A teenager who outed their own mom for participating in violence during the Capitol riots in Washington D.C. earlier this month has said that she doesn't regret doing it.
On Wednesday, January 6, a number of Trump-supporting protestors stormed the Capitol building and interrupted the affirmation of President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 US Presidential Election.
The riot ultimately left five dead after the mob clashed violently with police officers at the scene.
Per a report by ABC News 11, 18-year-old Helena Duke named her mother Therese, as well as her uncle Richard Lorenz and aunt Annie Lorenz, as being participants in the riot. She identified her mom as part of a group who confronted a Black woman in DC after spotting her in a video.
Helena retweeted the video, and captioned it: "Hi mom, remember the time you told me I shouldn't go to BLM protests because they could get violent...this you? [sic]"
In a follow-up tweet, Helena shared a close-up image of her picture comparing it to a screenshot from the video, and later went on to name her aunt and uncle as accessories.
The tweets quickly picked up a lot of attention online, and currently boast over 80,000 likes as of the time of writing.
Helena has now opened up about her relationship with her mother, as well as her own political divergence from the views espoused by her family, in a new interview with TMZ.
Helena, who currently lives with her father, stated in an interview on TMZ Live on Monday, January 18, that her mother has been unrepentant about her role in the civil disturbance.
She added that she has been disturbed by the way her mother's politics have shifted, going from a lifelong Democrat to an ardent Trump supporter a mere year into the Republican leader's administration.
Take a look at this news report on the incident in the video below:Helena stated:
"I would have had no idea she was there if that video of her getting punched in the face hadn't gone viral.
"She's been a Democrat her whole life, up until the Trump presidency where, after about the first year of his presidency, she turned from a Democrat to a radical person. It was very unsettling. The things she would say - I was taken aback by it.
"I don't regret what I did. I have gone through a little bit of, like, guilt.
"But seeing as I really think what they did was horrific, and the fact that other family members came forward and were like: 'We were about to out them anyway,' it would have gotten out.
"I think it's almost liberating what I did because my mom has been very mentally abusive to me my whole life."
