Man who entered Capitol during Jan. 6 attack told committee about life after the insurrection

During testimony on July 12, 2022, Stephen Ayres told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol about his life after that day. Ayres, who received two years probation in September after pleading guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, told the committee that he lost his job and sold his house since the attack, and he was angry that Former President Donald Trump was still spreading lies about fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Video Transcript

JAMIE RASKIN: I'm interested in hearing about what's happened to you since the events of January 6. You told the vice chair that you no longer believe Trump's big lie about the election, but that's what brought you originally to Washington. Looking back on it now, how do you reflect on the role that you played in the crowd that day? And what is going on in your life?

- Basically, I lost my job since this all happened, pretty much sold my house. So everything that happened with the charges-- thank God a lot of them did get dismissed because I was just holding my phone, but at the same time, I was there. So it definitely changed my life, and not for the good, definitely not for the better. Yeah. I mean, that's really all I could say.

JAMIE RASKIN: Well, President Trump is still promoting the big lie about the election. How does that make you feel?

- It makes me mad because I was hanging on every word he was saying. Everything he was putting out, I was following. If I was doing it, hundreds of thousands or millions of other people are doing, or maybe even still doing it. Just like he just said about that, he got people still following and doing that. Who knows what the next election could come out? They could end up being down the same path we are right now. I mean, just don't know.