National
“If I do that then it will be worth going to prison.”
Junk food and alcohol cleanses; yoga and cardio – these are the ways Jenna Ryan plans to lose 30 pounds during her 60-day stay behind bars for storming the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“If I do that,” she said in a TikTok video on Sunday, referring to the weight loss, “then it will be worth going to prison.”
Ryan’s sentencing last month marked one of the harshest penalties for a petty offense imposed on the hundreds of Capitol rioter defendants to date. She pleaded guilty in August to a misdemeanor for parading on Capitol grounds. Under the plea agreement, she must also pay $500 in restitution and a $1,000 fine. Ryan, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday morning, will report in early January to serve her sentence.
U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper of Washington D.C. said he wanted to make an example of Ryan, who he claimed lacked remorse for her actions.
“For better or worse, you’ve become one of the faces of January 6,” Cooper said, adding that people will see her sentence and understand “that we take it seriously, that it was an assault on our democracy . . . and that it should never happen again.”
Ryan, 50, made national headlines for flying in a private jet to Washington to attend former president Donald Trump’s rally and then documenting her trek into the Capitol on social media. She initially denied her involvement on Jan. 6 but later defended it in press interviews. She also tweeted that she wasn’t going to prison because she has “blonde hair,” “white skin” and “did nothing wrong.”
In a letter to the court months later, Ryan said she does not feel she is “immune to punishment due to my appearance and social status. My true feelings are not always displayed on my public social network. Much of my inner world is kept inside.”
Standing before a mirror with damp hair in black capri leggings and a multicolored sports bra, Ryan told her TikTok followers on Sunday that her main objective during her sentence is to get in shape.
“I have to report to prison, and the only thing that I can see that’s good about having to go to prison is that I’m going to be able to work out a lot and do a lot of yoga and detox,” she said.
Ryan, a real estate agent in Frisco, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas, said she planned to avoid the food while behind bars because it “is awful,” though she hopes the facility will have protein bars and shakes.
Ryan posted a second TikTok on Wednesday, clarifying her comments in the previous video. She noted that she is “going to go through hell” while in custody but said she is a “positive person” who wants to “make the best of a horrible, horrible situation.”
She added that she plans to read a lot of books, including the Bible, and hopes to “become a better person” who is “more faithful to god.” Ryan asked her followers to pray for her and to “think good thoughts of me because I’m thinking good thoughts of you.”
Ryan was arrested and charged on Jan. 15 with disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful entry. She said she attended Trump’s rally on a whim, joining a friend who offered her a spot on a private jet.
After the speeches, Ryan and her group left to get food and go back to the hotel to drink wine. But they soon returned to the Capitol after seeing videos of rioters breaching the building. Before leaving, she posted a video on Facebook saying: “We’re going to go down and storm the Capitol. They’re down there right now and that’s why we came and so that’s what we are going to do. So wish me luck,” according to court documents.
She then live-streamed on Facebook and posted images on Twitter of the scene inside the Capitol, the FBI said. That afternoon she tweeted, “We just stormed the [Capitol]. It was one of the best days of my life.”
Soon after the events on Jan. 6, Ryan deleted the videos and images, according to court documents. She later denied that she went into the Capitol and asked Trump to pardon her before he left office.
During her sentencing hearing, Ryan apologized for her actions on Jan. 6.
“I made a mistake and I’m sorry,” she said.
Ryan has since discussed her involvement in the insurrection on social media. Her Twitter bio notes that she is “Charged with Parading, Picketing & Protesting in DC on January 6th. Sentenced to 60 days prison for 2 mins 8 sec in doorway.”
In her TikTok video chronicling her goals for her time in custody, Ryan said she is trying to “look at the bright side of everything.”
“So wish me luck,” she added.
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The Washington Post’s Rachel Weiner contributed to this report.
