GOP lawmakers’ DC jail stunt backfires for Jan. 6 defendant

An attempt by three Republican lawmakers to visit jailed Jan. 6 rioters has backfired for at least one defendant.

Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) were turned away Thursday from the D.C. Department of Corrections, and the following day a federal judge cited the attempted visit as a "concern" while keeping in place some court restrictions in one case, reported NBC's Scott MacFarlane.

Alex Harkrider, a Donald Trump supporter from Texas, has asked to have some conditions of his pretrial release lifted, but the judge cited the attempted visit as a "concern" and kept those restrictions in place.

The 34-year-old Carthage man has asked to have his ankle monitor removed, saying the $110 monthly cost was a financial burden and physical hardship as he awaits trial for civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, theft of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon, unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on capitol grounds or buildings, disorderly conduct in a capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.

The judge described the lawmakers' actions as "active political disputes" over the insurrection that justified keeping the restrictions in place.

Harkrider is accused of traveling to Washington, D.C., with guns, a ballistic vest and a Tomahawk axe and going inside the U.S. Capitol with the intention "to obstruct the historically peaceful transition of power and overthrow the government."