Man on trial for role in U.S. Capitol riot says he was following Trump’s orders

Dustin Byron Thompson's defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.

An Ohio man charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and stealing a coat rack testified Wednesday that he joined thousands of protesters in ransacking the building last year on what he thought were orders from the president, Donald Trump.

Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, of Columbus, Ohio, said he took to websites and the internet after being laid off from his exterminator job in March 2020 and in his pandemic doldrums fell under Trump’s sway as he bought into conspiracy theories and “went down the rabbit hole on the internet.”

On trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, Thompson testified that the claim that the election was stolen seemed credible to him because it was coming from the president. His defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.

“It seems like everyone was attacking him (Trump). He needed someone to stand up for him, and I was trying to do that,” Thompson said.

Under questioning by the prosecution, Thompson acknowledged that he ignored signs he shouldn’t be at the Capitol — broken glass, alarms, chemical irritants in the air — and said he stole the coat rack to keep others from using it as a weapon. He also said he witnessed fierce fighting between police and rioters outside the building, and later ran away from officers. He said he realized weeks later that what he had done was wrong and now feels shame for his actions.

Thompson’s jury trial is the third among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. The first two ended with jurors convicting both defendants on all counts. Thompson’s defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.

“If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that,” Thompson testified.

Thompson’s lawyer sought subpoenas to call Trump and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as witnesses, but U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rejected that request. Jurors on Wednesday began listening to recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered at a rally before the riot. They were expected to finish listening to recordings Thursday morning and begin deliberations later in the day.