Justice Department, FBI debate not charging some of the Capitol rioters [View all]

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Last edited Sat Jan 23, 2021, 04:44 PM - Edit history (1)

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Devlin Barrett
@DevlinBarrett
Exclusive: Justice Department, FBI debate not charging some of the roughly 800 Capitol rioters in cases where no link seen to violence

Justice Department, FBI debate not charging some of the Capitol rioters
Law enforcement officials are considering forgoing charges against those who went into Congress but are not linked to violence, threats or destruction.
washingtonpost.com
11:25 AM · Jan 23, 2021

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/doj-capitol-rioters-charges-debate/2021/01/23/3b0cf112-5d97-11eb-8bcf-3877871c819d_story.html

Federal law enforcement officials are privately debating whether they should decline to charge some of the individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol this month — a politically loaded proposition but one alert to the practical concern that hundreds of such cases could swamp the local courthouse.

The internal discussions are in their early stages, and no decisions have been reached about whether to forgo charging some of those who illegally entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.

Justice Department officials have promised a relentless effort to identify and arrest those who stormed the Capitol that day, but internally there is robust back-and-forth about whether charging them all is the best course of action. That debate comes at a time when officials are keenly
sensitive that the credibility of the Justice Department and the FBI are at stake in such decisions, given the apparent security and intelligence failures that preceded the riot, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss legal deliberations.

Federal officials estimate that roughly 800 people surged into the building, though they caution that such numbers are imprecise, and the real figure could be 100 people or more in either direction.

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