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The mob of Trump supporters who stormed the US Capitol last week were planning to “capture and assassinate” elected officials, according to recent court documents.
Investigators believe there was a much more organized effort underway, according to prosecutors who filed a motion Thursday evening in the case of suspect Jacob Chansley, who was pictured and taped during the riot shirtless with his face painted, wearing a fur hat with horns, and bearing an American flag attached to a wooden pole topped with what officials have identified as a spear.
In their file, prosecutors wrote that after Chansley stepped onto the dais where Vice President Mike Pence was presiding moments earlier, he wrote a threatening note to Pence: “It’s just a question. of time, justice comes. “
“Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions on Capitol Hill, supports the intention of the rioters on Capitol Hill was to capture and assassinate US government officials,” prosecutors wrote in their memo. urging the judge to keep Chansley behind bars.
Pence and the leaders of Congress were kicked out of the chamber by the Secret Service and the U.S. Capitol Police before rioters entered the room.
The FBI investigated whether any of the rioters had conspired to kidnap members of Congress and keep them hostage, particularly focusing on the men seen wearing plastic zippered handcuffs and pepper spray. Prosecutors accuse a former air force officer of wearing zippered plastic handcuffs because he intended to “take hostages”.
But so far the Justice Department has not released any specific evidence of conspiracies.
But suspected rioters claimed it was a spontaneous outburst of anger over the election and the loss of President Trump. Mike Sherwin, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters on Friday that his office had so far found “no direct evidence at this point of capture teams and assassination attempts.”
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Chansley “had nothing but peaceful intentions” when he entered the Capitol building on Jan.6, his attorney, Al Watkins, told Fox News on Friday.
“He didn’t have a bulletproof vest,” Watkins said in a text message. “He had nothing but his megaphone. He wanted his voice to be heard.
A detention hearing is scheduled for Chansley’s case later Friday. Watkins said his client had no criminal history.
Watkins insisted to Fox News that the spear was “to hold the flag” and was “not easily capable of any harm.”
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Chansley, who calls himself the “QAnon Shaman” and has been around Trump rallies for a long time, visited the FBI field office in Phoenix on Saturday.
QAnon is an apocalyptic, convoluted conspiracy theory that is widespread on the internet and promoted by some right-wing extremists.
Chansley told investigators he came to Capitol Hill “at the president’s request that all” patriots “come to Washington on January 6, 2021”. An unsealed indictment Tuesday in Washington accuses him of civil unrest, obstruction of formal process, disorderly conduct in a small building and protest in a Capitol building.
Watkins told Fox News he asked Trump to forgive Chansley because his client believed he was “called … to come to DC” to support the president.
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“And to help the president save our country – these people really believed that,” Watkins continued. “And they had reasons, they have the right to do it. They had the right to trust the words of their president.”
He acknowledged that forgiveness is unlikely to be granted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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