From what is being leaked it seems that the circuit breaker pulling caused the subsequent loss of control. But why would he resort to such an unorthodox action if he did not believe that they were already in dire straits?
In the documented prior defects of FAC1 perhaps a previous crew used the circuit breaker to resolve a problem with some sucess, and that informed the captain's actions on the accident flight?
Getting back to flight without protections: as ManaAdaSystems alluded, most planes do that just fine every day.