We only obeyed orders from President Donald Trump, say rioters

Members of the mob that stormed the US Capitol Building are telling police they felt President Donald Trump told them to.

Trump supporters storm the US Capitol building on January 6. Picture: AFP

Members of the mob that stormed the US Capitol Building are telling police they felt President Donald Trump told them to, potentially making him liable to criminal charges for incitement.

With more participants in the siege being arrested every day, explanations of their actions are emerging.

One Kentucky man told the FBI that he went to Washington with his cousin and marched towards congress because “President Trump said to do so”.

A retired Pennsylvania firefighter, charged with throwing a fire extinguisher at police, said he believed he was “instructed” to go to the Capitol by the President, according to court documents seen by The Washington Post.

Jenna Ryan, a Dallas estate agent charged with illegally entering the Capitol, begged Mr Trump for a pardon on local television. “I thought I was following my president,” she said.

“I thought I was following what we were called to do … He asked us to fly there. He asked us to be there. So I was doing what he asked us to do.”

The insistence that they were carrying out Mr Trump’s instructions could pose risks of criminal liability. Karl Racine, the Washington DC Attorney-General, has said that he may charge those who addressed the crowd with incitement to violence. Mr Trump told them: “If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country any more.”

Other speakers under investigation by Mr Racine include Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal lawyer who called for “trial by combat”, and Donald Trump Jr, the President’s son who implored them to “stand up and fight”.

The agitators’ explanations of their actions are certain to be brought up in Mr Trump’s impeachment trial as evidence that he incited the insurrection.

Checkpoints were placed on Sunday at all roads leading to the Capitol as Washington prepared for the inauguration of Joe Biden.

Law enforcement sources told the Wall Street Journal that their main fear was of lone wolf attacks.

The Times