A New Hampshire man who was at the protests in Washington, D.C., and even joined the mob storming the Capitol is now speaking out — saying he was proud to be there but didn’t go there to break anything.
A New Hampshire man who attended a Trump rally in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, then swept with a mob into the Capitol building, described drinking wine amid the melee and said he has no regrets.
Jason Riddle, of Keene, New Hampshire, says he is a military veteran and a proud supporter of President Donald Trump. Their shared belief that the election results were wrong is why he decided to make the trip to D.C. and protest.
“He’s winning the election when I go to sleep and then I wake up and, somehow, he’s magically losing now?” Riddle told NBC10 Boston in a Zoom interview Friday.
All U.S. states have validated that there was no fraud in the 2020 election, and fraud hasn't been proven in dozens of court cases brought by Trump's legal team.
Riddle said he never expected things to turn violent at the Capitol.
“They just broke into the building. I was in shock, I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Riddle said.
He took videos outside the Capitol Building and then, he said, followed the mob inside.
“They were smashing computers and printers and breaking things and throwing papers and lamps around,” Riddle said.
When asked why he decided to go inside, he responded, “I had to see it.”
And when asked if he had any regrets, he said, “no.”
More on the Capitol Riot
Amid the mayhem, Riddle said, he found a liquor cabinet inside a lawmaker’s office, poured himself a glass of wine and watched it all unfold.
“And I chugged it and got out of there,” he said.
Riddle said it was all a distraction from the message he hoped to bring to D.C.
“It definitely is not what it was supposed to be about, it wasn’t getting anything accomplished,” he said.
On Thursday, Riddle resigned from his position as a mail carrier at the U.S. Postal Service and announced that he’s running for Cheshire County Commissioner, which he's done before, according to The Sentinel Source.
In the interview, Riddle denounced his fellow Trump supporters who turned what he thought would be a peaceful protest into a historic assault on our government.
“Those psychopaths going around breaking things and hurting people can rot in hell,” Riddle said.
Another man from New Hampshire was one of the people arrested at the Capitol and charged with unlawful entry. More around the country were arrested or charged on Friday, including the man seen in an image with his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk, and federal authorities have vowed to prosecute anyone involved with the violence.
People on social media are vowing to report Riddle to the authorities. He said he now understands he likely broke the law by going into the Capitol but hasn’t yet heard from any law enforcement agency.
Asher Klein contributed to this story.
