An Arkansas man testified Thursday that he was “going with the circulate” when he propped up his toes on a desk in former U.S. Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s workplace, posing for pictures that made him one of the crucial memorable figures from the U.S. Capitol riot two years in the past.
On the witness stand at his trial on riot-related fees, Richard “Bigo” Barnett mentioned he was on the lookout for a toilet contained in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when he unwittingly entered Pelosi’s workplace and encountered two information photographers. He mentioned one of many photographers advised him to “act pure,” so he lounged again in a chair and flung his legs onto the desk.
“Did it daybreak on you that what you had been doing may trigger some bother?” defence lawyer Joseph McBride requested Barnett.
“I used to be simply within the second,” Barnett replied. “I am simply type of going with the circulate at this level.”
Barnett, a retired firefighter from Gravette, Ark., is one among greater than 900 individuals charged with federal crimes for his or her conduct on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Practically 500 of them have pleaded responsible. Barnett is one among a number of dozen Capitol riot defendants whose case has gone to trial.
‘I took Nancy Pelosi’s workplace!’
Barnett, 62, had a stun gun tucked into his pants when he stormed the U.S. Capitol, invaded Pelosi’s workplace and posed for a photograph that grew to become one of many assault’s best-known photos, prosecutors mentioned. He additionally took a chunk of her mail and left behind a word that mentioned, “Nancy, Bigo was right here,” prosecutors mentioned. Barnett punctuated the message with a sexist expletive.
Earlier than leaving Capitol grounds, Barnett used a bullhorn to offer a speech to the gang, shouting, “We took again our home, and I took Nancy Pelosi’s workplace!” in accordance with prosecutors.
Barnett, testifying close to the tip of his trial, mentioned he regrets coming to Washington for the “Cease the Steal” rally the place then-President Donald Trump addressed a crowd of supporters.
“Two years of misplaced life. Distress for my household,” he mentioned.
He additionally expressed remorse for utilizing vulgar language in his word to Pelosi.
“I most likely should not have put my toes on the desk,” Barnett mentioned.
A grand jury indicted Barnett on eight fees, together with felony counts of civil dysfunction and obstruction of an official continuing. He additionally faces a cost of getting into and remaining in restricted constructing or grounds with a lethal or harmful weapon — the stun gun with spikes hid inside a collapsible strolling stick.
Burnett says he ‘went into disaster mode’
In opening statements for the trial, a prosecutor mentioned Tuesday that Barnett deliberate the journey for weeks and got here ready for violence.
“The defendant violated that house,” prosecutor Alison Prout mentioned.
McBride advised jurors on Wednesday that Barnett was only a “loopy man from Arkansas” who did not harm anyone on Jan. 6 and could not have harmed anyone with the stun gun system as a result of it was damaged that day.
“We’re not asking you to approve of his actions,” McBride mentioned, calling it “essentially the most well-known trespass case of all time.”
Barnett mentioned the gang of Trump supporters leaving the rally was in a jovial temper as they approached the Capitol. He mentioned he grew to become indignant after he heard a loud bang and noticed what gave the impression to be cops firing tear gasoline on the crowd.
“It flipped my world the other way up,” Barnett mentioned, calling it his first expertise with police brutality after years of being a firefighter. “I went in full disaster mode.”
Barnett mentioned movies present that the gang pushed him into the Capitol as he approached an entrance, inflicting him to briefly fall to his knees as he crossed the edge.
“We’ve no alternative!” he shouted repeatedly on the video as he entered the Capitol.
Barnett mentioned he did not understand he had wandered into Pelosi’s workplace till one of many photographers requested him if he knew the place he was and he noticed empty envelopes with Pelosi’s identify on them.
After police ordered him and others to go away Pelosi’s workplace, Barnett realized he had left his American flag behind. Physique digicam video captured Barnett shouting at a police officer within the Rotunda for assist in retrieving the flag.
Prosecutors mentioned Barnett had a historical past of arming himself at political demonstrations earlier than the Jan. 6 assault. In July 2020, they mentioned, a 911 caller reported {that a} man matching Barnett’s description had pointed a rifle at her throughout a “Again the Blue” rally.
“Regulation enforcement finally closed the investigation as unfounded as a result of unresolved obvious discrepancies within the proof,” prosecutors wrote.
In November 2020, police had been referred to as to a “Save the Youngsters” rally when a caller mentioned Barnett was carrying a gun on the protest and appearing suspiciously.
