Washington’s Hotel Harrington and Harry’s Bar will close next week during pro-Trump rallies scheduled for when Congress meets to validate the 2020 election.
Both establishments have been popular with supporters of the president during demonstrations in Washington this year, but the hotel announced Monday that it will be closed Jan. 4-6.
“We greatly appreciate the trust our guests have placed in Hotel Harrington over the years and we wish to continue to earn that trust,” the hotel said in a press release. “While we cannot control what happens outside of the hotel, we are taking additional steps to protect the safety of our visitors and employees.”
Refunds reportedly will be given to people who made reservations for those days.
The decision to close came the day after The Washington Post published an article about the hotel headlined “For D.C. protests, Proud Boys settle in at city’s oldest hotel and its bar.”
Enrique Tarrio, leader of the far-right Proud Boys, posted on the message website Parler on Tuesday that the hotel closed because it fell “victim” to “fake news.”
“The Washington Post for some reason believed that one of the many hotels we frequent was newsworthy. Because of this the hotel decided to close for 3 days,” Mr. Tarrio said. “We had already stopped using that hotel as a hub 3 months ago.”
Pro-Trump groups began planning demonstrations after the president tweeted Dec. 19 about a “big protest in D.C.” that “will be wild” when Congress reconvenes Jan. 6.
The Stop the Steal movement took it as a direct communication from the president and launched a website called wildprotest.com that shows the tweet and states “President Trump wants you in D.C. January 6.”
The group is planning to meet outside the U.S. Capitol and urge lawmakers not to certify the election, which Mr. Trump claims was wrought with voter fraud that tossed the victory to Joseph R. Biden.
• Emily Zantow can be reached at ezantow@washingtontimes.com.
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