Jan. 6 Defendant Slams Donald Trump Jr. for Ignoring Her

Pam Hemphill, former "MAGA granny" and January 6 defendant, slammed Donald Trump Jr. for ignoring her at a private luncheon she was invited to by the Trump campaign.

Hemphill, who served two months in prison in 2022 as part of a plea agreement for her role in the January 6 Capitol riot, told Newsweek that Trump Jr. "didn't say a word" to her at a lunch event in South Carolina last month, even after she told him she was a January 6 defendant who wanted a photo with him.

"He could have cared less about my J6 arrest, I told him I spent 60 days in prison, he [could have] cared less! Just turned around and talked to others!" Hemphill said on Tuesday.

A screenshot of the invitation for the lunch that Hemphill shared with Newsweek showed that Team Trump had contacted her to invite her to "a special lunch with Donald Trump Jr." at Hometown BBQ in Charleston the day before South Carolina's primary elections.

Newsweek has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment.

In a YouTube video uploaded on Monday, Hemphill recalled receiving the invite, telling the camera, "In my mind, I was like, 'Oh my god, am I being invited to see Don Jr. in a private lunch because he wants to meet me?' Wishful thinking, Pam!"

"After the picture was taken, he went around talking to everybody and so I thought, 'I got a chance. I'm going to go up there and talk to him real quick,'" she said. "He didn't recognize me! You know, his dad got [my name] out there... They've been using 'MAGA granny'... I was used by all the right-wing media to say the DOJ is weaponized against the J6 defendants, which is a lie. They're not."

Responding to a Monday post on X, formerly Twitter, from Trump Jr., Hemphill told the former president's oldest son, "I'm letting everyone know, as EX-MAGAGranny, you didn't recognize me and didn't even take a minute to talk with me after I told you I was a J6 defendant; stop calling them hostages for your political ploy; you're using them, I know you could care less about J6 defendants or you would [have] spoken to me for at least a minute, but no I was ignored!"

Last week, former president Donald Trump said that he would "free" those who had been imprisoned for their role in the January 6 Capitol attack, once again referring to those individuals as "hostages."

"My first acts as your next President will be to Close the Border, DRILL, BABY, DRILL, and Free the January 6 Hostages being wrongfully imprisoned!" the presumptive Republican nominee wrote on Truth Social.

He previously referred to the federal criminal defendants who had been incarcerated as "hostages" at a January rally, saying, "Some people call them prisoners. I call them hostages. Release the J6 hostages, Joe [Biden]. Release them Joe."

Hemphill said Lara Trump, the former president's daughter-in-law, also did not appear to remember her at another campaign event in Charleston. Hemphill, who asked Lara Trump if her father-in-law would pick a woman as his vice president, said Lara Trump's decision to call on her without acknowledging who she was served as "proof she's not caring about J6 defendants neither, she didn't recognize me either!"

Hemphill said she wants "evidence" that Trump cares about her and the other January 6 defendants.

Hemphill, who had no previous criminal history, was accused of pushing through police lines outside the Capitol on January 6 and encouraging other rioters to push their way inside. In July 2022, she was sentenced for breaching the Capitol and ordered to pay $500 in restitution for damages to the building.