At least 100 additional arrests are expected by prosecutors as part of their ongoing federal investigation into the rioting at the Capitol in January, the government revealed in new court filings this week.
In a Thursday court filing, prosecutors said as follows:
‘Over 400 individuals have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack. The investigation continues and the government expects that at least one hundred additional individuals will be charged.’
In other words, those who were involved in the rioting but haven’t gotten a visit from the FBI — yet — should probably be concerned. Prosecutors added in court filings that the “investigation and prosecution of the Capitol attack will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence.”
Although some of the over 400 people who have already been arrested have been released from custody ahead of their trials, others — like a selection of individuals associated with the far-right extremist groups known as the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — have been ordered to jail until their trials. On Thursday, during a detention hearing for Proud Boys leader Charles Donohoe, federal Judge G. Michael Harvey noted that the “acts alleged in the indictment would meet, in my view, the statutory definition of a federal crime of terrorism.” Donohoe was ordered to remain in jail ahead of his trial.
In connection to the rioting, individuals associated with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been hit with conspiracy charges, which carry long potential sentences.
Among other examples, the pre-riot planning that authorities have discovered includes an apparent stash of weapons at a hotel near Washington, D.C. The weapons would have been meant for individuals on the ground in the capital, if requested. Prosecutors have presented security footage from the hotel in question revealing individuals affiliated with the Oath Keepers who were “carrying up and down, from the lobby and back… multiple items” that appeared to be weapons cases. Federal prosecutor Jeffrey Nestler said that “people who were affiliated with the group were… monitoring what was happening at the Capitol… and prepared to come into D.C. and ferry these weapons in to the ground team… on a moment’s notice, if anyone said the word.”
