The Justice Department issued an internal memo last week that asks U.S. attorneys from across the country to lend a hand in prosecuting a growing number of cases stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol siege.
“The (office) has an urgent need for assistance with prosecuting hundreds of criminal cases,” a senior DOJ official wrote in an email to 93 federal prosecutor offices. “Based on the importance and immediacy of the need, we ask each United States Attorney to consider whether he or she can offer critical assistance to the (office in Washington).”
Authorities have opened cases against more than 400 suspects, at least 135 of whom have been arrested, following the riot that led to five deaths, including one Capitol Police officer. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington, D.C., has handled most of the charging process, and officials in the area have “decided to prosecute all cases stemming from the Jan. 6th siege … because that is where the crimes occurred,” a spokesman told the outlet.
“The cases are all being charged here in D.C.,” the acting U.S. attorney in Washington, Michael Sherwin, said on Jan. 15, nine days after the breach. “And what makes this case, in particular, unprecedented and unusual and extremely complex is the fact that after the event, obviously thousands of people went back to their home districts. And that has complicated things.”
A former DOJ official said that “there’s a clear resource issue” in the D.C. office. He further added that the “importance of some of these cases” could be sacrificed if hundreds are piling up. Last week’s memo requires a response from the U.S. attorneys by Friday.
Prosecutors in at least 12 other states, including Virginia, Ohio, and South Carolina, publicly announced they would charge suspected rioters in their jurisdictions in the aftermath of the unrest. It is unclear how involved they have been in the efforts of Sherwin’s office.
“Let me be perfectly clear,” Peter McCoy, a U.S. attorney in South Carolina, said in a stern statement to Capitol riot participants on the day of the breach. “Anyone who traveled from the District of South Carolina with intent to aid this travesty or commit acts of destruction will be prosecuted by [my office].”
Let me be perfectly clear: Federal crimes were violated today at our Nation’s Capitol building. Anyone who traveled from the District of South Carolina with intent to aid this travesty or commit acts of destruction will be prosecuted by @USAO_SC.
— U.S. Attorney Peter McCoy (@USAttyMcCoy) January 7, 2021
The Jan. 6 riot prompted the deployment of 26,000 National Guard troops to the U.S. Capitol ahead of the inauguration of President Biden.
On Wednesday, the remains of slain U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who was fatally injured during the siege of Congress, were laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery after “lying in tribute” at the Capitol Rotunda.
The Homeland Security Department issued in late January an alert warning of a “heightened threat environment” throughout the nation due to extremists and domestic terrorists.
“The Acting Secretary of Homeland Security has issued a National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin due to a heightened threat environment across the United States, which DHS believes will persist in the weeks following the successful Presidential Inauguration,” the bulletin read. “Information suggests that some ideologically-motivated violent extremists with objections to the exercise of governmental authority and the presidential transition, as well as other perceived grievances fueled by false narratives, could continue to mobilize to incite or commit violence.”
