SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) – Sarasota County Commissioner Christian Ziegler is a proud supporter of President Donald Trump. In addition to his role as a local commissioner, Ziegler is the Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.

The local leader was in Washington D.C. on Wednesday attending President Trump’s rally before violence erupted at the U.S. Capitol. He sent 8 On Your Side pictures of thousands of Trump supporters gathered nearby the Washington Monument during the protest.

“The President had a rally. I arrived at that toward the end of it, but I was there for about 15 or 20 minutes while he was speaking and I could tell you there were hundreds of thousands of people, it was overwhelmingly peaceful, then they led a march down Constitution Avenue from basically the White House all the way to the Capitol. That was peaceful, but then when they got to the Capitol, that is when the issues kind of started,” said the local commissioner.

Ziegler, who once worked in the Capitol Building tells 8 On Your Side he didn’t witness any of the violence, but noticed from afar, a large crowd gathering on the steps out front.

He is calling the violence that erupted unacceptable.

“Look I get it, people are angry and we are in a very hyper-polarized partisan point in our country, but it is what it is. You’ve got to be respectful, you’ve got to be peaceful, you can’t engage in violence, you can’t engage in distracting personal property, private property, but in this case, government property. “That is a symbol of our country and I don’t wanna see that Capitol be damaged and I think that is completely inappropriate and I don’t wanna see people rushing to the Senate floor, I think that is completely inappropriate and frankly it is dangerous,” said Ziegler.

The commissioner wants to see the individuals responsible for the violence identified and prosecuted.

“If our party believes in law and order, this is the time to stand up and make it very clear,” said the local leader. “There were some people that had a different agenda in mind and I hate that because what it does is it discounts everyone’s legitimate efforts, in a legitimate movement and a legitimate passion that people have that are well-meaning. You’ve got a couple of these bad actors that really spoil it for everyone,” he continued.

Ziegler is encouraging people who want to see change to get involved at a local level.

“What you need to do is go actually make change, get involved at the local level and be productive and win it next time. That is my belief,” said Ziegler.