A Bay Area attorney who supports President Donald Trump was among those at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday when a mob stormed the building.
Maria Rutenburg said she didn't go inside and insisted she, and most of those in attendance, did nothing wrong.
Before the chaos, Rutenburg described a peaceful scene in the nation's capital.
"There was a whole bunch of kids, families, people singing anthem, people shaking hands, praying, all kinds of peaceful activities," she said. "Nobody was drunk. Nobody had any weapons. Everybody was peaceful, normal."
Rutenburg said after spending a month helping investigate allegations of voter fraud in Pennsylvania, she felt she had to travel to Washington, D.C.
"It was a decisive day for us," she said. "We all came to capital because we thought that's the last point of defense. We were trying to have a representative listen to us."
Rutenburg marched with the crowd onto the Capitol grounds. She said police didn’t try to stop them.
"They somehow just opened the metal parts and they let everybody come in," she said. "The huge crowd flooded towards the entrance of Capitol. We were just pouring in from all directions."
At one point, she said a few young men began hitting the windows with hammers. She said others tried to stop them.
Photos: Cleanup Efforts Begin After Violence Shakes the Capitol
"There was no call for violence and nobody expected to destroy anything," she said. "We don’t do this. We’re not the party who destroys things. We're the party who supported police all this year."
When police started pushing back, Rutenburg said she got roughed up.
"I got pepper sprayed in my eyes, in my face, and I could not get up for about four minutes," she said.
She said she still stands behind Trump.
"We love you, we support you and we are with you all the way," she said.
CORRECTION (Jan. 8, 2021, 10:18 a.m.): An earlier version of this story misspelled Maria Rutenburg's name.
