A Republican former Pennsylvania state representative and one-time congressional candidate was part of the mob that attacked the Capitol Jan. 6.
Rick Saccone posted a video to his personal Facebook page in which he promised “to run out all the evil people in there, and all the RINOs that have betrayed our president,” CBS 2 Pittsburgh reported. Saccone has since deleted the video.
“We’re calling on Vice President Pence to support our president,” he continued in the video. Pence wrote in a letter released prior to the certification session that the “Constitution constrains [him] from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.” (RELATED: Vice President Pence Begs Rioters To Leave Capitol Building, Calls For Peace Amid Chaos)
Saccone later said that his call to “storm the castle” was a metaphor and that no one in his group was involved in any violent activities.
Saccone served in the Pennsylvania state House of Representatives from 2011 to 2018. He ran to represent Pennsylvania’s 18th district in a 2018 special election, which he narrowly lost to current Rep. Conor Lamb.
Saccone called himself “Trump before Trump was Trump” at the time, according to Time Magazine.