Stephen Ayres, a Jan. 6 rioter and former President Donald Trump supporter, testified on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.
He said social media played a large role in the reason he came to the Capitol. He said he wasn’t originally planning to march to the Capitol and had just gone to the ellipse for the “Stop the Steal” rally Trump held on Jan. 6. Ayres said he believed the president would come to the Capitol as well because he mentioned it in his speech. Ultimately, he said he does not believe the lie perpetuated by Trump and his associates that Biden won the election unfairly.
“I started doing my own research and everything and for me – for something like that to actually take place, it’s too big,” Ayres said. “There’s no way you keep something like that quiet, as big as something like that. With all the lawsuits being shot down one after another. That that was mainly what convinced me.”
In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
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