A 24-hour anti-Trump protest encampment outside Union Station has had its event permit reinstated after it was cleared by US Park Police and National Park Service employees earlier this month.
The continuous encampment, which is run by FLARE USA, had been operating with a permit in Columbus Circle since May 1. In the early-morning hours of October 3, Department of Interior officials presented FLARE with a notice of permit revocation and seized their belongings. The revocation notice was not printed on official letterhead and had no signature.
Since then, FLARE has maintained a presence in Columbus Circle, sharing a tent with the veteran-run anti-Trump organization Remember Your Oath. The new permit, which was viewed by Washingtonian, took effect at noon on Monday. The conditions are largely the same, except the encampment must move from its previous location in the northwestern portion of Columbus Circle to the southeast section on the other side of the fountain. “It’s not unheard of for them to move us, especially since it was revoked—we technically had to reapply to get reinstated, so it is a brand new permit application and that is the location they approved us for this time,” says Dominique Moore, one of FLARE’s councilmembers.
FLARE members have also been able to recover most of the personal belongings that Interior Department officials had moved to a storage unit after the encampment clearing. The group estimates about $20,000 worth of items were seized. “There was no warrant to take our personal property, and then having to fight to get it back when they had no right to have it in the first place—usually, if a permit is revoked, you have enough time to take your stuff home,” Moore says. “That was not even offered as an option for us.” Washingtonian has asked the Interior Department whether officials had a warrant to seize FLARE’s belongings, or if protestors were given the opportunity to gather their things as the encampment was cleared. We are waiting to hear back.
According to Moore, FLARE’s point of contact at the Park Service—who issued their initial permit—was not aware that the group’s permit had been yanked. Washingtonian has asked the National Park Service if they can confirm this and we’ve not yet heard back. “There was no contact from her letting us know that there were any violations for us to make corrections on, so it really did come out of left field,” she says. “And I think it just speaks volumes that that notice was not printed on letterhead or signed. It seems that it did come from probably much higher up in the administration—that’s our guess.”
It is unusual for the National Park Service to issue a permit during a government shutdown. Washingtonian reached out for comment but has not heard back, as spokespeople for the agency are furloughed. In an audio recording obtained by Washingtonian, a Park Service employee says he doesn’t know who wrote the revocation notice that was presented to FLARE on October 3. “I think the reason we were able to get our permit reinstated was simply because of the fact that they know they didn’t follow proper protocol. So if our permit contact at NPS is saying, ‘We didn’t know this was being taken from you,’ now it’s a situation that you have to remedy, potential legal battles of violating constitutional rights,” Moore says. “They, in my opinion, are trying to get back in good standing with what procedure and policy is supposed to be at NPS.”
When Washingtonian asked Interior Department officials about the permit revocation earlier this month, a spokesperson responded with a link to a Fox News story that had been republished on the New York Post’s website. That article described a physical confrontation between conservative activist Cam Higby and a woman who was recorded pushing Higby and hitting him with his MAGA hat. In response, Higby pepper-sprayed her. That encounter did not take place at FLARE’s encampment, and FLARE volunteers say they had never seen that woman before that night. “We have relationships with law enforcement agencies that are not part of the executive branch and they agree—they had never seen this woman that interacted with Cam Higby. They know she’s not a part of us, and she hasn’t been back here since,” says Dave Mytych, FLARE’s congressional outreach coordinator. “It’s just a random member of the public that walked through the area that, technically, is not even our permitted area.” Higby tells Washingtonian that FLARE called the police on him for pepper-spraying the woman and took her into their tents to receive medical attention. Mytych says he isn’t sure who called the police on Higby, but confirmed that FLARE members did help her wash the pepper spray out of her eyes, adding that the group “would do that for any member of the public since we have a medical tent and supplies.”
On October 3, the same day FLARE’s encampment was dismantled, MAGA influencer Lance Johnston—who is affiliated with Higby’s Fearless Tour, a group of young conservatives currently traveling America to debate liberals on college campuses in homage to Charlie Kirk—posted a video captioned “HUGE WIN! The 24/7 Anti Trump Encampment is officially CLOSED after wacko liberal assaulted Cam!” In the clip, Johnston records the Remember Your Oath encampment. “Have fun without your other two tents,” Johnston calls out as he walks by. (The FLARE encampment had three tents.) “We’re the ones who got ‘em removed.”
Higby denies the Fearless Tour’s involvement in the encampment clearing. “We were not involved in the revocation of that permit,” he wrote in a statement to Washingtonian. “I don’t know why Lance said that—I think he is just mad at the way the FLARE folks have treated us.” Washingtonian has reached out to Johnston for comment.
In the notice of revocation presented to FLARE, which was viewed by Washingtonian, there was no mention of the incident involving Higby. “It indicates that they’re scrambling because they’re sloppy and they don’t know who they’re dealing with, because we’re not just gonna be like, ‘Oh, we got raided. I guess we’re gonna go home because they violated our constitutional rights,’” says Mytych. “And then we reapplied for the same permit, and they were able to give us a new permit. So it doesn’t make sense why they would reissue a permit if all those things in the revocation letter were true.”
FLARE members say they are exploring their legal options as they try to piece together the origins of that permit revocation. “We’re just trying to follow these threads, because that’s all we have right now—just little nuggets of information that one department has told us versus another department,” Moore says. “But as of this moment, FLARE is still here. We never left. Today is Day 165 and we are back in NPS-permitted territory.”
