Justice Department warns of national security fallout from Capitol Hill insurrection
Source: Politico
The mob that rampaged inside the halls of Congress on Wednesday might have taken a lot more than Americans’ illusions of invulnerability. “National security equities” may have been among the records stolen from the Capitol on Wednesday when pro-Trump insurgents stormed the building and looted several congressional offices, the Justice Department said in a briefing Thursday.
Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said it will likely take “several days to flesh out exactly what happened, what was stolen, what wasn't,” noting that “items, electronic items were stolen from senators’ offices, documents and materials were stolen, and we have to identify what was done to mitigate that [damage].”
Lawmakers and congressional staffers are demanding answers about how a federal complex in the nation’s capital with its own police force was overrun in broad daylight, leading to four deaths and dozens of injuries.
But it’s not only the physical security of members, staff and other employees that was endangered by the breach—congressional offices were ransacked, and at least one laptop, belonging to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), was stolen, Merkley said. Rioters were photographed sitting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk and removing a piece of her mail from the building. And the Senate Parliamentarian’s office was raided, leaving piles of documents scattered across the floor and into the hallway.
Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/07/capitol-hill-riots-doj-456178
= new reply since forum marked as read
