Rep. Dave Min, D-Costa Mesa, blasted the Orange County Republican Party Saturday for what he called their failure to take a position on the appearance of a convicted Jan. 6 insurrectionist at a Republican Club of Laguna Woods meeting Friday.
“Since Will O’Neill and Orange County Republicans refuse to comment on this shameful display, let me say what they won’t,” Min said in a statement issued Saturday. “It is disgusting and un-American to honor people who assault police officers and try to overthrow our government. Our country is built on the rule of law and democracy, and I will continue to stand up against the lawless mobs that are trying to tear these down.”
Jeffrey Scott Brown was pardoned by President Donald Trump along with all others who were convicted for taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Brown was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 54 months in federal prison for seven felonies, among them assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers, using a dangerous weapon, and interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder.
His invitation to speak at Friday’s meeting drew hundreds of demonstrators from the Laguna Woods Democratic Club.
With protesters outside the clubhouse and on the street on El Toro Road across from Laguna Woods Village, Brown, who was billed by the Laguna Woods Republican Club as a “victim of the Jan. 6 tragedy,” addressed the Republican Club.
The protesters carried signs that read “Hate has no home here” and “Democracy yes, violence no,” while members of the Republican Club walked into one of the clubhouses in the Laguna Woods Village community to hear Brown speak.
At one point, members of the Republican Club walked out singing “God Bless America” while the protesters lined the entrance to the front of the clubhouse.
Mickey Nozaki, the secretary of the Laguna Woods Democratic Club, said, “The Republicans have lost their way.”
“We’re the ones that are patriots, not the Republicans. The Republicans have lost their morals. They have no values,” she said.
The protest was peaceful and spilled into the parking lot of the clubhouse.
Pat Micone, the president of the Republican Club of Laguna Woods, said in an email, “Things are not always as reported on msm (main stream media). We had 160 faithful members and our guests wanting to hear our speakers reporting of the true facts and truths on J6 — along with his first hand accounts — and they were not disappointed,” she wrote.
The meeting was private and not open to the public or the media.
Prosecutors said Brown, 58, of Santa Ana, took pepper spray from a police officer and then used it on Capitol Police during the Jan. 6 melee. After his conviction in December 2022, Brown started his prison sentence in April 2023 and was released from a federal correctional facility in Lompoc after serving time in 11 prisons.
During his trial, Brown called himself a political prisoner. The Republican Club highlighted Brown’s achievements as an Eagle Scout with a bachelor’s degree in business administration and an FAA commercial pilot license.
Attempts to reach Will O’Neill, the chairman of the Orange County Republican Party, and other party officials Saturday were not immediately successful.