching over Jan. 6 pardons broadcast the espoused gun-toting fears of one prisoner’s son, celebrated for turning his father over to the federal government.
During President Donald Trump’s Inaugural Address, the returning commander-in-chief asserted, “For American citizens, January 20th, 2025, is Liberation Day.” Jackson Reffitt, who turned in his father, Guy Wesley Reffitt, for attending the protests outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, didn’t share that sentiment as he told CNN about the “paranoia” that prompted him to get a gun.
Speaking with CNN anchor Erin Burnett after Trump announced the pardon, commutation, and charge dismissal for all J6 defendants based on the “hostages’” individual circumstances, Reffitt lamented what the release of his father and others would mean.
“I’m honestly flabbergasted that we’ve got to this point. I mean, I’m terrified. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. I’ve taken as many precautions as I could recently. I’ve picked up a gun,” he explained. “I’ve moved and I’ve gotten myself away from what I thought would be a dangerous situation in staying where I thought my dad could find me. Or other people, you know. People that are gonna feel so validated by these actions, by this pardon. I’m just so filled with paranoia about what could happen.”
Sharing the interview on X, commentator Ian Miles Cheong wrote, “This piece of garbage ratted out his dad to the Feds over J6 and now he says he bought a gun to protect himself. Sounds to me like he’s more of a danger to his dad than the other way around.”
This piece of garbage ratted out his dad to the Feds over J6 and now he says he bought a gun to protect himself. Sounds to me like he’s more of a danger to his dad than the other way around. pic.twitter.com/X7afg4z1fq
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) January 21, 2025
Guy Reffitt was sentenced to 87 months in prison after becoming the first criminal trial conviction related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol. His charges included civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds… with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and obstruction of justice despite never entering the building.
Unlike his sisters and mother, Nicole Reffitt, who had maintained that her husband “was a patriot that day” who had faced political persecution, Jackson Reffitt spoke with contempt about his parents, telling Burnett, “My dad is still involved with these militias. He still talks with, you know, a martyr status. He has no change. He’s more galvanized than ever, that I’ve seen. My mom too. My sisters are waiting outside the jail cell right now and, you know, I feel for them and… I know who they are and I love them, but I can’t feel safe and I’m sure hundreds of other families, thousands of other people that have been affected by these people and their actions, and what could happen when they’re released — I mean, who knows.”
“I mean, my dad once called me a traitor and, you know, he said traitors get shot. So that’s, you know, all I can think about recently,” he added.
Monday wasn’t the first time that the young man had been brought into the spotlight for what he’d done to his father as, prior to the November election, he’d been brought on MSNBC to discuss the off-Broadway play, “Fatherland,” that dramatized turning the anti-government militia member over to the FBI.
The Post Millennial’s Editor-in-Chief Libby Emmons shared a clip from the broadcast and stated, “Of course, American theater is celebrating a kid who turned in his MAGA dad for trespassing at the Capitol on J6. Loyalty to the state is seen as the most important bond.”
Of course American theater is celebrating a kid who turned in his MAGA dad for trespassing at the Capitol on J6. Loyalty to the state is seen as the most important bond.
— Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) October 1, 2024
On turning over his dad, Reffitt told Burnett, “I made a, you know, a very, very disgusting decision to inform authorities about what he was doing, and I still feel horrible about it every day.”
“And you know, my sisters are out there right now, and they’re rooting for him, and you know, I understand that, I come with a point of love towards that. Like, I want to be there for him, but I can’t,” he added. “It just isn’t safe for people like me…you know, that have done the same things I have done.”
Others reacted with their own disgust for the young man’s comments and the framing of the story by CNN that continued to uphold their preferred narrative about the Capitol breach.
What a disgrace. This guy can’t be trusted. Betraying your own father for personal gain is as low as it gets. He’s the real threat here, not anyone else.
— Good Vibes (@GoodVibesNote) January 21, 2025
I would cut all ties with a kid like that. I wouldn’t let him near me or my home.
— Riley Jane Meli (@oldwomaninwoods) January 21, 2025
Their goal is to divide families, this was obvious when they were trying to get wives to go against their husband.
— Nick (@thenickoftime90) January 21, 2025
He is extremely afraid, but he has no problem putting his face out there for everyone to see?
— Julie (@Mississippiluv2) January 21, 2025
So he goes on the news and exposes himself further? Brilliant!
— AmyLouWho (@perseverare1776) January 21, 2025
I wouldn’t trust this kid at all. His dad should be the one worried!
— Lady In The Texas Hill Country. (@JacquettaInTx1) January 21, 2025
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