A new Trump group claimed the name Jericho March as an unregistered trademark in late 2020 despite the term having been widely used for many years prior. The term “Jericho march” or “Jericho walk” has been used off and on over the last few decades by Christian groups protesting in support of social and political goals.
Robert M. Weaver, a onetime Trump administration nominee for director of the Indian Health Service, and Arina Grossu, a low-level Trump administration appointee in communications, spearheaded the name "takeover" for the pro-Trump group involved in the attempted coup of the U.S. Capitol.
“Just as the Israelites circled the walls of Jericho until the walls fell, so we use peaceful means of protest until truth, transparency and justice prevail,” Weaver stated in a Nov. 25, 2020 press release. “What’s at stake is the future of free and fair elections in our Republic. We seek true election reform to protect our American freedoms and the integrity of our election process. We believe that God has blessed America and will continue to bless her, if our people remain faithful to God’s call to holiness and repentance."
Grossu chimed in, “It is time for the people of God to activate in unprecedented ways. We have stayed silent for too long, but now the Church is rising up. Our God is mightier than any earthly power and He can restore truth and justice. This is also God’s call to unity in our Church. We are diverse in our Judeo-Christian beliefs and expressions, yet we come as one with childlike faith and trust in authentic worship of the One True God.”
The release further explained that “The Jericho March™ is biblically-focused on Joshua 6. Jericho was a city of false gods and corruption. Just as Joshua was instructed to march around the walls of Jericho seven times, Jericho Marchers™ pray, fast, and march at a specific place and time until darkness is exposed and the walls of corruption fall down.”
The Bulwarkreported that "Weaver and Grossu’s group was active in the weeks between the 2020 election and the insurrection, most prominently on Dec. 12, 2020, when it held a 'Let the Church ROAR!' rally in Washington, D.C., featuring Michael Flynn’s first public appearance after his pardon by Trump.
“Don’t get bent out of shape,” Flynn said of the election results. “There are still avenues. . . . We’re fighting with faith, and we’re fighting with courage.”
"In keeping with the Jericho theme, the rally featured the blowing of shofars, comparisons to the last days, and speakers who could be considered prophetic visionaries. Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist, was there. So was Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò (who has become progressively more QAnon-adjacent)," The Bulwark reported.
Jericho Marchers were not the only group storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 - and The Bulwark argues that "unlike with the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, there seems to be no explicit mention of the Jericho March in the complaints and indictments filed so far by the Justice Department against the Capitol attackers. We do know that someone from the group’s leadership was that day approvingly tweetingpictures of protesters who had broken through barricades, overrun the police, and climbed all over the West Front of the Capitol."
Those same social media posts have since been locked down or removed, but a mirrored site still shows the group's original posts.
"After Jan. 6th, the group locked its Twitter account and shut down its website, as the organizers presumably realized that aiding in insurrection carried more consequences than they, personally, wanted to bear," The Bulwark reported. "The Jericho March homepage now shows just two statements, both released in the days after the attack, claiming that the group had 'a history of totally peaceful marches' for 'election integrity' and that its aim was to be 'a peaceful prayer march where people of Judeo-Christian faith pray together, sing songs, and blow shofars.'"
The Jericho March may have ceased operation publicly on social media after the insurrection on Jan. 6, but the group's ideas and members haven’t gone away.
"It is easy to act as though something unpleasant is an aberration, as the Jericho March organizers have claimed that the violence of Jan. 6 was," The Bulwark reported. "But there is another way of looking at the group’s role in what happened that day: A coalition of evangelical and Catholic extremists claiming to be 'prophetically inspired' and naming itself for one of the most bloodthirsty passage in the Bible decided, on the basis of lies, to wage holy war against the American Republic."