Jenna Ryan, a Texas real estate broker who took a private plane to Washington to enter the U.S. Capitol attack, pleaded with Donald Trump to pardon her after the federal authorities arrested her.
After surrendering to the FBI on Friday, Ryan said: “We all deserve a pardon.”
“I’m facing a prison sentence,” she told CBS11 at her home. “I think I do not deserve that.”
Turning to look into the camera, she said: “I would ask the president of the United States to give me a pardon.”
Trump was impeached on Wednesday for triggering a January 6 assault that left five people dead, including a police officer, and sent lawmakers to run for their lives.
Ryan said she had been “displaying my patriotism”, adding: “I listen to my president who told me to go to the Capitol.”
Ryan has left online a trove of information. Court papers reveal that on the day before the riot, she shared a photo of herself taking a private jet to Washington DC, then standing on the steps of the Capitol and smashing next to a window as the pro-Trump mob broke in.
“We’re gonna go down and storm the Capitol,” Ryan said in a video posted to Facebook. “They’re down there right now and that’s why we came and so that’s what we are going to do. So wish me luck.”
During a live Facebook video at the scene of the incursion, Ryan stated: “We are going to fucking go in here. Life or death, it doesn’t matter. Here we go.”
She climbed the steps of the Capitol, then promoted her real estate business to camera: “Y’all know who to hire for your realtor. Jenna Ryan for your realtor.”
Later, Ryan posted on Twitter: “We just stormed the Capital [sic]. It was one of the best days of my life.”
The presidential pardon power has primarily been used by Trump to support political allies. Ryan is the latest person to call for a pardon for the assault on the Capitol.
A lawyer for Jacob Chansley, an Arizona man who wore horns, animal skin, and face paint while holding a spear and entering the Senate chamber, said Trump should do the “honorable thing and pardon those of his peaceful followers who accepted the president’s invitation”.
Albert Watkins said his client had no history of crime and was an “active yoga practitioner.” Chansley diet, which led him to refuse non-organic meals in federal custody, was also reported.
There are six federal charges facing Chansley. A judge on Friday ordered him to be held without bail.
Source: The Guardian