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| Photo Credit: AP. |
WASHINGTON (AP) — An Iowa man was “weaponizing” rioters who joined him in chasing a police officer up a staircase during one of the most harrowing scenes from a mob’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, a prosecutor told jurors on Friday at the close of the man’s trial.
Douglas
Jensen had a folding knife in his pocket and was wearing a T-shirt expressing
his adherence to the QAnon conspiracy theory when he joined the rioters who
stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. One of the videos that went viral after
the siege captured Jensen at the front of the crowd that followed Capitol
Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the stairs.
“The
defendant wasn’t just leading the mob. He was weaponizing it,” Assistant U.S.
Attorney Hava Mirell said during closing arguments for Jensen’s trial. “He knew
he had the numbers, and he was willing to use them.”
Jurors began
deliberating in the case against Jensen, a construction worker who is among
hundreds of people charged with federal crimes for their conduct at the Capitol
on Jan. 6. Jensen’s shirt — which depicted a large “Q” and a bald eagle along
with two QAnon slogans — made him stand out from the crowd of rioters.
Defense
attorney Christopher Davis said the shirt was a symbol of Jensen’s adherence to
QAnon, which centered on the baseless belief that former President Donald Trump
was secretly fighting a Satan-worshipping cabal of “deep state” enemies,
prominent Democrats and Hollywood elites. During Trump’s time in the White
House, QAnon spread beyond the internet’s fringes to influence mainstream
Republican circles.
“The (COVID-19) pandemic did weird things to
us. It did weird things to everyone,” Davis said. “Apparently, Mr. Jensen was
one of them.”
Jensen
believed the conspiracy theory’s apocalyptic prophesy that “The Storm” was coming
and would usher in mass arrests and executions of Trump’s foes, including Vice
President Mike Pence. Before the riot, Trump and his allies spread the false
narrative that Pence somehow could have overturned the results of the 2020
election.
After scaling
the outer walls of the Capitol, Jensen climbed through a broken window to enter
the building. Prosecutors said Jensen learned from a friend’s text message that
Pence was about to certify the election results.
“That’s all
about to change,” Jensen replied.
Pence was
presiding over the Senate on Jan. 6 as a joint session of Congress was convened
to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Photographs showed
Jensen with his arms extended as he confronted a line of police officers near
the Senate chambers.
“Go arrest
the vice president,” Jensen told one of the officers, according to prosecutors.
“This was a
terribly confused man on Jan. 6,” Davis said of his client.
The defense
lawyer urged jurors to judge Jensen by his own actions and not by what others
did at the Capitol.
“Jan. 6 is
not sitting at that table. Douglas Jensen is,” Davis said, pointing to his
client.
Jensen
didn’t testify at his trial, which started Tuesday. Goodman was a key witness
for prosecutors.
Before
running upstairs, Goodman approached Jensen and other rioters with his hand on
his gun. Fearing for his life, Goodman retreated upstairs and found backup from
other officers guarding an entrance to the Senate, where senators were being
evacuated, according to prosecutors.
“That was
not a game of follow the leader. That was Officer Goodman in survival mode,”
Mirell said.
Jensen is
charged with seven counts, including charges that he obstructed Congress from
certifying the Electoral College vote, that he assaulted or interfered with
police officers and that he engaged in disorderly conduct inside the Capitol
while carrying his knife. He isn’t accused of brandishing the knife.
“Doug Jensen
would not be stopped on Jan. 6 until he got what he came for, and that was to
stop the peaceful transfer of power,” Mirell said.
Davis said
Jensen didn’t forcibly assault Goodman or anybody else.
“It’s all on
video,” he said. “He never did it.”
Mirell
argued that Jensen didn’t have to physically touch Goodman to be found guilty
of an assault charge.
“Just a threat
to use force,” she said.
Jenson drove
back home to Des Moines, Iowa, a day after the riot. The following day, he
walked six miles to a police station and showed up unannounced, saying he was
probably a wanted man. But there weren’t any warrants for his arrest when two
FBI agents questioned him at the station.
Jensen told
the agents he considered himself a “digital soldier” who was “religiously”
following QAnon. He said he worked his way to the front of the crowd because he
“wanted Q to get the attention.”
“I basically
intended on being the poster boy, and it really worked out,” he said, according
to a transcript of the interview on Jan. 8, 2021.
At least 880
people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes.
Approximately 400 of them have pleaded guilty. Juries have convicted eight
Capitol riot defendants after trials. None of the defendants who had jury
trials was acquitted of any charges.