A defense lawyer says a laptop stolen from Mayor Nancy Pelosi’s offices during the attack on the US Capitol was not recovered by investigators
HARRISBURG, Pa. – A laptop stolen from Mayor Nancy Pelosi’s offices during the attack on the US Capitol was not recovered from the home or car of a Pennsylvania woman accused of helping to steal it, said the lawyer on Tuesday.
Public defender AJ Kramer told a federal judge that investigators searched Riley June Williams’ Harrisburg car and residence, but did not locate the computer.
Assistant prosecutor Mona Sedky said during a hearing in Washington that she was reluctant to say more about what she described as a continuous and fluid investigation, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“I am very uncomfortable in discussing the facts of the case at this stage,” said Sedky. “I am concerned that talking about what we know and don’t know and what we are preventing could harm the investigation.”
Williams, 22, is accused of helping to steal the laptop, which an aide to Pelosi said was used only for presentations. She is under electronic monitoring and largely confined to her home to await the trial of this charge, along with obstruction, invasion and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Sedky told the judge that there is evidence that Williams ordered others to erase data after the attack, the newspaper said. Judge Zia M. Faruqui, a US magistrate, restricted Williams’ access to the Internet while she awaits trial.
The FBI said an unidentified Williams romantic partner warned that she appeared on video in the January 6 riots, and the insider said he hoped to sell the computer to Russian intelligence.
His lawyers said the informant’s charges were exaggerated.
The video of the revolt shows a woman who corresponds to Williams’ description urging the invaders to go “up, up, up” during the attack. The FBI said Williams was recorded on closed-circuit cameras at the Capitol in and out of Pelosi’s office.
An FBI statement said that a cell phone video probably shot by Williams showed a man’s gloved hand lifting an HP laptop from a table, and the caption read, “They took the laptop.”