Newkirk Mayor Says Family Threatened For His Comments About Capitol Riot

The mayor of Newkirk said he and his family are being threatened over what he said in a national newspaper about the riot at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.

Mayor Brian Hobbs was among the thousands who went to Washington, D.C. to support President Donald Trump this week.

Hobbs said his words were taken out of context and that he was trying to make a point of the crowd's restraint - not to support the violence.

"The New York Post clipped something out which I felt was dishonest, saying, 'There was enough people they could have pulled that place down if they would have wanted to.' Right, but the point I was making was people didn't want to," Hobbs said.

He said his quote was praising the restraint of what he felt was a peaceful majority, not promoting insurrection.

"I just want to clear the air and set the record straight," Hobbs said. "My family is getting threats. My city is getting threats. All over something, a position I didn't even take."

He describes what happened on Wednesday at the Capitol as two sides of the same coin, the peaceful protests he saw and violent riots he didn't.

"The people out front had no idea there was anything transpiring inside. I mean there was no way we could've known that. I only found that out later," Hobbs said.

Hobbs said he spent the morning walking the streets with the crowd but hours later he noticed the tone had changed.

"There was a wall, a shield wall of officers," he said.

At the time Hobbs said he didn't realize why the officers were called in, but he didn't stick around to find out.

"When they started popping tear gas and flash bangs, I left. I was like, 'Okay, this is not good.' And I walked away," Hobbs said.

In the hours and days after, his heart broke when he learned more about why they were called.

"It's disgusting that this happened, I condemn the people who were tearing stuff up," Hobbs said. "They should be ashamed of themselves. I mean there's people not going home to their families after this and that just is heartbreaking.”