A screenshot from a film used as government video evidence against Douglas Austin Jensen, who took part in the Capitol violence on January 6th. According to newly released video, one of the most notorious defendants indicted in the Jan. 6 disturbance by Trump supporters believed he and other rioters had attacked the White House rather than the US Capitol that day. Douglas Austin Jensen boasted on Capitol grounds, “This is me touching the f——— White House, this is why we’re here,” according to a selfie video taken on his own cellphone that day, during which he also chased a police officer while leading a band of rioters. Jensen, 41, was not the only Trump supporter who didn’t know the names of Washington landmarks as they packed outside and inside the Capitol, disrupting the joint session of Congress’s confirmation of Joe Biden’s election as president. On video captured by Jensen, a Des Moines, Iowa resident, someone else added, “Storm the White House, that’s what we do.” However, the third video from Jensen’s phone, which was unsealed in federal court in Washington, indicates that many members of the crowd were aware of their surroundings, as they screamed “USA, USA!” while riot police stood by. Trump has been blamed for inciting the disturbance after encouraging a crowd of supporters outside the White House to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell” against Biden’s confirmation. Trump complimented the crowd at that rally as “peaceful folks,” “wonderful people,” and “patriots” during an interview with Fox News on Sunday. The House of Representatives impeached Trump for inciting the disturbance. After a Senate trial that took place after he left office, he was acquitted. Prosecutors said Jensen, who is being held without bail, was one of the first to break through the Capitol’s doors. During the invasion, he was said to have been carrying a knife. Austen, Douglas Jensen of Iowa, a Trump fan wearing a QAnon shirt, confronts police after Trump supporters breached security barricades on the second floor of the United States Capitol near the Senate entrance, in Washington, January 6, 2021. Reuters’ Mike Theiler After forcing his way inside, he led an outraged throng across the Capitol complex, chasing down Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman as the cop steered them away from the Senate chamber. Jensen, a self-described QAnon believer, refused to back up and raise his hands, instead shouting at Goodman and “continuing to advance in a menacing manner, with the mob following behind him, compelling the officer to continue to retreat,” according to a court document. Surveillance camera captured Jensen’s actions, which showed him wearing a “Q” t-shirt. Jensen was detained on January 8 and charged three days later. He is one of more than 500 persons charged in connection with the riot, which claimed the lives of five people, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and rioter Ashli Babbit, who was shot by police as she attempted to access an area near the House chamber through a shattered glass. Jensen admitted to an FBI agent and a Des Moines police detective that he was the one who led the mob chasing Goodman in a video posted on The Guardian newspaper’s website. In a statement of facts presented in court, the FBI agent wrote, “Jensen specifically confessed chasing the Capitol Police officer up the stairs, and that he refused to obey the officer’s lawful orders.” “Jensen indicated that he purposefully positioned himself to be among the first individuals entering the United States Capitol because he was wearing his ‘Q’ t-shirt and wanted his t-shirt to be seen on video so that ‘Q’ could ‘get the credit,'” according to CNN. He’s accused of knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disrupting the orderly conduct of government business, violent entry and disorderly conduct in the Capitol building, parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol building, and obstructing a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder. In the case, he has pled not guilty. His case will be discussed at a status conference on July 27. “Mr. Jensen allegedly traveled halfway across the country from Iowa to the District of Columbia, attended a rally in support of former President Trump, joined rioters by climbing through a broken window to enter the Capitol while armed with a knife, led a mob chasing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a flight of stairs in the Capitol while armed with a knife, led a mob chasing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a flight of stairs in the Capitol while armed Jensen’s company, Forrest and Associate Masonry, sacked him soon after his arrest. His actions were condemned by the company. Jensen pleaded guilty to criminal trespassing after being charged with fifth-degree theft in December 2006, and he was sentenced to three days in jail after pleading guilty to domestic abuse and disorderly conduct in Minnesota, according to the Des Moines Register./n
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