Dustin Byron Thompson's attorney described Thompson as a “pawn” and former President Trump as a “gangster” who abused his power to manipulate supporters.
WASHINGTON — An Ohio man who claimed he was only “following presidential orders” from Donald Trump when he stormed the U.S. Capitol was convicted Thursday by a jury that took less than three hours to reject his novel defense for obstructing Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
The juror, a 40-year-old man, said as he left the courthouse, “Everyone agrees that Donald Trump is culpable as an overall narrative. Lots of people were there and then went home. Dustin Thompson did not.” “If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that,” he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dreher said that Thompson, a college-educated exterminator who lost his job during the COVID-19 pandemic, knew he was breaking the law when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol and, in his case, looted the Senate parliamentarian’s office. The prosecutor told jurors that Thompson’s lawyer “wants you to think you have to choose between President Trump and his client.
But prosecutor Dreher told jurors that neither Trump nor Giuliani had the authority to “make legal” what Thompson did at the Capitol.