The Justice Department expects to charge at least another 100 people in connection with the Capitol riot that killed January 6, court documents show.
Federal prosecutors are demanding a 60-day delay in riot-related cases due to a large influx of defendants and evidence discovered in the months following the attack, according to court documents filed Friday in federal court in Washington, DC. is.
“The investigation is continuing and the government expects at least one hundred additional individuals to be charged,” prosecutors wrote in the documentation, referring to an investigation by the Justice Department. “Although most cases have been filed against individual defendants, the government is also investigating conspiracies that took place before and on January 6, 2021.”
More than 300 people have been arrested in connection with the attack, which lawyers described as “probably the most complicated investigation ever prosecuted” by the justice department.
FEDS INVESTIGATES DEVELOPMENTS OF RECOGNITION CAPITAL TOURS IN DAYS LEADING TO RIOT
Charges include trespassing, violent or disruptive conduct on Capitol grounds, destruction or theft of government property, assaults on federal and local law enforcement officers, firearms crimes, civil disorder, obstruction of an official process, use of destructive devices and conspiracy.
More than 900 search warrants have been executed in nearly all 50 countries, and evidence compiled so far includes more than 15,000 hours of surveillance or video recordings, 1,600 electronic devices, 210,000 tips and 80,000 witness interviews.
NATIONAL WAITER STATIONED IN GS DEATH AFTER MEDICAL EMERGENCY
“The failure to grant such a continuation in this proceeding is likely to make a continuation of this process impossible, or result in a miscarriage of justice,” U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta wrote of prosecutors’ request to prosecute the proceedings. delayed.
Capitol police officers in riot gear push back protesters trying to break through a U.S. Capitol door in Washington on Wednesday, January 6, 2021. (AP Photo / Jose Luis Magana)
In such a complicated case, nine defendants have been charged with offenses related to the riot, including Thomas Caldwell, Donovan Crowl, Jessica Watkins, Sandra Parker, Bennie Parker, Graydon Young, Laura Steele, Kelly Meggs and Connie Meggs.
NATIONAL GUARD PLATED 50 TIMES OF TROOPS TO DEFEND CAPITOL 50 TIMES AFTER 9/11
Authorities allege that they were part of a far-right military group called the Oath Keepers and accused Caldwell of being a leader of the group.
Caldwell worked as a division chief for the FBI from 2009 to 2010 after retiring from the Navy and having a top-secret security clearance since 1979.
One prosecutor said during a Thursday hearing that the case could include 15 or more accused, according to Politico.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“The government does anticipate that additional defendants will be added to the conspiracy at some point,” said Jeffrey Nestler, the U.S. attorney general.
The FBI described the Swordsmen in one criminal indictment as a “large but loosely organized collection of civilians who believe the federal government was formed by a shadowy conspiracy trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”
The FBI said the group was explicitly trying to recruit former law enforcers, military members and first responders.