Arguing that the uprising in the Capitol harmed U.S. national security, one of the House indictment managers, Representative Joaquin Castro, spoke Thursday about the theft of a laptop from the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
‘At least one of the insurgents was possibly planning to steal information and give it to a foreign adversary. According to indictment, Riley Williams allegedly helped steal a laptop from the Pelosi speaker’s office to “send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, the Russian foreign intelligence service. sell, ” Castro said.
Facts first: Castro aptly entrenched his claim by saying ‘power’, but it is still worth emphasizing that the claim that Williams intended to send the Pelosi laptop to Russia has not been proven. While the FBI claims that Williams played a role in the theft of the laptop, the FBI said in a January court document that the allegation that she wanted to send the laptop to Russia is “still under investigation”; the FBI explained that this allegation was made by a tipster who said they were a former romantic partner of Williams. An attorney for Williams told a court in January, the allegations about Williams and the laptop were “in part from a former abusive boyfriend” who “threatened” her.
Williams, a woman in Pennsylvania in her early 20s, is facing several charges in connection with the uprising, including the theft of government property. She is not accused of stealing the laptop herself.
The FBI said in a court document that Williams’ former romantic partner claims that “the transfer of the computer device to Russia failed for unknown reasons” and that Williams “still owns or destroys the computer device.” Williams denied the allegations against her.
It is unclear how much intelligence the laptop may have for Russia. Pelosi Deputy Chief of Staff, Drew Hammill tweeted in January that a computer had been stolen from a conference room and that it had been ‘used for presentations only’.
According to the FBI, a video taken by Williams during a riot on a desk in Pelosi’s office shows a woman’s voice – probably the voice of Williams, the FBI says, saying: , ‘then shows a gloved hand of a man lifting the laptop from the desk. The FBI claims that a social media account with the username “Riley” was posted on social media about the fact that he stole from Pelosi and that he took Pelosi’s “hard drives”.