Douglas Jensen, the Trump-supporting Capitol rioter who helped lead the mob that chased Capitol Police officer Eugene Goodman during the Capitol violence in January, will now be heading back to jail. Federal Judge Timothy Kelly ruled on July 13 of this year that Jensen could exit jail (where he’d been since his initial arrest) and enter home confinement, but Jensen swiftly broke the conditions of that confinement, leading to his re-jailing. Those conditions included a ban on Jensen using the internet or devices that could connect to the internet, but during an unannounced visit to his home by authorities, Jensen was discovered listing to news content on a platform called Rumble via an internet-connected iPhone.
Jensen’s violations of his pre-trial release conditions were straightforward. Besides the initial, inciting incident, he also admitted to having watched significant portions of a symposium promoting election fraud lies put on by MyPillow founder and CEO Mike Lindell, who is a prominent proponent of lies about the integrity of last year’s election. At present, Jensen’s federal charges include “disrupting the orderly conduct of government business” and “obstructing a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder,” according to the Justice Department. He is also facing other charges, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Mirell has indicated that federal authorities initially offered Jensen a plea deal in May, adding that the deal remained under discussion with Jensen’s lawyer.
Buzzfeed reporter Zoe Tillman notes that Kelly “signaled that it was an easy call for him to return Jensen to federal custody,” adding that the judge “seemed especially troubled that a court officer caught Jensen in the act of violating his release conditions the very first time they made an unannounced visit at his house to check on his compliance.” Jensen’s lawyer had previously insisted that his client had come to understand that he’d been “deceived” by apparently QAnon-related conspiracy theorists, but the judge observed that Jensen “has not experienced the transformation that his lawyer previously described.” Considering Jensen’s viewership of Lindell’s event, he’s apparently still inclined towards lies about the election.
Jensen is one of hundreds of Trump supporters who have been criminally charged for their participation in the riot in January. Trump and certain allies of his have continued in the time since to promote the lies about the integrity of last year’s election that inspired the riot. Meanwhile, Congress opted earlier this year to award Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police and D.C. Metropolitan Police Departments, in connection to their work defending the Capitol in January.
