ROANOKE, Va. – Hundreds of thousands of people rallied Thursday night to protect the Mueller investigation of President Donald Trump. They joined forces after the president asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to resign. People turned out all across the country in droves, including right here at home.
About 100 people showed up for the Roanoke protest, which complemented events in Blacksburg, Lynchburg and a dozen or so other locations across the Commonwealth. The protesters have been waiting in the wings for the starting bell, and they felt Sessions' replacement Matthew Whittaker is a Trump crony, and that is a clear conflict of interest in their eyes.
Elmwood Park was the meetup point and the instructions were clear: bring a sign, bring a light and bring your passion to fight for a fair and equal law.
"Those are there to protect all of us and I think it's important to remember that you may be on one side of it right now but you may be on the other side of it later, eventually," Roanoke organizer Sara Sprague said.
The nobody is above the law rapid response protest drew about 100 people to Roanoke at 5 p.m. sharp. They gathered and marched a lap around the block, making their voices clear. They want President Trump to know he is not to touch Robert Mueller.
"I think it shows that there are people who are dissatisfied with the direction of this country under this President, I think it shows that there are many Americans in all kinds of places that believe in the rule of law and believe that the investigation should continue unimpeded," Roanoke College senior Michael Johnson said.
Roanoke was just one of about 1,000 protests across the country including crowds in New York City, Greensboro and Fort Worth. All were synchronized to send a unified message to the staff in the White House.
"We've already activated the network of hosts across the country, people already have signs that they've been storing in their basements prepared sometimes for months now," Washington D.C. protest organizer Ben Wikler said.
And those months have left these protesters on the edge of their seats, just waiting for the pin to drop. President Trump's appointment of someone they see as favorable to him was just that, and they will not tolerate Trump interference.
"It can feel frustrating sometimes like you're not making your voice heard, but when you see people collectively add up to large numbers it's very reassuring that you're not alone," Sprague said.
Protesters are asking everyone to call their federally elected officials and ask them to step up and stand up to President Trump in this situation.