FBI opens more than 160 cases over riots, tightens inauguration security
Seditious conspiracy charges sought against rioters; military chiefs condemn ‘assault on constitutional process’ in rare message.
The FBI has opened more than 160 case files in connection with last week’s deadly pro-Trump riot at the US Capitol, officials have said, announcing that prosecutors are looking at bringing potential seditious conspiracy charges against members of the mob.
Officials from the FBI and Justice Department are giving politicians their first formal briefings on the riot at the Capitol. Notably absent are their bosses — Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and FBI Director Christopher Wray — who have kept a very low public profile for almost a week.
It came as the top uniformed officers of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, National Guard and Space Force said in a message to the entire US military that last week’s Capitol attack was “a direct assault on the US Congress, the Capitol building, and our constitutional process.”
Pretty remarkable that US military leaders felt it was necessary to send this message https://t.co/nRd5kRKlFX
— Tim Soutphommasane (@timsout) January 12, 2021
The unusual message from the Joint Chiefs of Staff represented the first unified military statement about last Wednesday’s assault.
“As service members, we must embody the values and ideals of the nation,” the top military officials wrote. “We support and defend the Constitution. Any act to disrupt the constitutional process is not only against our traditions, values and oath; it is against the law.”
Among those who signed the statement, addressed to all members of the US military, was Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The top officers also explicitly recognised Mr. Biden’s election, saying: “On January 20, 2021, in accordance with the Constitution, confirmed by the states and courts, and certified by Congress, President-elect Biden will be inaugurated and will become our 46th commander-in-chief.”
The acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, Michael Sherwin, and the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Washington office, Steven D’Antuono, who are running the sprawling probe, will speak by phone with politicians, people familiar with the matter said. The briefing comes as Washington grapples with ongoing security concerns and threats of future violence, and as agents fan out across the country to tackle an investigation with thousands of suspects and crimes ranging from murder to stealing national-security information.
It is also taking place as law enforcement agencies scrutinise their response to and planning for the demonstrations, including information that had been shared ahead of the protests by an FBI office in Virginia, warning of the possibility that extremists were travelling to Washington beginning on Jan. 6 to commit violence, people familiar with the document said.
FBI agents have been scouring social media and pursuing some 70,000 tips the agency has received in the days since the riot, with federal prosecutors in Washington already pursuing more than two dozen arrest warrants for members of the mob on charges of gun crimes, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, assaulting an officer and other offences. More charges against individuals allegedly involved in the violence are expected to be unveiled this week.
Law-enforcement officials have also been planning for the possibility of more armed protests at every state capitol and in Washington in the days leading up to Joe Biden’s inauguration, with US officials ordering thousands of extra National Guard troops to Washington, DC, and halting public tours of the Washington Monument.
I never thought I’d see this.
— Leigh Ann Caldwell (@LACaldwellDC) January 12, 2021
Metal detectors have been set up for members before they enter the House floor.
A clear indication that Democratic leadership does not trust some right-wing House members pic.twitter.com/smslr1lWP4
Mr. Wray on Monday night spoke to the top Democrat and Republican in the House and Senate, an official said, to provide an update on the status of the investigation. Tuesday’s more extensive briefing comes after the Democratic leaders of five House committees wrote to Mr. Wray on Thursday seeking urgent information on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s plans to investigate and prosecute those involved in the riot as well as how it tracks domestic terrorists and aims to disrupt any future plots.
Sens. Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, the Democratic and Republican leaders of the Senate Intelligence Committee, were also scheduled to receive their first formal briefing Tuesday from FBI officials about the Capitol riot and preparations to protect the inauguration. The Senate Intelligence Committee has also asked the FBI to share all records related to the bureau’s intelligence ahead of the attack, the person said.
Top US Capitol Police officials, who are primarily responsible for securing the building, have also maintained a minimal public presence.
Messrs. Rosen and Wray are known for their low-key personalities and have stayed out of the spotlight throughout most of their tenures. But some current and former Justice Department officials say their lack of visibility after the attack in which a police officer and a rioter were killed and three others died of medical emergencies is striking and that a public appearance would reassure observers of the investigation’s priority.
“If you’re talking about filling in gaps, providing information, soothing a troubled nation, that should come from leaders,” said Chuck Rosenberg, a former top Justice Department official in both Republican and Democratic administrations. “The attorney general has an obligation to speak to the nation if no one else is.”
Instead, Messrs. Rosen and Wray have issued written statements condemning the violence and promising to pursue those responsible, but have remained out of public view as federal law-enforcement agencies begin internally scrutinising their own actions and how, at all levels, they miscalculated the threat of violence from what they estimated would be a largely peaceful political rally.
Accounts from inside the Capitol and elsewhere describe a disjointed response in which senior aides to congressional leadership frantically called current and former Justice Department officials seeking immediate help as the rioters stormed the building and barged into some politicians’ offices.
One senior aide to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell turned to former Attorney General William Barr’s chief of staff, Will Levi, who left the Justice Department in early December, seeking reinforcements for the badly outnumbered Capitol Police force. Mr. Levi responded swiftly, first connecting the aide with department officials and then calling Mr. Bowdich for an urgent response, according to people familiar with the conversation.
Mr. Bowdich, inside a command post at the FBI’s Washington Field Office, decided he couldn’t wait for a formal invitation from Capitol Police to send backup and mobilised bureau tactical teams, said the people familiar with the call, which the Washington Post reported earlier.
Mr. Wray left much of the operational planning to his No. 2 official, which people familiar with both men said wasn’t necessarily unusual given both their personalities and the nature of their roles.
Mr. Bowdich is a longtime FBI official well-versed in handling terrorist attacks and other high-profile cases, while Mr. Wray has spent more time as a corporate lawyer than a Justice Department official in a post-9/11 world. He is no fan of speaking engagements, people close to him said, and has kept a low profile even amid bureau controversies.
A senior FBI official said that Mr. Wray, despite a limited public presence, was routinely briefed about the bureau’s plans ahead of the protest and made at least two lengthy visits to the command centre at headquarters to monitor the unfolding situation. He was regularly in touch with Mr. Bowdich and others, the official said.
Mr. Rosen, too, is a longtime civil litigator, and has leaned heavily on his acting deputy, Richard Donoghue, for advice on criminal matters, people familiar with the department’s upper ranks said. His relative silence in the aftermath of the attack stands in contrast to the approach of the attorney general he succeeded, William Barr, who held an hour-long news conference as some protests this summer in the wake of the death of George Floyd turned violent.
Leadership has been in transition across Washington as Trump administration officials have departed ahead of Mr. Biden’s inauguration, including Mr. Barr who left late last month. The transitions complicated the response to the riot.
Both Mr. Wray and Mr. Rosen have at times over the past year been concerned about making public statements that could put Mr. Wray in the crosshairs of Mr. Trump, people familiar with the matter said. The president has publicly and privately threatened to fire his FBI director over the course of the past year.
Mr. Rosen assumed his post less than three weeks ago, as the department faced pressure from Mr. Trump to take action in the waning days of his administration on legal controversies of intense interest to him.
Since taking on the role, Mr. Rosen hasn’t made any moves to support Mr. Trump’s allegations of election fraud. Late last month, the Justice Department also worked with Vice President Mike Pence to reject a Republican congressman’s longshot bid to give Mr. Pence the power to overturn Mr. Biden’s victory.
The Wall St Journal
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