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DOJ Seeks 400 More Capitol Rioters, Expect To Charge Some With Sedition

   DailyWire.com
WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 06: Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest inside the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images

The Department of Justice expanded its probe in the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol on Tuesday, announcing that it is now seeking an additional 400 suspects in the attack and that some alleged rioters may be charged with criminal conspiracy and sedition.

The FBI’s Washington field office Assistant Director in Charge, Steven D’Antuono, told a press conference Tuesday that the agency has opened 400 more case files in its investigation into a rally in support of President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the official outcome of the November presidential election that turned into an attack on the U.S. Capitol that left five dead and dozens wounded.

“Investigators are sparing no resources in their efforts to find people who participated in the rioting at the U.S. Capitol earlier this month, with the search expanding to more than 400 suspects on charges varying from misdemeanors to sedition,” Fox News reported.

D’Antuono added that the FBI has, so far, received nearly a quarter-million tips and that they’ve produced more than 500 grand jury indictments and search warrants. In addition to the 400 case files, they’ve opened 150 federal cases, and the D.C. superior court has 50 of its own cases pending, relating to the incident.

Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin did say, though that they expect the number of arrests to “plateau” soon, per The Washington Post, though “investigations continue into whether different ‘militia groups [and] individuals’ from several states conspired and coordinated the illegal assault on Congress beforehand.”

Those investigations, he added, will likely produce both “significant federal felony” charges — crimes carrying a maximum sentence of more than 20 years — and charges of sedition.

“Sherwin suggested that seditious conspiracy charges are pending and, without commenting on grand jury indictments, said that ‘the results will bear fruit very soon,'” according to WaPo. “Federal law makes conspiring to overthrow or oppose by force federal authority punishable by up to 20 years in prison, including the use of violence to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of law.”

As The Daily Wire reported last week, those charges may stem from a message string, sent between “self-styled militia members from Virginia, Ohio and other states” who “made plans to storm the U.S. Capitol days in advance of the Jan. 6 attack, and then communicated in real-time as they breached the building on opposite sides and talked about hunting for lawmakers.” Those messages became public in a series of court filings released last week.

Those suspects “who specifically were involved in the conspiracy and planning of the attack could be charged with sedition,” Fox News noted.

The FBI is also looking for a suspect, caught on surveillance camera, planting pipe bombs on U.S. Capitol grounds. The same suspect is believed to have also planted bombs near the headquarters of both the Republican and Democratic National Committees. Those pipe bombs were found to be armed and dangerous and authorities said, earlier in January, that they were surprised none of the bombs exploded.

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