Trial begins for QAnon follower who allegedly chased police officer on January 6

By Holmes Lybrand, CNN

The trial of a January 6, 2021, US Capitol riot defendant who was seen on video at the forefront of a mob that chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman near the Senate chamber began late Tuesday afternoon.

Douglas Jensen faces seven charges for his alleged actions that day, including obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct, and assaulting, impeding or resisting an officer. CNN previously reported that Jensen admitted to investigators that his belief in QAnon conspiracy theories was the reason he breached the Capitol, according to court filings.

During the opening statements, prosecutors told the jury that Jensen was one of the first 10 rioters who entered the building that day, scaling a 20-foot wall before jumping through a window into the Capitol.

“When he got inside, he made a beeline to the Senate,” Assistant US Attorney Emily Allen told the jury.

When Jensen and several other rioters came face-to-face with Goodman, Jensen “pushed his way to the front of that line” to confront the officer, Allen said, telling Goodman to “go ahead and shoot” him.

Near where the rioters confronted Goodman, Allen said, was the floor of the Senate “where senators were waiting to be evacuated.” Goodman successfully led the rioters away from the senators and toward another line of officers that day, she said.

“Mr. Jensen got what he came for,” Allen concluded in her opening statement, noting that the certification of the electoral college votes was stopped for several hours that day amid the Capitol attack.

Instead of arguing against the footage presented by the Justice Department of Jensen chasing Goodman and celebrating the riot, Jensen’s attorney, Christopher Davis, argued that Jensen was a believer in QAnon and thought lawmakers would be arrested that day, including then-Vice President Mike Pence.

“I hope I’m not disappointing anyone, but this is not a whodunit case,” Davis said. “This whole case is on video.”

According to Davis, his client — who wore a tee shirt with the Q logo with the words “Trust The Plan” during the attack — believed that “on January 6 ‘the Storm’ had arrived” and cops would begin arresting lawmakers who were going against then-President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop the certification.

“He believed that they had to do it … that martial law was going to be instituted,” Davis told the jury, adding that during an interview with the FBI after the riot, Jensen “actually inquired to the FBI whether that happened, whether they were arrested.”

Davis also said that the pocketknife Jensen had on him during the attack was merely one he wore all the time. “He was a construction worker,” Davis said.

“Judge him for who he is and what he did,” the defense concluded.

The trial will continue Wednesday in the DC District Court with Judge Timothy Kelly presiding.

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CNN’s Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.