Oklahoma Protesters In Midst Of DC Capitol Riots Say They Weren’t There To Cause Violence

Oklahomans were among the tens of thousands of people in Washington D.C. protesting the results of the 2020 election.

Two of those Oklahomans told News 9 they went to Washington to support outgoing president Donald Trump. They left wondering what went wrong.

Neither Daryl Simmons of Skiatook nor Meilsa Schuster of Yukon entered the Capitol following the security breach.

“Our people were not there to cause violence at all,” Simmons said. “As soon as violence happened thousands and thousands and thousands of us left, our people largely started pouring off scene.”

“I truly don’t believe that anybody that was here, those here for the right reasons, wanted to harm anybody,” Schuster said. “They say that we were rioting.”

“Rioters and thugs don’t run the Capitol,” Sen. James Lankford, R – Oklahoma, told his colleagues after the Capitol was back under control. “We are the United States of America.”

“A band of people who are terrorist, not patriots literally occupied the floor of the House, drove the Senate out if it’s chamber,” Sen. Lindsay Graham, R – South Carolina, said Thursday. 

“What we wanted was our elected officials to stick to their oath to stick to the constitution,” Simmons said.

Oklahoma senior U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe said he did stick to his oath by not objecting to the election results.

“There’s no question in my mind as to what I constitutionally can and cannot do,” Inhofe told News 9 Wednesday.

After rioters interrupted his speech, Lankford reversed course deciding not to object to the results.

Ultimately, after hearing unsuccessful objections, Vice President Mike Pence announced President-Elect Joe Biden had won the presidency just after 2:40 a.m. central time.