Nevada Republican Annie Black describes experience at Capitol

WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTNV) — Republican Assemblywoman-elect Annie Black is one of lawmakers from seven states who either attended or observed the massive demonstrations in Washington that resulted in an attack on the U.S. Capitol.

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Black, who is from Mesquite, traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend President Trump's rally near the Washington Monument earlier in the day.

Black sent the following to local media on Friday:

Forty-eight months ago I traveled to Washington, DC for the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Forty-eight hours ago, I was again in our nation’s capital for the national “Stop the Steal” rally.

I’ve attended over a dozen Trump rallies over the past few years, including the one in Bullhead City in October. They’ve been nothing but peaceful, fun events. Wednesday’s started out that way…but went horribly and tragically wrong.

To be clear, Americans came to DC from all over the country to express frustration with and opposition to the manner in which the 2020 election was conducted. This was not an act of “sedition” or “insurrection,” but an exercise of our fundamental free speech rights as U.S. citizens.

The same free speech rights claimed by Black Lives Matter protestors throughout the summer.

Sadly, I noticed a handful of people in the crowd acting very differently from the people at the previous rallies I attended. More animated; “amped up.” These guys seemed pre-disposed to turn this event into something it was never intended to be.

And contrary to media reporting, it wasn’t because of anything the President said in his remarks at The Ellipse. In fact, here’s what the President actually said…

“So we're going to -- we're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I love Pennsylvania Avenue. And we're going to the Capitol. And we're going to try and give -- the Democrats are hopeless, they never voted for anything. Not even one vote. But we're going to try and give our Republicans - the weak ones because the strong ones don't need any of our help - we're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God Bless America.”

“Let’s walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.” Hardly a call for “sedition” and “insurrection.”

Anyway, because of the size of the crowd near the Ellipse, it was impossible to get close enough to see and hear the President speak. But we’d heard he was also going to do a second speech at the Capitol.

So we made our way directly to the east side of the building, across from the Supreme Court, hoping to get a good spot early. When we arrived, there was a guy near the barricades broadcasting the President’s Ellipse speech through a bullhorn.

Shortly after the President finished speaking, someone at the fence line started shouting to “storm the barrier.”

A man to the right of us – dressed in all-black but wearing a MAGA hat with a rainbow Trump flag draped around his shoulders like a cape - started shouting through a megaphone: “This is your house! They can’t stop you from going in there!”

It was clearly an orchestrated effort, egging people on to storm the Capitol. But a group of people, who could see the instigators at the barrier to the right of us, started chanting, “They’re not MAGA!”

A family up front who could see what was going on was yelling "We don't do this! Stop! This isn't what we do!" while telling people to take a piece of the barricade that had been removed back to the fence line.

Next thing you know, people started breaking through the barrier. At that point, we moved away and back toward the Supreme Court.

“We all had a choice when that fence came down,” I told Sam Metz of the Associated Press. “Whether it was our group that incited that to happen or another group, every single person had the choice to make.”

So for all you Black haters out there on social media accusing me of being a “seditious traitor” and “rioting with domestic terrorists,” sorry to disappoint you.

From the distance, we watched the crowd first stop at the bottom of the middle steps. Then they went a little further up. Then a little more. Until they got to the top. Then the entire building was surrounded and people somehow got inside.

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is now demanding that any Republicans who participated in assault to resign immediately. Some of those include Sen. Doug Matriano (PA), Rep Matt Maddock (MI), Rep Chris Miller (IL) and Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver (TN).

Black is currently scheduled to be sworn in on Feb. 1 in Carson City when the 2021 Nevada Legislature convenes.

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