6 January defendant, coat rack liquor thief says he ‘followed the president’s orders’

WASHINGTON – A Donald Trump The supporter who admitted he stormed into the Capitol and stole a bottle of wine and a coat rack on January 6 testified during Wednesday’s hearing that he “followed the orders of the president. “

Dustin Thompson – a 38-year-old married, college-educated Ohio resident – told jurors he didn’t have any strong male role models in his life and hoped to earn “respect” and ” approval” of former President Donald Trump as he entered the Capitol between January 6 riots.

Thompson, third defendant next January 6 face the juryadopted a defense strategy very different from the other two: trying to convince jurors that Trump was ultimately responsible for the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6. told the jury on Tuesday that “vulnerable“People like Thompson believe Trump’s lies about an election were stolen and that Trump authorized the attack on the Capitol.

Thompson, who worked at a pawn shop and was a terminator after he graduated from Ohio State University in 2008, testified Wednesday that he was unemployed at the start of the pandemic in October. 3, 2020, and then “go down the rabbit hole on the Internet.”

He said he was “deeply ashamed” of his actions and now believes he was misled by Trump’s “odd” statements about the 2020 election, but at the time, Thompson told jurors that he found Trump’s rhetoric and the conspiracy theories he read online “compelling”.

“The way he spoke was believable to me,” Thompson said. “I mean, I trusted him.”

Thompson went on to say that he “didn’t think it was possible” for President Joe Biden to win the election. “I think the election was staged to bring Biden to power,” he said.

Thompson said he wasn’t originally planning to go to the Capitol on January 6, but felt compelled to do so after hearing Trump’s speech near the White House that day.

“If the president is almost ordering you to do something, I feel obligated to do it,” Thompson said, adding that he feels like “something has to be done to earn respect. his respect or, like approval.”

Thompson said listening to Trump’s speech made him feel like democracy and the country were in danger of being destroyed.

“I just thought that somehow I made a difference,” he testified. “The mentality of the crowd and the mindset of the group is very real and very dangerous.”

NBC News has reached out to a Trump spokesman for comment.

Trump has said he is not responsible for the actions of the January 6 rioters and has instead sought to blame others present at the Capitol that day.

At a rally near the White House on January 6, Trump told supporters“We will have to fight more.”

“We will be walking down to the Capitol, and we will be cheering for our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we may not be cheering too much for some of them. surname. Because you will never take back our country with weakness,” Trump added that day.

“We fought like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you won’t have a country left,” he said.

Nearly 800 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol, and nearly 250 have pleaded guilty. Hundreds of the additional cases being worked on.

Thompson told the jury on Wednesday he felt “humiliated” when he saw the videos of his behavior on January 6. “I couldn’t believe what I did,” Thompson said. “I don’t know where my head is.”

Thompson’s wife, Sarah Thompson, testified earlier on the day that the couple met in college. She said she was a Democrat who voted for Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former President Barack Obama, but she was not a “super-politician”.

“Dustin spent a lot of time on the internet,” she said. “He’s very angry about the election results… He believes the election was stolen.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney William Kennelly Dreher asked Thompson during the cross-examination whether he was 36 years old when he stormed the Capitol, whether he had a college degree, and whether Thompson was dressed “alone” on January 6 or not.

“You’re not a child, are you?” he asked Thompson. No, the defendant replied.

Thompson testified that he has now learned that he needs to make decisions for himself.

“I can’t let other people tell me what to do,” he said. “Even if they’re the president.”

at Blogtuan.info – Source: nbcnews.com – Read the original article here