Around 300 additional members of the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6 and murderously hunted top government leaders are being targeted by federal agents for potential arrest, a new report from the Associated Press explains. The hundreds of additional insurrectionists who remain out there are cataloged in a series of hundreds of images that the FBI has released on a website seeking information about the riot. Although over 500 Trump supporters have already been criminally charged for their role in the Capitol breach, the photos make clear: hundreds of more arrests could be on the way.
Instances of serious violence were captured in the photos that the FBI has released as part of their effort to positively identify and apprehend those who perpetrated apparent criminal activity at the Capitol. The FBI has even shared a little over 100 images showcasing individuals under investigation for assaulting members of the media, while nearly 850 images are listed showing apparent suspects in physical assaults against law enforcement personnel. Just recently, federal prosecutors working on the riot investigation reached a total of 100 total cases and counting in which a defendant has been charged with assaulting law enforcement.
Notably, some of the photos that the FBI has shared in their quest for information rather clearly depict the faces of the people who authorities are after, suggesting that arrests could come sooner than the rioters might wish. Although a small number of cases have already reached the point of plea deals, arrests are continuing to the point that, just recently, authorities clocked one of the most active days yet, with 13 apprehensions either announced or unsealed in a single day. Some of the charges that the hundreds of identified Trump rioters are facing are serious, with conspiracy allegations among those carrying the longest potential prison sentences, if convicted.
Notably, in their attempt to identify and apprehend Capitol rioters, the “FBI has been helped by “sedition hunters,” or armchair detectives who have teamed up to identify some of the most elusive suspects, using crowdsourcing to pore over the vast trove of videos and photos from the assault,” the Associated Press notes. One such group, known as the Deep State Dogs, has shared the potential identities of some 100 rioters with authorities, and they’ve collected evidence to back up the connections they’ve made.
Robert Anderson Jr., a former executive assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch, told the Associated Press as follows, discussing the hunt for rioters:
‘They will find them. I don’t care how long it takes. If they are looking for them, they will find them.’
Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to spread the lie that last year’s presidential election was rigged. This brazen falsehood inspired the violence.
