The Department of Justice has opened 275 case files and 98 people have been charged over the MAGA mob riot last week.
Thousands more remain free after leaving DC to return to their home states after the riot.
It came as prosecutors in Arizona filed charging documents against one of the mob - QAnon Shaman Jake Angeli - in which they claimed some of the rioters had plans to capture and assassinate some members of congress.
Some of the crowd were photographed with zip ties inside.
But on Friday, the top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. said on Friday there is no 'direct evidence' to suggest that rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol had formed 'kill capture teams.'
The comments by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin appeared to be an effort to walk back claims federal prosecutors in Arizona had made in a court filing late on Thursday, in which they alleged there was evidence that rioters intended 'to capture and assassinate elected officials.'
Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin. He has opened 275 cases but only 98 have been charged
Republican senator Ben Sasse raged over Sherwin's remarks, saying there was 'clear evidence' the mob wanted to harm Congress.
'Rage-peddlers are going to try to whitewash the attack on the Capitol, saying that a few bad apples got out of control.
'That's wrong. Every American needs to understand what the Department of Justice just made public: Investigators have strong evidence to suggest that some of the rioters who stormed the US Capitol planned to kidnap and possibly assassinate the Vice President.
'These men weren't drunks who got rowdy - they were terrorists attacking this country's constitutionally-mandated transfer of power.
'They failed, but they came dangerously close to starting a bloody constitutional crisis.
'They must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. The FBI is investigating widespread calls for violence across the country and every American has an obligation to lower the temperature,' he said.
Sherwin said that his office is leading the prosecution effort, but as local offices help to run down suspects in their districts, there may have been a 'disconnect' on the evidence obtained so far in the cases.
Late on Thursday, federal prosecutors had made sweeping claims about the ongoing investigation in a filing as they asked a judge to detain Jacob Chansley, an Arizona man and QAnon conspiracy theorist photographed wearing horns as he stood at the desk of Vice President Mike Pence in the chamber of the U.S. Senate.
In the filing, they said Chansley left a note for Pence warning that 'it´s only a matter of time, justice is coming.'
Retired Lt. Col. Larry Rendall Brock Jr was arrested last Sunday in Texas after being photographed on the Senate floor during the deadly riot wearing a helmet and heavy vest and carrying plastic zip-tie handcuffs
Federal prosecutors in Arizona on Thursday sought the detention of 'QAnon Shaman' Jacob Chansley (above). They allege that the intent of the rioters during the siege was to capture and assassinate elected officials
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona told Reuters the office plans to file an amended memo today, ahead of Chansley's appearance in federal court for his detention hearing.
At a press briefing on Friday, Sherwin said his office has brought 98 criminal prosecutions to date and has opened investigations into more than 275 people in connection with the Capitol riots, in which Trump´s supporters stormed the building, ransacked offices and in some cases, attacked police.
Steven D'Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI´s Washington Field Office, urged suspects at the briefing to turn themselves in freely.
The FBI is investigating 37 people over the death of Capitol cop Brian Sicknick
'To those of you who took part in the violence, here's something you should know: Every FBI field office in the country is looking for you,' he said.
'As a matter of fact, even your friends and family are tipping us off.'
The New York Times reports that the bureau is pursuing 37 people over Sicknick's death but no one has been arrested yet.
None of them have been identified.
Sicknick, 42, was trying to fight the crowd off when he was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.
No footage of that attack has yet emerged but other videos from the riot show the mob using fire extinguishers as weapons, tossing them towards cops and spraying them in their faces.
Sicknick returned to his field office afterwards, where he collapsed. He was taken to the hospital and he later died.
'Strong evidence, including Chansley´s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government,' the memo said.
The MAGA mob descending on the US Capitol on January 6. They overwhelmed the relatively few Capitol cops who were there
No comments:
Post a Comment