A woman from Texas who was arrested after going to the US Capitol riot attended the protest because a "very cute guy" invited her along.
Jenna Ryan, a 50-year-old real estate agent from Carrollton, was hit with federal charges last week after FBI agents entered her home. They found significant evidence online that she had attended the riot on January 6, including social media posts and footage of her entering the Capitol building.
She was released from custody hours later, and, after returning home, she pleaded for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump.
"We all deserve a pardon," she told CBS11 after surrendering to the FBI.
"I'm facing a prison sentence, I think I do not deserve that."
Ryan has now claimed she decided to attend to riot on a whim after an invitation from a "very cute guy" on Facebook who asked her to join him on a private plane to the rally.
She says she's always wanted to attend a Make America Great Again event, and taking a private jet to Washington DC suited her.
"I always see all these MAGA rallies, so I said, 'Heck yeah, let's go'. I mean, who wouldn't go and get on a private jet?"
But her trip didn't end happily. Not only did she find herself at the centre of a federal investigation after she was videoed entering the Capitol with a mob of Trump supporters, but the man she met up with hit it off with another woman.
"He was adorable, and there was another adorable girl there, too, and they ended up getting together, darn it," she told NBC.
Ryan says she doesn't have regrets about attending the siege and her "intention was not to have a riot" - she was instead there "documenting" what was happening.
"I'm glad I was there because I witnessed history. And I'll never get the chance to do that again… No one will probably ever be able to go near [the Capitol] again."
The FBI has identified more than 200 suspects and arrested over 100 people in relation to the riot at the Capitol.
Rioters are being charged with gun-related offences, violent entry, disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assaulting a federal law enforcement officer, and threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
