Justice Department officials may consider not prosecuting every rebellious person who illegally violated the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to the Washington Post on Saturday – a move that could be controversial.
The publication reported that the Department of Justice is in the early stages of discussing this route, but Fox News could not reach the department to confirm the decision.
STATEMENTS ” STRONG PROOF ‘SHOW CAPITOL RIOTERS WANT TO’ CATCH AND KILL ‘OFFICIALS’
About 120 people were charged in the Capitol storms earlier this month, but with hundreds of other Trump supporters suing the legislature, federal prosecutors could look to years of pumping cases through the courts.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, has vowed to file “the maximum costs we can incur based on the conduct.”
“We’re not going to keep anything out of our arsenal for possible charges,” Sherwin told a news conference earlier this month. “We will charge the maximum cost we can use based on the behavior.”
Federal prosecutors said there was evidence that at least some of the rioters who charged the building did so with the intent to “capture and kill” elected officials.
On videos that appeared on social media during and following the event, several individuals were shown naming specific legislators, such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., and former vice president Mike Pence – who suggests they were targeting the elected officials.
Neither Pelosi nor Ocasio-Cortez could be immediately reached for comment, but both responded with aggressive backlash to the attack on the Capitol.
Pelosi led the charge to see President Trump expelled from the White House for the second time after the attack.
“We know that the President of the United States has incited this uprising, this armed rebellion, against our common country,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said before the vote. “He must go. He is a clear and present danger to the nation we all love.”
And Ocasio-Cortez has demanded the removal of Republican lawmakers who opposed certain votes in the Electoral College.
It is estimated that 800 people have accused the Capitol of protesting the outcome of the Electoral College, mainly due to Trump’s continued allegations that the election was ‘knee-jerk’, although the Justice Department claims there is no evidence of widespread electoral fraud. not.
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Some federal officials now believe that those who did not engage in violent or threatening behavior in the Capitol should be prosecuted, despite committing an “illegal entry” of the Capitol building, the Washington Post reports.