Capitol Rioter Says Trump 'Authorized' Capitol Attack

[kpete]

“An attorney for a man who took a coat rack and a bottle of liquor during the U.S. Capitol attack argued to a jury on Tuesday that former President Donald Trump ‘authorized’ the Jan. 6 assault on the building by convincing ‘vulnerable’ people like his client that the election was stolen,” NBC News reports.

.....Shamansky argued, the "genesis" of the attack began months before Jan. 6, and responsibility fell at the feet of Trump, who "authorized this assault" on the Capitol.

"It was a plot, it was a scheme, it was a conspiracy... that began at the highest levels of our government," Shamansky argued.

Thompson and other "vulnerable" Trump supporters like him "believed the lies that were fed to them" in the months leading up to Jan. 6, Shamansky argued. Thompson was "predisposed" to "this lunacy," Shamansky said, but losing his job at the beginning of the Covid pandemic left him sitting at home to digest the "garbage" that Trump and his supporters were spreading.


https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-authorized-assault-capitol-jan-6-defendant-argues-trial-rcna24118
https://politicalwire.com/2022/04/12/capitol-rioter-says-trump-authorized-capitol-attack/

[lindysalsagal]

1. We knew this, because they're not bright enough to organize that mess alone.

[Blue Owl]

2. It's what authoritarians do

[Nevilledog]

3. I fail to see how this qualifies as a legal defense.

[ProfessorGAC]

4. It's Like A "Yeah, I Shot Him..."

..."but it was Mike's gun!" defense.
I'm thinking it probably won't work.

[Nevilledog]

7. I always called these "Long-form guilty pleas"

[intheflow]

24. "Members of the jury, my client is an ignorant ass hat."

Yeah, I don't see it working, either!

[TomSlick]

13. It's not. It's an excuse not a defense.

It's a later day equivalent of the Devil made me do it.

[AZLD4Candidate]

17. It's the "he made me do it" defense

[dchill]

20. Nevertheless, I'm real glad he's doing it this way.

[rsdsharp]

5. I was home during covid, having retired in May, following

an illness that began in early March 2020. I didn’t believe Trump. I didn’t then, I didn’t before, and I don’t now.

[hydrolastic]

6. does it bother anyone that all of the trials are happening in secret

I mean really if it is so important that democracy depends on a good outcome. How come its all being done in secret?

[Nevilledog]

8. They're not being done in secret.

Why do you think that?

[gratuitous]

25. Dustin Thompson is being tried in federal court

DC District, docket number 1:21-cr-161.

[MissMillie]

9. When one chooses to consume alcohol and then get behind the wheel

they don't get to blame the alcohol or claim victim-hood.

This shouldn't be any different.

[AZLD4Candidate]

19. This is similar to the "a gun is just a tool" defense by gun nuts.

[kentuck]

10. Ignorance of the the law is not a legal excuse.

If someone tells me that the bank downtown robbed my Grandpa of all his money and they want to get it back and they want me to drive the getaway car, and they pull the stockings down over their faces before they barge in, then it would be difficult for me to plead that I was "used" by the bank robbers...

[Emile]

11. I don't understand why the DOJ didn't start with the guy who

orchestrated the insurrection. Instead he goes after these ignorant assholes!

[TomSlick]

14. Because that's not how prosecutors work.

You start at the bottom of the chain-of-command and work your way up - flipping folks as you go.

[hydrolastic]

12. Does it bother anyone else that all of the trials are happening in secret

I mean really if it is so important that democracy depends on a good outcome. How come its all being done in secret? meanwhile while we wait for someone to determine what we "can" hear, the Republicans are running roughshod all over us. Its been well over a year and we all saw the crimes as they were committed!!!! I am more than frustrated. Its clear he was trying to subvert the American public and stay in power any way possible.

[TomSlick]

16. What makes you think the trials are happening in secret?

The cases are all listed on the Court's docket which can be accessed on the internet if you know the defendant's name. Most hearings will be open to the public, for anyone willing to work through courthouse security.

The issue is that these low level cases are not being reported in the media, at least not until after any hearing or trial.

[hydrolastic]

21. Ok then where can I go to see this then ?

Is there a website tracking the trials? Can we hear witnesses. Who is on the stand? Thank you in advance.

[TomSlick]

22. Search https://pacer.uscourts.gov/ for the court and name of the defendant.

[ShazzieB]

18. Dude, you posted this twice.

Not the exact same wording, but the same issue. And the answer is still the same: these trials are not being held "in secret."

[Kingofalldems]

15. Trump should come and testify for these people.

Oh wait, he regards them as trash so that won't happen.

[Achilleaze]

23. Coatrack Nabber Traitors (R)

Can be lumped in with all the other Republican traitors following the treasonous direction of the Republican Casino-Hustler & Pooty-Puppet-in-Chief.

Republicans gots many flavors of traitors.