PHOENIX (AP) – The pro-Trump crowd that invaded the U.S. Capitol last week it aimed to “capture and murder elected officials,” federal prosecutors said in court documents.
The remark came in a motion that prosecutors filed on Thursday night in the case against Jacob Chansley, the Arizona man who participated in the insurrection while wearing face paint, shirtless and a furry hat with horns.
Prosecutors say that after Chansley went up to the dais where Vice President Mike Pence presided just moments ago, Chansley wrote a threatening note to Pence that said, “It’s just a matter of time, justice is coming.”
Pence and other Congressional leaders were ushered out of the chamber by the Secret Service and the US Capitol Police before protesters invaded the room.
“Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions on the Capitol, supports that Capitol protesters’ intention was to capture and murder elected officials in the United States government,” prosecutors wrote in their memo urging the judge to keep Chansley behind the scenes. grids.
Gerald Williams, Chansley’s lawyer, did not return a phone call and email Friday morning asking for comment. A detention hearing is scheduled for your case for Friday.
The FBI has been investigating whether any of the protesters had plans to kidnap members of Congress and hold them hostage, focusing mainly on men seen carrying plastic zippered cuffs and pepper spray.
Prosecutors raised a similar perspective on Friday in the case of a former Air Force officer who they claimed carried zippered plastic cuffs because he intended to “take hostages”. But so far, the Justice Department has not publicly released any specific evidence about the conspiracies or explained how the rioters planned to carry them out.
Chansley, who calls himself “QAnon Shaman” and has long been a constant presence at Trump’s rallies, surrendered to the FBI’s Phoenix office on Saturday.
Photos from the news show him shirtless, face painted and wearing a horned fur hat, carrying a United States flag attached to a wooden mast with a spear at the top.
QAnon is an apocalyptic and complicated conspiracy theory largely spread over the Internet and promoted by some right-wing extremists.
Chansley told investigators that he came to the Capitol “at the President’s request that all ‘patriots’ go to DC on January 6, 2021.” An indictment revealed Tuesday in Washington, he with civil disorder, obstruction of an official process, disorderly conduct in a restricted building and demonstration in a Capitol building.
More than 80 people are facing charges arising from the violence, including more than 40 people in federal courts. The federal charges filed so far are mainly for crimes such as illegal entry, but prosecutors said they are weighing more serious charges against at least some of the protesters.
Michael Sherwin, acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, said this week that he has organized a group of national security and public corruption prosecutors whose sole focus is to bring charges of sedition for “the most heinous acts that have occurred on Capitol Hill”
During a Texas hearing on Thursday, a prosecutor asked a judge to keep Colonel Larry Rendall Brock Jr. in jail, saying the man intended to “take hostages”. Brock was arrested on Sunday in Texas after being photographed in the Senate floor during the deadly rebellion wearing a heavy helmet and vest and carrying zippered plastic cuffs.
“He intends to kidnap, contain, maybe try, maybe execute members of the United States government,” said Assistant Attorney General Jay Weimer, without providing details.
Brock’s lawyer, Brook Antonio II, noted that the man was only charged with misdemeanors. Antonio said there was no direct evidence of Brock breaking doors or windows to enter the Capitol, or doing anything violent once inside.
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Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporter Jake Bleiberg contributed to this Fort Worth, Texas report.