- An accused Capitol rioter said he was following "presidential orders" on January 6.
- Dustin Thompson's defense lawyer previously argued that Trump authorized the Capitol attack.
- A prosecutor pushed to undercut the defense, asking Thompson if he was a "child."
The latest criminal trial linked to the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol is putting a legal defense strategy to the test: shifting the blame for the day's violence from the individual rioters to former President Donald Trump himself.
On Wednesday, the accused Capitol rioter Dustin Thompson took the witness stand in his own defense and testified before jurors that he was "following presidential orders" on January 6. He also said he'd been swept up in the spirit of the pro-Trump crowd after nearly a year of isolation and unemployment caused by COVID-19.
Thompson, 38, was charged last year with obstructing Congress' certification of the 2020 election results and stealing a coat tree from a Senate office, among other allegations linked to the riot at the Capitol. On Wednesday, he recalled attending Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally with a friend on January 6 and hearing the then-president tell supporters, "We fight like hell, and if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore."
Recalling the atmosphere of that day, Thompson said "it was an us-versus-them mentality for sure."
"We're going to lose our country today if we don't put a stop to the election results," he said, summarizing his feelings that day.
Thompson's testimony Wednesday marked the moment his defense team was waiting for — and even chasing. His defense lawyer, Samuel Shamansky, had breezed through witnesses summoned by the Justice Department, declining to cross-examine a police officer and FBI agent who took the stand earlier Wednesday.
In his opening remarks to the jury Tuesday, Shamansky previewed his defense strategy, laying the groundwork for an argument that Trump whipped up Thompson and other supporters into a frenzy that snowballed into the storming of the Capitol. Shamansky said in his opening argument that Trump authorized the Capitol attack, and on Wednesday, the defense lawyer almost sounded like a federal prosecutor as he posed pointed questions to Thompson and described the Capitol attack as shameful.
Federal prosecutors allege that Thompson donned a tactical vest on January 6 before entering the Capitol, where he reached the Senate parliamentarian's office and took a coat tree and bottle of bourbon.
After questioning Thompson about the stolen coat tree, Shamansky turned to the bottle of bourbon.
"And you took a bottle of booze," the defense lawyer said. "That alcohol wasn't yours, was it?"
When Shamansky asked about what Thompson had learned from the "perfect storm" of January 6, his client replied: "Mob mentality, group think is very real, very dangerous."
Shamansky's strategy is, for the first time, directly presenting jurors with a defense that others have raised in public statements and court filings — but not at trial.
In civil lawsuits, Democratic lawmakers and Capitol police have accused the former president and his other political allies, including Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, of inciting the crowd. Others charged in connection with January 6 have argued in court filings that they believed Trump had approved the Capitol attack, but judges have largely rejected those claims and said accused rioters should be held accountable for their actions.
In the two previous jury trials linked to the January 6 attack, defense lawyers have attempted to bat down at least some of the charges. Both of those trials resulted in guilty verdicts.
But Shamansky has done little to dispute the Justice Department's allegations, focusing his defense instead on who bore responsibility for the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
On Wednesday, Thompson testified that he lost his exterminator job in March 2020 as COVID-19 caused mass layoffs and went down a "rabbit hole on the internet." From watching YouTube videos and other online content, Thompson said he came to believe that if Trump didn't win the election, "it was gonna be stolen."
In a withering cross-examination, assistant US attorney William Dreher sought to place the blame for Thompson's conduct on January 6 squarely at his feet.
"You're not a child, right?" Dreher asked.
On the morning of January 6, "you got yourself dressed all by yourself?" he asked later.
"Yes," Thompson answered.
"No one told you what to wear," Dreher continued.
"Yes," Thompson replied.
In the closing portion of Wednesday's proceeding, Shamansky played for the jurors a video of Trump's speech on January 6.