HAGER CITY, Wis. – Former Congressional candidate Derrick Van Orden, a staunch Trump supporter, was in Washington for the rally against accepting Electoral College certification for Demcrat Joe Biden. Van Orden said, however, that he did not march on the Capitol. In an interview with Wausau television station WAOW, Van Orden said: “I don’t break the law.” He was appalled at what happened. Van Orden said he went to Washington with a group of LaCrosse Republicans to peacefully protest. At the rally before the march, Van Orden said, he was too far away to clearly hear President Trump speak. Estimates of crowd size ranged from 30,000 to 50,000. Van Orden said he left the area shortly after things got out of control. Nobody in his LaCrosse group supported political violence. He called the siege of the Capitol “absolutely horrific.”
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Verbatim
Van Orden: “It doesn’t matter what group they’re affiliated with, and I’m kind of tired of hearing people try to justify these outrageous acts of violence. Because it just doesn’t matter. Every single person that I’m aware of that entered that building was an American citizen. And it’s wrong.”
Van Orden. ExNavy Seal ran in 2020 for the Wisconsin Congressional District 3, tying his campaign closely to President Trump.