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Among the questions raised by federal prosecutors and investigators: Was there a plan to capture and hold members of Congress hostage, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, whose names have been mentioned in chants of anger by people who stormed a joint session of Congress in an attempt to stop President-elect Joe Biden’s certification of victory over President Donald Trump.
People dressed in military-style gear, some wearing zip ties, have been seen in videos and photos participating in the rampage of the Capitol, raising questions about whether to capture lawmakers – or even Vice President Mike Pence – was the target, according to a federal law enforcement official.
“I don’t want this tyranny of labels saying it was sedition, it was a coup,” Sherwin said.
Ahead of Trump’s rally on Wednesday, federal and local law enforcement shared raw information showing that some people associated with extremist groups, including some with white supremacist ideologies, were to flock to Washington at Trump’s urging , according to intelligence-informed law enforcement officials. One official said regional intelligence reports were widely shared, including with the United States Capitol Police. But officials said none of the intelligence reports suggested a plot to attack the Capitol. Much of the information was so-called open-source reporting, based on social media and extremist sites on the Internet, where discussions between attendees at a planned rally shared some of Trump’s false statements about a stolen election.
“It was a lot of noise, as it always has been,” said a federal law enforcement official who reviewed intelligence reports before the Trump rally.
More than 20 arrests on federal charges made since Wednesday have largely focused on some of the relatively easy-to-identify insurgents, many of whom have proudly posted on social media or even live-streamed their participation, enforcement officials said. the law.
The most difficult job now is trying to create potential domestic terrorism cases against people who helped organize the attack, a federal law enforcement official said.
At a press conference on Friday, a federal prosecutor in Washington told reporters that investigators are in some cases using initial charges to try to arrest people, while continuing to investigate other possible charges.
This includes examining possible foreign links for certain suspects; an arrested woman asked for a Russian translator during her hearing last week.
“The point here is really to identify the people and get them at least what we call the substitution fee up front, and then we take a more detailed look at how those people got here, how much planning was involved and domestic or foreign actors, ”said Ken Kohl, the principal acting deputy of the US attorney in Washington.
In the midst of this effort, there is an equally urgent need to prepare for more potential violence from groups that plan to come to Washington before and during Biden’s inauguration.
The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies are redoubling their efforts to try to identify people who may be planning the violence.
The fact that Wednesday’s crowd managed to overwhelm an unprepared Capitol Police force has likely emboldened others who may be willing to try something similar in Washington or in states across the country, officials said. This includes foreign terrorist groups that have always had the US Capitol as their primary target.
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