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<ul class="summary-list"><li>Opening trial arguments featured dueling views of an accused Capitol rioter's social media posts.</li><li>A lawyer for <keyword id="13536039" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="thomas-robertson" source="Orion">Thomas Robertson</keyword> suggested to jurors that his online bravado was just "for the 'gram."</li></ul>Standing next to a fellow police officer flashing the middle finger, Thomas Robertson posed for a photograph inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021, as hordes of Trump supporters stormed the building.It was an image, Robertson later said on social media, of "2 men willing to actually put skin in the game and stand up for their rights.""I am fucking PROUD of it," he wrote in an Instagram post shared to Facebook.The photograph would soon feature prominently in court papers charging Robertson, then a police officer in Rocky Mount, Virginia, with participating in the January 6 attack on the Capitol. But as he stood trial on those charges Tuesday, his defense lawyer urged jurors to disregard Robertson's prideful social media posts."Let's be honest here: social media is not reality," Robertson's defense lawyer <keyword id="13553404" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="camille-wagner" source="Orion">Camille Wagner</keyword> said Tuesday, during opening arguments in the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-attack-jury-trial-police-officer-thomas-robertson-january-6-2022-4">third trial related to the January 6 attack</a> on the Capitol. In a reference to Instagram, Wagner suggested that Robertson's online bravado was merely a put-on "for the 'gram."In the year since the <keyword id="11910059" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="capitol-attack" source="Orion">Capitol attack</keyword>, many of the more than 770 alleged participants have been dogged by their own social media posts, messages, and documentation of January 6.Wagner's argument was <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-capitol-trial-january-6-attack-guy-reffitt-giuliani-2022-3">reminiscent of a defense</a> that <keyword id="13268927" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="guy-reffitt" source="Orion">Guy Reffitt</keyword> raised in the first January 6-related trial: That his incendiary messages about the Capitol attack amounted to "hyperbole" that did not accurately reflect his conduct.The jury in that trial found Reffitt, a member of the far-right Three Percenters group, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-attack-riot-guy-reffitt-january-6-trial-2022-3">guilty on all five charges</a> he faced, including obstruction of an official proceeding. Reffitt's sentencing is set for June 8.Wagner's argument stood in stark contrast Tuesday to the <keyword id="11897354" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="justice-department" source="Orion">Justice Department</keyword>'s view of Robertson's social media posts.In an opening argument, prosecutor Elizabeth Aloi highlighted Robertson's posts, including one that read: "A government scared of its people. The pictures of them huddled in the floor crying is the most American thing I have ever seen."The FBI arrested Robertson in January 2021, a week after the Capitol attack, on charges of violent entry and trespassing on restricted grounds. Robertson now faces six charges, including disorderly conduct and obstruction of an official proceeding.Roberston was also charged with destroying one or more cell phones to impair the criminal investigation into the January 6 insurrection.Aloi showcased text messages in which Robertson appeared to brag about destroying his phone."Anything that may have been problematic is destroyed," he wrote in one text."Took a lake swim," Roberston said in another text, according to Aloi's presentation."They asked for my phone but I'm not a retard," Robertson wrote in another message.The off-duty police officer who joined Robertson at the Capitol, <keyword id="13536040" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jacob-fracker" source="Orion">Jacob Fracker</keyword>, was also charged in the days after January 6. The Rocky Mount Police Department later fired the men.In March, just weeks before trial, Fracker pleaded guilty in March to conspiring to obstruct the joint session of Congress that gathered on January 6 to certify now-President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.Fracker agreed as part of his plea deal to cooperate with the Justice Department. He is expected to testify against Roberston.In her opening argument, Wagner asserted that Roberston "did not act corruptly" on January 6 and only entered the Capitol to "retrieve Mr. Fracker."And while his social media posts might suggest otherwise, she told jurors, he "only entered, retrieved, and departed.""Your job here today is to judge him for his actions," Wagner said, "not for his words."

A police officer bragged online about his role in the January 6 attack. His defense lawyer argued at trial that it was just social media bravado.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A former police officer testified as part of a plea deal against his former supervisor and mentor.</li><li><keyword id="13536040" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="jacob-fracker" source="Orion">Jacob Fracker</keyword> said he was previously always on the "the good guy side, so to speak."</li></ul>During their time as police officers, they called one another by the nicknames "dad" and "son."But on Wednesday, former Rocky Mount, Virginia, police officer Jacob Fracker came to a federal courthouse in Washington, DC, to testify against <keyword id="13536039" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="thomas-robertson" source="Orion">Thomas Robertson</keyword>, his onetime supervisor and mentor,Robertson is on trial, facing charges stemming from the pair's alleged participation in the <keyword id="11897870" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="january-6" source="Orion">January 6</keyword>, 2021, attack on the Capitol."I absolutely hate this," Fracker said Wednesday at the outset of his testimony."I've always been on the other side of things … the good guy side, so to speak," he added.In about two hours of testimony, Fracker recounted advancing into the Capitol with Robertson and identified his onetime colleague in video footage from January 6. That day, the two donned gas masks, and Robertson carried a stick that has become a point of contention at his trial.Robertson's lawyers have argued that he entered the Capitol only to retrieve Fracker. Prosecutors have accused Robertson of using the wooden stick as a baton to block police guarding the Capitol. But his defense team has said it was a walking stick.In her questioning, federal prosecutor Risa Berkower sought to undercut those claims from Robertson's team.Fracker testified that, if Robertson had told him he only went inside the Capitol to retrieve him, "I was unaware of that."When asked about Robertson's mood after leaving the Capitol, Fracker said it was "about the same as mine: excited ... adrenaline going."Berkower also sought to show that the stick was not "just for that — for walking," as Robertson's defense lawyer Camille Wagner contended in her opening argument Tuesday.Asked if Robertson was leaning on the stick, Fracker answered, "It didn't look like it."<h2>Six federal charges</h2>The FBI arrested Fracker and Robertson a week after January 6, 2021, on charges linked to their alleged involvement in the insurrection. Weeks before trial, Fracker pleaded guilty to a charge that he conspired to obstruct the joint session of Congress that gathered on January 6 to certify now-President Joe Biden's electoral victory.As part of the plea deal, Fracker agreed to cooperate with the <keyword id="11897354" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="justice-department" source="Orion">Justice Department</keyword> and testify against Robertson.Robertson faces <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.226905/gov.uscourts.dcd.226905.74.0_2.pdf">six charges</a>, including disorderly conduct and obstruction of an official proceeding. He was charged also with destroying cell phones to impair the criminal investigation into the January 6 attack.In his testimony Wednesday, Fracker recalled giving his cell phone to Robertson before the two of them turned themselves in at the police station. On his phone were videos and photographs, including a selfie in which Fracker flashed a middle finger."I was terrified about the videos and pictures that were on it," Fracker testified. In the days after January 6, Fracker said he felt proud of his involvement in the <keyword id="11910059" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="capitol-attack" source="Orion">Capitol attack</keyword>."I felt like we had maybe been heard by whoever it was we needed to be heard by … maybe have the election results overturned," he testified.More than a year later and facing prison time, Fracker said Wednesday that he's "afraid of my actions.""I don't behave like that," he said. "I wasn't raised like that."Fracker is returning to court Thursday to face cross-examination from Robertson's defense team. At the end of Wednesday's proceedings, Berkower said the Justice Department plans to call two additional witnesses — a police officer and FBI agent — and then rest its case Thursday.With his testimony, Fracker is hoping to receive credit for his cooperation and a lighter sentence.On Wednesday, that cooperation meant testifying against a former colleague who called him "son" and whom he called "dad." "I got most of my knowledge [as a police officer] from him," Fracker said.

An ex-police officer testified against his former supervisor and mentor — nicknamed 'dad' — at a January 6 trial

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A police officer bragged online about his role in the January 6 attack. His defense lawyer argued at trial that it was just social media bravado.

C. Ryan Barber

An ex-police officer testified against his former supervisor and mentor — nicknamed 'dad' — at a January 6 trial

C. Ryan Barber

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