Former House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly broke down in tears as he watched the mob of right-wing extremists storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
A new book says the former Republican lawmaker from Wisconsin “found himself sobbing” as he watched the attempted insurrection unfold on television, journalist Mark Leibovich writes in his forthcoming book.
“I spent my whole adult life in that building,” said Ryan. “It really disturbed me, foundationally.”
Ryan said “something snapped in him” as he watched thousands of supporters of former President Donald Trump overwhelm security and maraud unchecked through the building as Congress prepared to certify President Biden’s 2020 election win.
“I was absolutely horrified,” Ryan said of the Capitol attack.
The revelations about Ryan come in "Thank You for Your Servitude," Leibovich’s book on the Trump era.
Ryan, who was the losing vice presidential candidate on Sen. Mitt Romney’s 2012 Republican White House ticket, is a key figure in the establishment wing of the GOP.
Like other mainstream conservatives, he dramatically misjudged the danger Trump posed to their own political positions as well as American democracy as a whole.
The lawmaker admitted to Leibovich that he assumed Trump would “just leave” after losing the 2020 election, a belief that turned out to be misguided.
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