TYLER, Texas — East Texans in support of President Donald Trump woke up in disbelief Thursday morning after the breach at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon.
Tyler for Trump group members said they are in disbelief that true Trump supporters would cause the destruction and chaos seen during the riots.
"I don't see how you can be a Trump supporter and you can do that," Lauren Sage, organizer of the Tyler for Trump private Facebook group, said in an interview Wednesday night.
"A dark day in the nation's Capitol," that's how Vice President Mike Pence described the events. What started out as a peaceful rally turned into mayhem with what appeared to be Trump supporters breaking into the Capitol.
Sage organized the Facebook group that has over 2,000 members from East Texas. She said she made the trip to D.C. with her husband to stand in solidarity and show support for President Trump.
She describes Wednesday morning's events as, "peaceful, everything was inspiring and motivating and encouraging and even faith-driven."
She said they saw swarms of police headed toward the capitol and it wasn't until her father-in-law called her that she realized there were people smashing windows and rushing into the capitol.
"None of us had any intention or even talked about trying to break in and do anything like that," Sage said.
She thinks the bad actors who broke into the Capitol were disguised as Trump supporters.
"This wasn't just some spontaneous rage this looked like it was pre-meditated," she said.
However, there has been no evidence to support the claims those who broke into the capitol where those other than supporters of President Trump.
The East Texan said she stayed away from the chaos and left just before curfew.
Sage is on her way back to Tyler, still in disbelief.
"I think that if you are a real true conservative Trump supported that you would not conduct yourself in that way," she said.
Other Texas Trump supporters agree with Sage.
Terri Wren, of College Station, and has ties to Longview. She left before the rally turned violent, but she's also shocked that Trump supporters would cause such chaos.
"Trump supporters are law-abiding citizens," Wren said. "We follow the law, we follow the speed limits, we do what we are told to do, but I think that as a whole that we just want the truth so I just hope that the people that are still in Washington D.C. are making good choices and doing what represents Trump supporters and not making decisions that would embarrass us."
Several lawmakers are vowing to conduct an investigation into how law enforcement handled the security breach.
As for East Texans in support of President Trump, they are still in disbelief.