Hunt for Capitol attackers still on 6 months after Jan. 6
July 6, 2021: The first wave of arrests in the deadly siege of the US capital focused on easy targets. Dozens of pro-Trump protesters made public claims about their actions on social media on January 6 and were caught in shocking footage broadcast live by national news agencies.
But just six months after the uprising, the Justice Department is still hunting down several rioters, with the first of more than 500 already arrested pleading guilty. The struggle reflects a large-scale investigation, and despite a growing effort by some Republican lawmakers to rewrite the events of the day, the authorities continue to do a terrible job.
Among those still unaccounted for: The man who planted two pipe bombs outside the offices of the Republican and Democratic National Committees the night before the riots, as well as assaults or torture on many law enforcement officers. And charged with intimidation. Journalist The FBI’s website has more than 900 photographs of about 300 people, including “unknown individuals,” seeking information about those involved in the capital’s violence.
Part of the problem is that the authorities made very few arrests in January. Instead, the focus was on clearing the building of large-scale mob members who attacked the police, damaged historic property and clogged halls for lawmakers whom they threatened to kill. Had given Federal investigators have been forced to return and find the culprits.
“Most of these people never showed up on the radar screen before,” said Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI special agent who led the bureau’s field offices in Seattle and Honolulu. “You watch the movies and a name comes up on the radar screen and they know all the aliases and the last place he ate dinner, all with a click of a button. Unfortunately, that’s not how it is in reality.”
The FBI has been assisted by “sedition hunters”, or armchair detectives, who have used mob sourcing to extensively emphasize videos and images ranging from attacks to some highly lethal suspects. Has been identified. Forrest Rogers, a business consultant who helped form a group of rebel hunters called the “Deep State Dog,” said the group had given the FBI about 100 percent of the evidence gathered. The identities of the suspects have been reported.
In some cases, social media platforms have turned over incriminating posts that defendants tried to delete after their gleeful celebrations of the siege gave way to fears of being arrested. Often, the attackers’ own family, friends or acquaintances tipped off authorities. In one case, the FBI used facial comparison software to find a suspect on his girlfriend’s Instagram account. Agents then went undercover, secretly recorded the man at work and got him on tape admitting to being in the crowd, which he described as “fun.”
“The more of these people you identify, potentially through search warrants and social media communications, you’re going to be able to identify others,” said Tom O’Connor, who focused on counterterrorism as a special agent before leaving the bureau in 2019. “Those people who have been arrested will then be given the opportunity to cooperate and identify other persons involved.”
The FBI has offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to arrest of responsible persons for events in Washington on Jan. 5. Footage shows a person in a gray hooded sweatshirt, a mask and gloves appearing to place one of the explosives under a bench outside the Democratic National Committee and the person walking in an alley near the Republican National Committee before the bomb was placed there. It remains unclear whether the bombs were related to planning for the insurrection.
“They will find them,” said Robert Anderson Jr., former executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch. “I don’t care how long it takes. If they are looking for them, they will find them.”
More than a dozen Jan. 6 defendants have pleaded guilty, guilty including two members of the Oath Keepers militia group who admitted to conspiring with other extremists to block the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.
Most of the other plea deals reached so far are in cases where defendants were charged only with misdemeanors for illegally entering the Capitol. The only defendant who has been sentenced is an Indiana woman who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was spared any time behind bars.
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