A Washington DC police officer witnessed protesters using military-style hand signals to communicate within the Capitol building during the rape on January 6, a law enforcement official told CBS News.
Identifying individuals using small unit military tactics is among the “top priorities” for a Sedition Task Force led by the DCUS Prosecutor’s Office. The apparent use of “small unit tactics”, trained for military and police, attracted the immediate scrutiny of investigators. These tactics have been witnessed both outside and inside the Capitol building, CBS News found.
Federal investigators are analyzing images that appeared on social media, as well as thousands of hours of video from closed circuit cameras positioned in front of the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Capitol campus and the police force cameras.
District Attorney General of Columbia Michael Sherwin said on Tuesday that his office is investigating possible charges of seditious conspiracy in the riot investigation.
Sherwin said the investigation into the protesters’ planning includes sifting through travel records, financial information and communications.
On Thursday, prosecutors said a retired Air Force officer who was arrested in Texas after appearing in a viral photo carried zippered plastic cuffs because he intended to “take hostages”.
“He wants to take hostages. He wants to kidnap, restrict, maybe try, maybe execute members of the US government,” said Assistant Attorney Jay Weimer of retired Lieutenant Colonel Larry Rendall Brock Jr., who was also the subject of a new Yorker article.
Federal authorities have accused more than 40 people in connection with the Capitol riot. Among them were two Rocky Mount, Virginia, off duty officers, Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson, who face an accusation of intentional entry or stay in any restricted building or land without legal authority and an accusation of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the Capitol.
Fracker is a corporal in the Virginia National Guard and is currently not on duty with the Virginia National Guard troops in Washington, DC. The Virginia National Guard will be conducting an investigation.
Prosecutors wrote in a complaint that Robertson wrote in a social media post: “CNN and the left are crazy because we really attacked the government that is the problem and not a random small company … The right IN ONE DAY took the f * **** US Capitol. Keep poking us. ”
Fracker posted a deleted comment on Facebook that said: “Lol for someone who is possibly worried about my picture walking around … Sorry, do I hate freedom? … It’s not like I did something illegal … you do what you feel you need “, according to the complaint.