The FBI has arrested a woman for her alleged role in the Capitol siege, and authorities are investigating whether she stole a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office with the intent to sell it to a U.S. adversary.
Riley June Williams, 22, was arrested in Pennsylvania’s Middle District Monday and has been charged with violent entry or disorderly conduct and entering the restricted space of the Capitol.
In a new affidavit signed Sunday evening, the FBI revealed that a former romantic partner of Riley June Williams told law enforcement officials that Williams stole a “computer or hard drive from Speaker Pelosi’s office” with the intent to pass it to a friend in Russia, who then planned on selling it to the Russian government.
The supposed witness “also claimed to have spoken to friends of WILLIAMS, who showed W1 a video of WILLIAMS taking a laptop computer or hard drive from Speaker Pelosi’s office. W1 stated that WILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence service.”
Despite the allegation, Williams has not been charged in connection to the allegedly stolen device, and the affidavit notes, “This matter remains under investigation.”
Williams’s former partner also told law enforcement officials that Williams’s plan to transfer the laptop or hard drive to Russia “fell through for unknown reasons” and that she likely “still has the computer device or destroyed it.”
Days after the insurgence at the Capitol, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill tweeted, “A laptop from a conference room was stolen. It was a laptop that was only used for presentations.” It’s unclear if the laptop Hammill referred to is the one purportedly stolen by Williams.
Pelosi’s office did not return the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
The FBI revealed that they do not know Williams’s current location.
“It appears that W[illiams] has fled,” the affidavit read, adding that her mother “stated that W[illiams] packed a bag and left her home and told her mother she would be gone for a couple of weeks,” without providing her mother with any information about her destination.
She received the same charges many others who took part in the siege that day also received.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said last Thursday that more than 100 people had been arrested so far, and the Department of Justice announced more than 170 cases have been opened in connection with the deadly Capitol siege that took place on Jan. 6, as Congress certified President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Dozens of people who participated in the insurgence surrounding the Capitol earlier this month have been charged with federal crimes, including one who allegedly was in possession of 11 Molotov cocktails, one who reportedly punched a police officer in the face and chest repeatedly, one who wore a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt, another who dubbed himself the “QAnon shaman” and was pictured on the Senate dais, one carrying a Confederate flag, and many more.
