Jan. 6 rioter: I wanted 'prison sentence behind me' before running for Congress

Derek Evans, a former Republican delegate from West Virginia, said that he wanted to complete his prison sentence for participating in the Jan. 6 riot before running for Congress.

Evans was sentenced to 90 days in jail earlier this year for his leadership role in organizing the riot, according to CNN.

“[H]e was a leader in this riot. He was a leader on the ground, he was a leader on social media, and he was a leader in his state,” prosecutor Kathryn Fifield told a court at the time.

On Wednesday, Evans told Real America's Voice host David Brody that he wanted to wait and complete his prison sentence before considering a run for federal office. He has formed an exploratory committee now that he is out of prison.

"And so after going to the Capitol on Jan. 6 and everything that happened, I never really thought about getting into national politics until all this happened," he explained. "And then just people reaching out over the last, you know, almost two years now, saying, 'You know, hey, you need to take this a step further; you need to go run. Represent us in D.C. We want a fighter such as yourself.'"

"And I kept telling everyone that I wanted to wait until I got all this prison sentence behind me, you know and think about with my family and recess everything," the convicted criminal added. "And now that I've got that over with, I thought it was at least time to form an exploratory committee and see what kind of support we have."

Evans went on to say that he was "mindblown with the amount of support" he received in the first day.

Watch the video below from Real America's Voice.