Trump supporters react to tear gas amid police clash

An Ohio man who claimed he was acting on US President Donald Trump’s instructions and he stole artefacts from the US Capitol during last year’s violence was found guilty by a jury on Thursday, giving prosecutors yet another big win.

District of Columbia federal jury convicted Dustin Thompson guilty of all counts he faced including interference of an official process and theft of government property.

While the disturbances were going on, Thompson admits to sneaking into the Capitol and making off with a bottle of vodka and a coat rack.

Rather, in an unusual legal approach, Thompson maintained that he was operating on Trump’s orders and that the former president was ultimately accountable for the mob that stormed the Capitol.

As Thompson told the jury, “I don’t know what I was thinking other than being directed by the president to go to the Capitol,” CNN reports. In the midst of it all, “I was completely engrossed.”

Judge Reggie Walton, who presided over the trial, will hand down his verdict on Thompson in a hearing scheduled for July. Before that hearing, the court ordered Thompson to be kept in prison.

In all three of the Jan. 6 cases that have gone to a jury trial, the U.S. Justice Department has prevailed. In a non-jury trial, one defendant was found not guilty.

The incident on January 6 has resulted in the criminal prosecution of over 800 persons.

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