WASHINGTON, D.C. — The January 6th Select Committee investigating the U.S. Capitol attack has not had many witnesses testify live at its hearings this summer, but the panel summoned a cabinet maker from Ohio to answer questions in public Tuesday.

What You Need To Know

  • Stephen Ayres of Warren, Ohio testified before the Jan. 6th Committee on Tuesday

  • Ayres pleaded guilty in June to breaking into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021

  • Ayres said he ended up in D.C. that day because he felt then-President Donald Trump had called for his supporters to come and stop Congress from certifying the 2020 election results

  • Ayres said he no longer believes the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and is frustrated that Trump keeps pushing the baseless claim

“It changed my life, and not for the good,” Stephen Ayres told the committee.

Ayres, of Warren, Ohio, found himself back in Washington explaining what led him to break into the Capitol with hundreds of others on Jan. 6, 2021, hoping to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory over then-President Donald Trump.

“The president got everybody riled up, told everybody to head on down, so we basically were just following what he said,” Ayres testified.

Last month, Ayres pleaded guilty to disorderly and disruptive conduct, according to the Department of Justice.

He told the committee Tuesday that he lost his job of 20 years at a cabinet company and had to sell his home after taking part in the Capitol attack.

Ayres said he traveled to Washington because he believed Trump’s baseless claim that the election was stolen—a lie Ayres said he no longer supports.

He also criticized Trump for still pushing it.

“It makes me mad because I was hanging on every word he was saying. Everything he was putting out, I was following,” Ayres said.

The Justice Department has arrested at least 46 people in Ohio for their role in storming the Capitol, including one woman affiliated with the extremist group, the Oath Keepers. She was charged with seditious conspiracy.

Ayres appeared in the Jan. 6th Committee’s seventh hearing of the summer.

The panel is trying to prove Trump knew there was no evidence of widespread election fraud, but convinced his supporters to come to the nation’s capital anyway to overturn the results.

Ayres ended his testimony with a message on the insurrection.

“I felt like I had, like, horse blinders on,” he said. “I was locked in the whole time. Biggest thing for me is take the blinders off. Make sure you step back and see what’s going on. Before it’s too late.”

Before leaving the hearing room, Ayres went over to several Capitol Police officers injured or attacked that day to hug them and apologize.