Capitol rioter Jorge Aaron Riley, was honored by the Sacramento Republican Assembly this week, more than a month after he was arrested and charged in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the nation’s Capitol.
According to the Sacramento Bee, Riley was honored by the group for his long service on their board.
“Jorge is the first SRA president to tie the previous record set by SRA Founding President Greg Hardcastle. Local SRA and California Republican Assembly (CRA) leaders gathered to pay tribute to Jorge for both his service on the SRA as well as the CRA board of directors,” a Facebook post by CRA national committeeman Bill Cardoza read.
The post was accompanied by a photo of Riley holding a trophy and surrounded by other Republican activists.
Riley was arrested in January and indicted by a grand jury on February 3rd on charges of obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct and demonstrating in a Capitol building.
He pleaded not guilty to those charges. His next hearing was set for April 21.
Riley broke into the Capitol on Jan. 6 and took photos of himself and others in the building. He later gave a video-recorded interview outside the Capitol detailing what he’d done, court documents say.
“We broke windows, we went into the door, we pushed our way in, and then we just kept going further and further … we went into, there was like a corridor building. We pushed our way to Nancy Pelosi’s office … and then we were sitting in there yelling ‘fuck you Nancy Pelosi’,” Riley said according to court filings.
He concluded the interview by saying: “It was mostly a peaceful, physical takeover of the Capitol. We stopped the steal, because they were in there and they weren’t going to stop the steal, so we stopped the steal. We took our country back. Fuck you guys.”
Riley resigned from the board of the Sacramento Republican Assembly one week after taking part in the riot.
Sacramento Republican Assembly President Justin Hardcastle said the group does not condone Riley’s actions but are trying to help him through his troubles and wanted to honor him for his past service, Sacramento Bee reports.
A spokesman for the California Republican Assembly said they are “concerned” about the Sacramento chapter honoring someone who was a member of the mob that stormed the Capitol.
“As a political organization, we want to set an example for how you engage in political discourse, and Jorge’s actions were not how we believe you should be engaging in political discourse,” the spokesperson said.
