The FBI is stepping up its efforts to build a possible conspiracy case after authorities arrested more than 150 people for their alleged role in the Capitol riot, police officials said on Tuesday.
Federal officials indicated in a press release that their next steps to prosecute the alleged participants will involve using the current charges to gather more information about the suspects and the rebellion and determine whether a case of a major conspiracy could be pursued.
Michael Sherwin, the US attorney in Washington, DC, told reporters in a press conference tLaw enforcement will need to find out whether the Capitol rebellion was coordinated before January 6 and whether certain groups or individuals were involved in the planning.
“We are going to reach a plateau in the very near future and that will involve examining the most complicated conspiracy cases,” said Sherwin.
The acting US attorney added that investigators will examine “possible coordination between militia groups from different states that planned to travel here before the 6th to engage in criminal conduct”
As of Tuesday, prosecutors have already accused several of the alleged participants in the conspiracy riot, including in three cases in which they argue that the suspects acted “in an organized and practiced manner” and allegedly suggested potentially injecting gas into lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according with The Wall Street Journal.
FBI assistant director in charge, Steven D’Antuono told reporters on Tuesday’s call that the FBI received more than 200,000 digital media tips from the public during the riot investigation.
With these tips and other research and evidence, D’Antuono said the FBI identified more than 400 suspects allegedly involved in the Capitol invasion and assault on police and arrested about 135 people, “with many more being identified and charged all the days.”
Lawyers who defend suspects are likely to say that their clients have received instructions from ex- President Trump
Donald TrumpBlinken makes the first calls as Biden’s secretary of state senators discussing Trump Dobbs’ censorship resolution: Republicans lost in 2020 because they ‘forgot who the real leader was’ MORE, who called on his supporters to flock to DC to protest Congress’ certification of President Biden’s electoral victory.
In a speech to the protesters, the former president instructed them to march to the Capitol, which the protesters invaded, resulting in five deaths, including a Capitol police officer.
The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are offering a $ 75,000 reward for information that leads to the arrest of those responsible for planting the bombs on Republican and Democratic national committees near the Capitol that day.
Current and former police officers told the Journal that the investigation is one of the most extensive in recent FBI history and comparable to investigations into the Oklahoma City bombing and the Boston Marathon bombing.