‘I’m glad to be here’

Jenna Ryan says it all started with an invitation from a “very cute dude” on Facebook: Would she join him on a private plane for the Jan. 6 Trump rally in Washington, DC?

The decision was easy. Ryan, a Dallas-area real estate agent, is single, loves President Donald Trump and believes the discredited claim that the election was riddled with fraud.

But the trip did not have a happy ending.

Within 48 hours of her return to Texas, the social media posts posted by Ryan, who televised live on Capitol Hill with a host of Trump supporters, were shared with the FBI and she would soon be the target. a federal investigation.

She also didn’t get the guy. He made an agreement with another woman, she said.

“He was adorable,” Ryan told NBC News. “And there was another lovely girl there too, and they ended up getting together, dammit.”

Ryan, 50, was arrested last Friday for disorderly driving and knowingly entered a restricted area.

But in a free and at times combative interview, she expressed no regret for participating in the Capitol raid and said she believed she had committed no crime.

“I have no guilt in my heart,” said Ryan, who is also a life coach and radio host. “My intention was not to cause a riot. I didn’t want a riot. I was documenting what was going on in the environment I was in.

“I’m glad to be here,” she added later in the interview. “Because I have witnessed history. And I’ll never have the chance to do that again … No one will probably ever be able to approach me [the Capitol] again.”

Ryan also downplayed the inflammatory language she used in her social media posts on the day of the Capitol breach. In a video shot before heading towards the building, Ryan said, “We’re going to come down and storm the Capitol.”

In the interview, she said she was not suggesting an act of aggression.

“If you search for the term storm, you can storm the kitchen. You can come in and say, “Nothing more,” Ryan said. “I don’t rush to kill people. What I meant, life or death, is that if someone kills me, I will stand up for my truth, even if someone kills me.

The ill-fated trip to Washington came at the last minute.

Ryan said the handsome stranger contacted her on Facebook two days before the planned rally.

She had always wanted to attend a MAGA event and the idea of ​​taking a private jet to find one suited her very well. But first, she made sure her best friend Brian, who was also her “bodyguard”, would be able to join him.

“I still see all these MAGA rallies so I said, ‘Heck yeah, let’s go’,” she said. “I mean, who wouldn’t get on a private jet?”

The trip to Washington was great, she said. The handful of people on the flight were drinking and getting to know each other. Ryan took a moment to snap a photo inside the cabin and post it on his Facebook page.

“We were going in solidarity with President Trump,” she said. “President Trump requested that we be in Washington on the 6th. So that was our way of doing things and stopping the theft.

After spending the night in a DC hotel, they woke up around 6 am, put on their “Trump stuff” and left to mingle with other “like-minded patriots”.

The group ended up being too far back in the crowd to hear speeches from the president, Rudy Giuliani and others. But Ryan had a more pressing problem.

“There were no porta-pots,” she said. “We weren’t able to access a potty.”

“It was, in fact, my biggest concern,” she added. “Where’s the porta-pot?” Because I always like to know that I have a bathroom nearby. “

They finally returned to their hotel to warm up. They were horrified by what they saw on television as Vice President Mike Pence chaired a joint session of Congress to certify the November election results.

“We saw Pence accept the fraudulent election – which we believe to be fraudulent,” she said.

“We were devastated,” she said. “It was like my dad – someone I love, someone I respect – just betrayed someone I love and respect, including the country… I couldn’t believe him.

Ryan said she didn’t want to leave the hotel anymore – “I think we took 20,000 steps that day” – but decided to go with her friends to the Capitol.

“I didn’t want to be alone at the hotel,” she says.

At one point before leaving the hotel, she posted a since-deleted video on her Facebook page of her talking to the camera in front of a bathroom mirror.

“We are going to come down and storm the capital,” she said, according to federal prosecutors. “They’re out there right now and that’s why we’ve come and that’s what we’re going to do. So wish me luck.

Ryan said they were making their way to the Capitol steps. In one of the many clips she pulled into the middle of the crowd and posted online, Ryan called Mitch “turtle face” McConnell, complained she had to go to the bathroom and then said, “We are armed and dangerous. This is just the beginning.”

In court documents, prosecutors said a live Facebook video taken by Ryan – which was captured before the deletion and reposted on YouTube – showed her entering the Capitol building through the entrance to the Rotunda.

“We’re going to f — ing come in here. Life or death, ”she said at the start of the video, according to prosecutors. “It does not matter. Here we go.”

When she reached the top of the stairs, Ryan turned on her rear camera and said, “You all know who to hire for your real estate agent. Jenna Ryan for your real estate agent, ”according to prosecutors.

At one point, Ryan posed for a photo in front of a broken window and posted it on Twitter. “Window to the capital [sic]She wrote, according to federal prosecutors. “And if the news keeps lying about us, we’re going to come after their studios…”

In the interview with NBC News, Ryan admitted that she entered the building after photos appeared showing her inside, but said she only stayed inside for two minutes and that she left because she felt uncomfortable.

When more emphasis was placed on the violent language she used in her videos, Ryan went wild.

“If you want to scramble me in the media and make me sound like a violent person because that fits your script, then you know, that’s something you’re going to have to live with in your life,” she says. “Because I know my heart was to go out there and make my voice heard, no matter what. And I stood on the steps of the Capitol, and did what I come to do. And I prayed.

Five people died in the riot, including a policeman and a woman who was shot dead by police.

Ryan said she felt bad for the loss of life, but insisted she didn’t think she broke any laws

“Personally, I feel innocent in everything I have done,” she said. “I feel that I was perfectly within my rights. I have the impression that the police brought people into the Capitol. There were thousands of people there. I have no guilt in my heart.

Ryan borrowed one of Trump’s signature phrases to describe what she now feels like an FBI target.

“The FBI is going out and ransacking my house for a misdemeanor,” she said. “I take my MAGA hat. Okay? They took my MAGA hat.

Ryan also said she had “abandoned America” ​​and would no longer vote because she believes the electoral system is corrupt.

She said she remained convinced the results were fraudulent, even though election officials from all 50 states certified them and dozens of judges, including Republicans and even some appointed by Trump, dismissed the allegations.

“It didn’t bother me,” Ryan said. “No one heard the evidence,” she added.

She now fears that all Trump supporters will be labeled terrorists and silenced under President Joe Biden.

And she called on President Trump to forgive her and the other non-violent protesters. But if he doesn’t, Ryan said she wouldn’t blame him.

“I will support him no matter what he does,” she said.