A man from New Hampshire, who was convicted for his involvement in the January 6 U.S. Capitol riot, is taking steps to ensure he is not included among the over 1,500 individuals pardoned by President Donald Trump. Jason Riddle, a Navy veteran known for drinking from a wine bottle during the chaos, mentioned this week that he has reached out to his state’s junior senator to aid him in officially rejecting the pardon.

By the time Trump’s pardon was announced, Riddle had already completed a 90-day jail term for the riot and was on probation, penalties he believes were rightfully imposed due to his behavior that day.

“I caused a lot of hurt by being down there. I hurt a lot of people along the way, I said a lot of nasty things,” Riddle expressed in an exclusive interview with WMUR, a Manchester, New Hampshire ABC affiliate. “I have to acknowledge that reality, and part of that is not taking any sort of pardon or pass or anything from Trump that denies that reality, because once you do that, I’m right back where I started.”

Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.

Riddle, a failed 2024 Republican Party candidate for a seat in New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, said one good thing came from his crime: his rehabilitation from alcohol addiction.

In an interview with investigators, Riddle admitted he entered the Capitol building and “walked into an office and found an open bottle of wine on or in a refrigerator and poured himself a glass. Riddle then admitted to drinking the wine and then leaving the office after being told to do so by a police officer.” Riddle also posed for a photo in his red Trump hat, holding a bottle of wine that he had taken from the office.

Speaking to a local news station after the riot, Riddle said he poured a glass of wine and “watched it all unfold,” according to court documents. He described others he saw committing crimes, saying, “[t]hose psychopaths going around breaking things and hurting people can rot in hell.”

He was arrested a month after the riot and later pleaded guilty to charges of theft of government property and picketing in a Capitol building.

In a blog post on Leaving MAGA, Riddle said that he had an “epiphany” in March 2023, after Trump asked his followers to come out and protest on his behalf as he was about to be criminally indicted in New York for falsifying business records in connection with payments to adult entertainer Stormy Daniels

“I thought, ‘How could he do that? There could be another riot, there could be another Ashli Babbitt. Someone else might get killed, how could you do this?'” he wrote. “Then it hit me. I said to myself, ‘Trump doesn’t know you, and the fact that you’re even thinking about his feelings proves you have an unhealthy obsession. And you’re an idiot for even believing he cares.'”

After Trump issued sweeping pardons to all those convicted of storming the Capitol, Riddle said he tried to turn it down, but was unable to do so. He then reached out to Sen. Maggie Hassan, whose office has been assisting him in the matter. The senator’s office confirmed to WMUR that they had spoken with the pardon office to discuss a formal refusal of Riddle’s pardon so he can be held accountable for his actions.

“This was a horrible thing that happened, and I deserve to go to prison, and so does Donald Trump,” Riddle said. “He still deserves to go to prison for having caused that. I think maybe one day he will.”