The Justice Department plans to bring charges to at least 100 more people connected to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol that resulted in the deaths of five people.
One day after Merrick Garland was sworn into office as attorney general, federal prosecutors revealed the number in court papers on Friday, also confirming that they are still working on their far-reaching inquiry, set to be one of the most expansive in the nation’s history. The department has already charged more than 300 people with ties to the riot.
WHITE SUPREMACISTS PLEAD GUILTY TO 2016 ASSAULT CHARGES
“The investigation and prosecution of the Capitol Attack will likely be one of the largest in American history, both in terms of the number of defendants prosecuted and the nature and volume of the evidence,” federal prosecutors said in a filing regarding a case against nine alleged members or associates of the Oath Keepers paramilitary group.
The Oath Keepers case involves defendants charged with conspiring to storm the Capitol as lawmakers counted the electoral votes to affirm President Biden’s victory. Prosecutors said six or more defendants could be added to the case.
Prosecutors said investigators have gathered more than 15,000 hours of surveillance and body camera footage, 1,600 electronic devices, over 210,000 tips, 80,000 reports, and 93,000 attachments related to law enforcement interviews of suspects and witnesses, according to a report by NPR.
Because of the large scale of the investigation, prosecutors are requesting a 60-day deadline extension to sift through their evidence.
Though most of the 300 cases brought so far have been against individual defendants, the government is also investigating conspiratorial activity that may have happened before or after the riot.
An analysis by USA Today found that a number of those charged have ties to extremist groups, including 14 people connected with Proud Boys, 13 to QAnon, 12 to the Oath Keepers, and four to the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia movement.
The Capitol riot led to dozens of people being wounded, in addition to the five who were killed, which included a Capitol Police officer.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The siege of Congress was also the subject of the second impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump, who was impeached for incitement of insurrection by the House and acquitted by the Senate.
Trump is the only president in history to have been impeached twice. He was acquitted by a GOP-led Senate both times.
