Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, did not dispute the allegations, saying he broke into the Senate’s office twice and stole a bourbon bottle and a coat rack. He testified at the trial that he made the trip from his home in Columbus, Ohio to Washington and later entered the Capitol, hoping to gain Trump’s “respect, approval.” “Apart from the president’s order to go to the Capitol, I do not know what I was thinking,” Thompson told the jury, according to CNN. “The moment caught me.” Thompson was among the first defendants on Jan. 6 to argue before Trump that Trump was ultimately responsible for the mob that invaded the Capitol. More than 15 months later, Thompson said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions, believing he had been misled by Trump’s “strange” and false allegations of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Although Trump has denied responsibility for the Jan. 6 riots, Thompson, who attended the Stop the Steal rally before the uprising, said Trump had urged supporters to march on the Capitol and “fight like crazy.” »Against Joe Biden’s confirmation as president. “If the president almost orders you to do something, I felt compelled to do it,” Thompson was quoted as saying by NBC News. Thompson faces seven criminal charges, including obstruction of formal proceedings and conspiracy, theft of state property and entering and staying in a restricted building or premises. He pleaded not guilty to all but one of the charges, according to the justice ministry. Thompson, who was arrested, charged and charged last year, has remained in personal custody. Neither Trump’s spokesman Taylor Budovic nor Thompson’s lawyer Samuel Samansky responded immediately to requests for comment early Thursday. Thompson’s testimony comes as President Biden authorized the National Archives and Archives to hand over a new batch of Trump White House documents to a House committee investigating the Capitol attack. Trump has previously – and unsuccessfully – claimed executive power over a number of White House documents, including daily presidential calendars, timetables, draft speeches, observations and correspondence on the events of January 6. White House’s Biden resigns over Trump record MP Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), Who is a member of the House committee investigating the January 6 uprising, said in an interview with Post Politics Now on Wednesday that the House select committee is scheduled to hold public hearings in May and June. Ruskin said the commission would issue a report that would be “abundant in presenting crimes that have not yet been reported.” The Thompson jury trial is the third of nearly 800 Capitol riots to be blamed for the attack, according to the Associated Press. The first two jury trials ended with the two defendants being convicted on all charges. Earlier this month, a federal judge found Matthew Martin, a former contract engineer with the Santa Fe Department of Energy in New York, not guilty of misconduct and disorderly conduct, saying the defendant had reasonably argued that police allowed him into Capito. . The acquittal was the first defeat of the Ministry of Justice in a prosecution for violating the Capitol. US judge acquits defendant Jan. 6, who said he was handcuffed by police Thompson, who worked as an exterminator and pawnbroker after graduating from Ohio State University in 2008, was found unemployed at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, he testified. At a time when he was “isolated” and “stuck in the house,” Thompson told jurors that he “came down from the rabbit hole in the Internet” and embraced conspiracy theories. As Biden ousted Trump, Thompson said he “did not believe it was possible” for Democrats to defeat the president, echoing Trump’s false and demystified claim that the election was rigged, according to the federal complaint. “Dustin has spent a lot of time online,” his wife, Sarah Thompson, testified Wednesday, according to NBC. She testified that she was a Democrat who had voted for Biden, as well as former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama. “He was very angry about the election results,” she said of her husband. “He believed the election had been stolen.” After listening to all the speakers at the Stop the Steal Rally, Dustin Thompson joined hundreds in invading the Capitol. “Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! shouted, according to video. “This is our house!” Around 2:51 p.m. that day, security footage showed Thompson carrying a bottle of bourbon he found in the Senate’s office, according to the complaint. More than 30 minutes later, a photo was taken of a Thompson smiling holding a wooden and bronze coat rack taken from inside the Capitol, authorities say. He was arrested on January 25, 2021, after FBI agents were able to match Thompson’s description with photographs from the Ohio Department of Motor Vehicles. Ever since his trial began this week, Shamansky, Thompson’s lawyer, has argued that Trump was involved in an “optimistic” conspiracy to encourage Thompson and other “vulnerable” supporters to invade the Capitol. A judge has rejected a defense attorney’s request to summon Trump and Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, as witnesses in the Thompson trial. “It is Donald Trump himself who is launching lies and using his position to justify this attack,” Samansky said in his opening remarks on Tuesday, according to the AP. But U.S. Attorney William Kennelly Dreher has argued that Thompson, who is married and has a college degree, is an adult capable of making his own decisions. “You’re not a child, right?” asked Thompson, CNN reported. The accused replied that he was not. Thompson, however, acknowledged that he had to make his own decisions and not be persuaded by Trump’s rhetoric and false claims. “I can not let other people tell me what to do,” he said, according to NBC. “Even if he is the president.”
