The criminal investigation into the US Capitol riot on 6 January 2021 has expanded beyond the actual storming of the seat of legislative power to examine preparations for the rally that preceded those turbulent events, reported The Washington Post.
On 6 January 2021, protesters breached the US Capitol building following a rally held by Donald Trump outside the White House at which he alleged that Democrat Joe Biden had won the November 2020 election fraudulently.
The attack on the Capitol had disrupted a joint session of Congress that was counting electoral votes to rubber-stamp Biden’s victory. Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died in the wake of the events.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) intends to look into the planning, funding and actual execution of that rally, as well as the conspiracy theories that purportedly surrounded the event, according to people familiar with the matter, cited by the outlet.
Throughout the past two months, a federal grand jury in Washington has already been issuing subpoenas in this connection to individuals in ex-president Donald Trump’s circle, added the sources, without clarifying what the subpoenas requested or who specifically received them.
Thousands of people from across the country had gathered at the Ellipse, near the White House, to rally under the premise that Trump’s victory in the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
At approximately 1 p.m., the mob breached the security perimeter of the Capitol complex.
In connection with those events, over 770 people have already been charged with crimes by prosecutors. Now, information is being sought to identify hundreds of additional suspect, says the report. For example, there is interest in how those who have been accused of breaching the Capitol paid for their travel expenses to Washington, such as buses, other modes of transportation, as well as subsequent lodgings.
Some of these individuals are believed to have covered their own costs, raised money online, or joined a 60-vehicle caravan, according to cited court papers.
Mention has been made of such caravans, supported by pro-Trump groups, ahead of the 6 January events. For example, the March for Trump, organised by Women for America First, chaired by former Tea Party Express leader Amy Kremer. Stop the Steal was organised by Ali Alexander. The aforementioned groups have denied any wrongdoing.
In this Jan. 6, 2021, file photo, insurrections loyal to President Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington. U.S.
© AP Photo / John Minchillo
Some Washington prosecutors had urged issuing subpoenas at an earlier stage, insiders are cited as saying. However, according to them, the FBI, DOJ officials and Michael R. Sherwin, appointed acting D.C. US attorney under Trump, rejected this approach due to concerns that this would be construed as trampling on demonstrators’ First Amendment rights.
Thus, it was those seen in footage of those events actually committing crimes that were originally investigated by the Justice Department. It was hoped that these individuals could later be linked to other suspects.
The reported interest of the Justice Department in the details of planning the rally on 6 January echoes subpoenas issued to some of the rally organisers by the House Select committee separately investigating the Capitol riots. However, the federal grand jury in Washington’s decisions pertaining to the US Justice Department subpoena requests is a criminal investigation.
The House panel investigating the events of January 6 has spent nearly nine months on its probe, analysing documents and hearing testimony from hundreds of witnesses, including several dozen Trump-era officials. The predominantly Democrat-run panel has warned that it intends to refer any criminal charges against Donald Trump to the Department of Justice if it finds them.
Trump from the outset dismissed the investigation as a “witch hunt” by Democrats aimed at stopping him from returning to politics, following two failed impeachment trials and unsuccessful attempts to use amendments to the US Constitution to argue that he was mentally unfit for office.