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“Unidentified rioters are heard ordering the riot frontline to create a ‘shield wall’ to prevent law enforcement from controlling rioters with oleoresin capsicum spray,” according to the affidavit of an American vice-marshal.
At a hearing in McCaughey’s case on Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors urged a judge to deny him bail and stressed the level of coordination of the attack.
“Mob is not the right term, because there is a level of organization here that deserves to be noted,” said US Assistant Prosecutor Benjamin Gianforti. “Rioters swap people here who are cool. They pass weapons to the front of the melee for use against officers.
The new deposits were the latest indications that the January 6 riots included cells of organized and militarized insurgency, beyond the throng of disorganized Trump supporters who joined in the fray. This evidence includes the conspiracy case filed this week against three so-called Oath Keepers, members of an Ohio-based chapter of the vaguely connected paramilitary group, who face charges of attempting to injure police officers, hamper Congress and damage federal property.
FBI and Justice Department officials have stressed in recent days that they expect the investigation to result in serious criminal charges that may include a seditious conspiracy. But the first wave of criminal complaints largely focused on trespassing, disorderly conduct and obstructing police – charges that prosecutors said were the fastest and safest way to detain some. rioters while more detailed and damning cases are developed.
Then-President Donald Trump was impeached in his final week in office for inciting a violent insurgency. Many riot participants openly cited Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen as the basis for their decision to storm Capitol Hill. Trump urged crowds to march on Capitol Hill and later told rioters ‘we love you’ – asking them to return home peacefully – even as lawmakers and then Vice President Mike Pence took refuge in the midst of violence. Although some have pleaded with Trump for pardons, citing his encouragement at the event, Trump left office without moving to protect himself or riot participants from legal fallout.
The latest round of filings included charges against Joseph Biggs, whom the FBI describes as an “organizer” of the Proud Boys. According to the affidavit, Biggs encouraged other members of the group to attend the events of January 6 in Washington and echoed the suggestion of Proud Boys frontman Enrique Tarrio to dress to look like adherents of antifa, a violent leftist movement.
Biggs was also on the front lines of the group that first raped the Capitol, according to the FBI, along with Dominic Pezzola, another Proud Boys member who was indicted for his role in the assault earlier in the week.
“In one image… Pezzola appears to have what I believe to be an earpiece or communications device in his right ear,” said the anonymous FBI agent who filed the case. “Your depositor also notes that several people were photographed or depicted on videos with headphones on, including others suspected of being associated with the Proud Boys.”
The officer also noted that Biggs and other Proud Boys used walkie-talkies during the siege. Biggs spoke to FBI agents after being identified in videos and “denied having knowledge of any pre-planning for the Capitol Assault, and had no idea who planned it.”
Prosecutors and investigators described McCaughey’s conduct as exceptionally depraved. Videos from the episode show DC Police Constable Daniel Hodges grimacing and screaming in pain as he is wedged between a door jamb and a crowd rushing at him.
“The vicious attack on Officer Hodges was heinous and fundamentally anti-American,” said Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney for the District of Columbia. “McCaughey’s alleged actions were an assault on Officer Hodges, the Capitol and the rule of law itself.
The head of the FBI’s Washington field office, Steven M. D’Antuono, called McCaughey’s behavior “violent, barbaric and completely out of control.”
However, aspects of an affidavit that a U.S. vice-marshal submitted to a federal magistrate in Washington seeking an arrest warrant for McCaughey suggested that defenses could be raised in the case.
While surveillance and body-worn camera video appear to leave no doubt that McCaughey rushed at Hodges as he screamed in agony, events in the tunnel on the West Front of the Capitol was chaotic and sometimes there seemed to have been a horde of angry rioters surging in against the police and the gates.
The Marshal, whose name has been removed from the court’s public record, claims that in a recording taken near McCaughey someone can be heard saying, “Come on man, you’re gonna be crushed, go home.
However, McCaughey is not on camera at the time, and the affidavit acknowledges at another point that he appears to be concerned about Hodges, saying, “Hey you, hey you, that guy is wrong. very well.”
The Marshal says that after Hodges was moved behind the police line, McCaughey continued to hit other officers with the shield and by then the crowd behind McCaughey had cleared, undermining any defense that he might have that he was being pushed around by others.
“At the time of the strikes, no other rioters were in contact with McCaughey, which could have caused McCaughey to inadvertently move towards uniformed law enforcement officers,” the marshal wrote.
US Justice of the Peace Robin Meriweather approved the arrest warrant on Monday, accusing McCaughey of assaulting police officers, civil unrest, entering a building or restricted land and violent entry or disorderly conduct, according to records judicial.
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