Convicted Capitol Hill rioter compares her treatment to ‘Jews in Germany’
Texas realtor Jenna Ryan says backlash she received after Jan. 6 events made others not see her as human: ‘They’re making fun of my skin color, calling me an insurrection Barbie’
A Texas real estate agent convicted of participating in the January 6 riot at the US Capitol last year, compared the treatment she received to the “Jews in Germany” in a recently published interview.
Jenna Ryan, 50, was sentenced to 60 days in prison after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge, after “knowingly” entering or remaining in the restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds on January 6, according to a criminal complaint filed by the FBI in a Washington federal court.
Shortly before being imprisoned, she told NBC news the way she has been treated in the aftermath of the January 6 riot, is “just like they did that to the Jews in Germany.”
“They’re making fun of my skin color. They’re calling me an ‘insurrection Barbie,’” she said.
“They have no idea who I am as a person, what my beliefs are, what I’ve been through, who I am. They see me as a one-dimensional caricature. They don’t see me as a human.”
“And so, that is the epitome of a scapegoat. Just like they did that to the Jews in Germany,” she said, apparently referring to the Holocaust.
Texas realtor Jenna Ryan became one of the most visible participants in the Capitol riot due to her social media posts.
Before reporting to federal prison for a 60-day sentence, Ryan spoke with @TVKateSnow.
Read more: https://t.co/qOMhL7syBM pic.twitter.com/W2EXq6PH43
— NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt (@NBCNightlyNews) January 5, 2022
“Those were scapegoats. And I believe that people who are Caucasian are being turned into evil in front of the media,” Ryan added.
But after being pressed by NBC whether she was comparing the situation to the Holocaust, Ryan declined to respond. “You know what’s so sad?” she said, “that I’m afraid to answer your question because I will be attacked for saying that.”
Ryan said she “definitely” feels she is being persecuted, and other people have made the same comparison.
According to NBC News, Ryan flew to Washington with friends on a private jet.
Matt DeSarno, special agent in charge of the FBI Dallas office, confirmed that Ryan had turned herself in and that her Carrollton apartment was searched Friday. No personal telephone for Ryan was available, and court records didn’t list a lawyer for her as of Friday.
Ryan shared photos and videos on social media, including a video in which she says, “We’re gonna go down and storm the Capitol,” in front of a bathroom mirror, according to the FBI criminal complaint.
The agent who signed the complaint also noted that Ryan live-streamed a 21-minute Facebook video of her and a group walking toward the Capitol.
“We are going to [expletive] go in here,” Ryan said in the now-deleted video as she approached the top of the stairs on the west side of the Capitol building. “Life or death, it doesn’t matter. Here we go.”
She then turned the camera to expose her face, the complaint noted, and said, “Y’all know who to hire for your Realtor, Jenna Ryan for your Realtor.” Nearly halfway through, Ryan appears to have made it to the front door, chanting, “USA, USA” and “Here we are, in the name of Jesus.”
Officials said that hours after the riot, she tweeted she had “just stormed the Capital [sic],” and posted a photo online of herself next to a broken window.
In an interview with KTVT-TV in Fort Worth, Ryan said she hoped that Trump would pardon her.
“I just want people to know I’m a normal person, that I listen to my president who told me to go to the Capitol, that I was displaying my patriotism while I was there and I was just protesting and I wasn’t trying to do anything violent and I didn’t realize there was actually violence,” Ryan said.
More than 700 people have been charged so far and the FBI is still looking for more. Among the most serious charges are those against far-right extremist group members accused of plotting attacks to obstruct Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. Their cases haven’t yet gone to trial.
At least 165 people have pleaded guilty so far, mostly to crimes punishable by a maximum sentence of six months. There are dozens of cases involving more serious offenses still moving through the system. More than 220 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement officers at the Capitol, according to the Justice Department. Since November, three of them have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from more than three years to just over five years.
