DOJ weighs 200 outstanding Capitol riot cases referred by FBI
Federal prosecutors are mulling bringing charges against as many as 200 more people for their roles in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, including some 60 individuals suspected of assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
The new figures, announced on Monday, mark the first time the Justice Department has revealed how many cases it believes are still pending in a probe U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland has hailed as one of the “largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations” in the Department of Justice's history.
The agency announced the new figures on the four-year anniversary of the riot, where a mob of Trump's supporters descended on the building as Congress certified the election win of his Democratic opponent, President Biden. Trump has vowed to issue pardons to some rioters, whom he has described as “political prisoners," within hours of his return to the White House later this month.
Some 1,583 people accused of participating in the riot have faced charges, with more than half of them pleading guilty before trial and hundreds more being convicted by a jury or judge.
More than 600 people were accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers, including 180 rioters who were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon and 153 who were charged with destruction of federal property or theft of federal property.
Additionally, 18 people were charged with seditious conspiracy — plotting to oppose the authority of the government. Ten people, all leaders of the right-wing extremist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups, were convicted of the Civil War-era charge.
Though Jan. 6 cases continue chugging along in federal court, Trump's promises to grant sweeping clemency threaten to upend the prosecutions.
The president-elect has not made clear how many defendants he plans to pardon, but he has not yet publicly ruled any out, including for more serious offenders.
On Monday, ex-Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio asked Trump to consider issuing him a “full and complete” pardon for his role in the Capitol attack. Tarrio was convicted of seditious conspiracy and is serving a 22-year prison term. Another Proud Boy convicted of sedition, Joe Biggs, also previously requested clemency.
Attorneys for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison after being convicted of sedition, previously told The Hill that the original trial team started discussions about relief after it became clear Trump would be president again.