Horry County GOP officials say they went to DC to support Trump, did not participate in mob
The Horry County Treasurer, Angie Jones, and other local Republican party officials say they traveled to Washington D.C. in support of President Donald Trump and against the Electoral College win for President-Elect Joe Biden and did not participate in the mob that stormed the US Capitol forcing lawmakers to evacuate.
Jones, Gerri McDaniel, the state’s GOP state executive committeeman for Horry County and Shannon Grady, incoming president of the Horry County Republican Women’s Caucus went to “witness a historical event,” believing that Republican members of Congress could successfully intervene to prevent the certification of the 2020 election. Those beliefs are based on unfounded and baseless claims that widespread voter fraud affected the outcome of November’s presidential election.
Congress confirmed Biden won the presidential election early Thursday, only hours after Trump supporters converged on the Capitol and broke through police barricades, vandalizing the Captiol. Five people died as a result of the violent mob.
Gene Ho, who has said he’s running for Mayor of Myrtle Beach, was also in Washington D.C. this week for pro-Trump rallies.
All three women said they were saddened by the riot Wednesday and didn’t condone the actions of the mob.
“We were dropped off and we saw some speakers,” Jones said. “It was like a festival. It was just an opportunity to just see the President and be in support of fair elections. I didn’t go in my capacity as Horry County Treasurer. If I had had a crystal ball in my pocket and could have anticipated anything happening, of course I would not (have gone).”
Jones, who drove up Tuesday to for a GOP dinner, said she attended speeches Wednesday, including those by former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump Jr. — ahead of the president’s address in which he incited his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol.” She said before she could get to where Trump was set to speak, a friend told her that they should leave. The two went back to the hotel they were staying at in Arlington, Virginia.
Jones she spent the rest of Wednesday in the hotel and went home Thursday morning, she said.
“That was wrong, in no way shape or form was infiltrating the Capitol the right thing to do,” she said. “I’ve never promoted violence. I would never do anything to hurt Horry County or hurt my office or hurt myself.”
McDaniel and Grady traveled to Washington D.C. on Monday in a “Trump Girl’s RV” and stayed at a Maryland campground when they arrived and planned to attend pro-Trump events, the women said. McDaniel and others in her posse had VIP tickets to see Trump speak on Wednesday, she said. McDaniel was slated to speak at a women for Trump rally on Tuesday but had to leave that morning due to her sister’s medical emergency.
Grady said she did march to the U.S. Capitol Wednesday but left once she saw people breech security gates and begin to enter the building.
Standing in a crowd roughly 30 yards from the security gate, Grady said she saw a Capitol Police officer open the metal gates and allow people inside. The crowd rushed toward the building and began to break in, she said.
Grady and the group she was with left once the crowd began moving towards the Capitol. They made their way back to a bus to take them back to their RV. She said she didn’t condone the riot or the actions of the mob.
“You don’t bust out a window, that’s an act of violence, you don’t hit a police officer, that’s an act of violence,” Grady said. “I am appalled that anyone was injured or killed.”
Looking back, Grady said she was glad she went but worries the riot will harm the reputation of the Republican party, both nationally and in Horry County.
McDaniel, who worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and counts Sen. Lindsey Graham, Rep. Tom Rice and other local politicians as friends, watched Wednesday’s events unfold virtually and said she found the riot “upsetting.”
“I hate what happened, I never want to see violence happen,” she said. “Anyone who was involved in it, I will have nothing to do with it.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2021 at 10:32 PM.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREHow can I cope in the aftermath of the riots at the Washington, D.C. Capitol?
The January 6, 2021, the U.S. Capitol was breached by a mob incited by President Donald Trump to contest the results of the November election. Mental health experts say the events may be a “trauma cue” for those who have already endured mass violence, criminal victimization or other life trauma, and may worsen distress or impede recovery from other experiences of victimization.
Experts at the Charleston-based National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center offer these tips for how to help South Carolinians bounce back mentally from these stressful events. For a full list and more resources, please visit https://www.nmvvrc.org/.
Tips have been edited for length and clarity.
First, recognize that any feelings you are having – as long as they are not destructive to self or others – are okay.
Accept that what you witnessed on January 6th may have been frightening, and that it might have felt like a threat to the security of our nation, to you, or to someone you know.
Limit your exposure to television and social media. Repeated exposure to images of the violence at the U.S. Capitol is not helpful.
Limit children’s exposure to media (even if you think they are not listening or watching, they take in more than we suspect, and it can frighten them).
Try to focus on something other than the difficult emotions you are experiencing. Helpful coping strategies can be found here.
If you or a loved one is feeling overwhelmed with feelings of anxiety, no-cost professional crisis assistance is available. The National Disaster Distress Hotline at 1-800-846- 8517 is available 24/7 to provide crisis support. If you feel you are in immediate crisis, call 911. Additional services related to mass violence, including the Crisis Text Line, can be accessed via the NMVVRC website’s “Get Help Now” button.
The National Mass Violence and Victimization Resource Center is an initiative of the Medical University of South Carolina’s Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime. It was established in 2017 to improve the nation’s capacity to assist victims recovering from mass violence, its mission states.