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☆ The feds say they're in for the long haul on Jan. 6 investigation
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +16 min

But the federal investigation has been strained, spread thin and strapped for resources as a sometimes less-than-agile federal bureaucracy adapts to the overwhelming scope of the caseload. While the FBI arrested more than 700 defendants in the first year of the investigation, it arrested about 200 in the second. Online sleuths have done their best to bust those myths, too. “That was it.”The Sedition Hunters website features images of people online sleuths say took part in the Jan. 6 attack, including many (in blue) who have been identified. Some charging documents in Jan. 6 cases make the role that online sleuths played clear.

☆ Feds boost reward to $500K for information on Capitol pipe bomber
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have increased the reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who left two pipe bombs near the Capitol the day before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot by fivefold, to $500,000, the FBI said Wednesday. The two pipe bombs found in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington. The individual wore black and light grey Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes with a yellow logo. “We remain grateful to the American people, who have provided invaluable tips that have helped us advance the investigation,” Sundberg added. The unknown individual wore a face mask, glasses, gloves and a grey hooded sweatshirt and Nike Air Max Speed Turf shoes.

☆ Jan. 6 transcripts detail numerous warning signs of potential for violence before Capitol attack
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +7 min

WASHINGTON — Transcripts of interviews with law enforcement officials released this week by the Jan. 6 committee reveal the panel learned that numerous security concerns had been raised in the days leading up to the attack on the Capitol. For the most part, Jan. 6 committee leaders decided against focusing the final report on how law enforcement came to be so underprepared for the attack. The Jan. 6 committee transcripts detailed the challenges facing the FBI in the lead-up to Jan. 6. An FBI intelligence analyst raised concerns about that on New Year's Eve, as threats about Jan. 6 continued to increase. “He said it was intelligence failure," Harvin said.

☆ Pro-Trump protester Ray Epps told Jan. 6 committee 'crazy' conspiracy theories tore apart his life
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-29 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Ray Epps told the Jan. 6 committee that the theory that he was working for the FBI never made much sense, given that Epps’ image landed on an FBI poster in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Epps told the committee that he was under the impression that the building, which was closed to the general public because of COVID restrictions, would be open. Another rioter, one of the first to breach the barricades, also told authorities that Epps told him to “relax“ and that police were just doing their job. It got really, really bad," he said. So it got really, really difficult after that.

☆ Judge says Trump may have been urging supporters to 'do something more' than protest on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON — A federal judge indicated Wednesday that then-President Donald Trump's remarks on Jan. 6 telling a crowd to "fight like hell" before the Capitol attack could have signaled to his supporters that he wanted them "to do something more" than just protest. In a court order for the case against Jan. 6 defendant Alexander Sheppard, U.S. District Court Judge John Bates ruled that Sheppard could not raise the "public authority" defense at trial after his lawyer argued Trump had authorized his client's actions at the Capitol that day. "These words only encourage those at the rally to march to the Capitol — nothing more — and do not address legality at all. He went on to say there was "simply no indication" that Trump informed the crowd that going into the Capitol would be legal. Several other defendants have tried to raise the public authority defense, including Danny Rodriquez, the MAGA-hatted Jan. 6 rioter who drove a stun gun into the neck of now-former Metropolitan Police Department officer Michael Fanone.

☆ Jan. 6 response would have been 'vastly different' if rioters were Black, House sergeant at arms told investigators
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — The House sergeant at arms, who was head of the D.C. National Guard during the attack on the U.S. Capitol, told the Jan. 6 committee that the law enforcement response would have looked much different had the rioters been Black Americans. I think it would have been a vastly different response if those were African Americans trying to breach the Capitol,” William J. Walker told congressional investigators, in an interview transcript released Tuesday. Walker indicated he thought that more rioters would have died at the hands of law enforcement on Jan. 6 had the makeup of the crowd not been overwhelmingly white. “You know, as a law enforcement officer, there were — I saw enough to where I would have probably been using deadly force,” Walker said. Walker told investigators that it was clear to him beforehand that Jan. 6 was going to be a "big deal" just from being aware of what was happening in the world.

☆ Intel community escapes major criticism by Jan. 6 committee for missing 'foreseeable' Capitol violence
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dilanianmug.Jpg | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

The appendix also states what is widely known: A lot of information was publicly available that suggested Jan. 6 would be violent, and law enforcement wasn’t prepared for the violence it faced. “Federal and local law enforcement authorities were in possession of multiple streams of intelligence predicting violence directed at the Capitol prior to January 6th,” the appendix said. Instead, as NBC News first reported, staffers on various teams, including the "blue" team looking at law enforcement failures, were informed that chapters they prepared would be curtailed. The final report centers on former President Donald Trump and what the committee believes is his criminal culpability for the Jan. 6 attack. The report revealed that the FBI was collecting alarming reports from around the country but didn’t start looking at them closely until Jan. 5.

☆ Jan. 6 participant arrested after hourslong standoff with the FBI
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Andrew Blankstein | Ryan J. Reilly | Andrew Blankstein Is An Investigative Reporter For Nbc News. He Covers The Western U.S. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

A man who carried what appeared to be a hammer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, got into a standoff Thursday with the FBI for hours before special agents arrested him for his role in the riot, law enforcement officials said. The FBI arrested Eric Christie on Thursday after several hours in which he refused to cooperate with authorities after they arrived at a home in Sherman Oaks, California. Two law enforcement officials confirmed his arrest. The law enforcement activity took place at an address associated with an Eric Christie. Another Jan. 6 defendant, Edward Kelley of Tennessee, was arrested last week and accused of plotting to kill FBI special agents who worked on his case.

☆ Informant warned FBI weeks before Jan. 6 that the far-right saw Trump tweet as 'a call to arms'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The email, which has not been previously reported, warned that the Trump tweet was “gaining hold” on social media. The confidential human source has provided information that the FBI has used in Jan. 6 cases before. The FBI confidential source said that they had “put together hundreds of pages of reports over the two weeks proceeding Jan. 6” for the bureau leading up to the attack. Months after the attack, FBI Director Chris Wray created the position of intelligence analyst in charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, giving an intelligence analyst a leadership title typically reserved for FBI special agents. They said they were in regular communication with the bureau in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.

WASHINGTON — The $1.7 trillion government funding bill released Tuesday includes extra money for the Justice Department to prosecute Jan. 6 cases. One source involved in the Jan. 6 criminal investigation said Tuesday they were “sincerely grateful” for the boost in funding under the omnibus bill. Proponents of fulfilling DOJ's request have long seen this funding bill as their last opportunity to secure the money, fearing that a Republican-controlled House would block the request early in the new year. Last week, the FBI re-arrested Jan. 6 defendant Edward Kelley for allegedly plotting to kill FBI special agents involved in his investigation. “The Senate should pass this bill,” he said.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee found that law enforcement agencies gathered “substantial evidence” of potential violence at the Capitol as Congress met to formalize Joe Biden's election as president, a member of the panel said at its final meeting Monday. But the executive summary of the committee's final report doesn’t address questions of why the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies didn’t do more to increase security that day. The executive summary, released Monday, avoids criticizing or reaching conclusions about law enforcement and intelligence shortfalls in the lead-up to the attack, which many law enforcement experts have called the biggest intelligence failure since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A representative for the committee didn’t respond to a request for comment about the decision not to include more information about the role law enforcement played ahead of the Capitol attack. The committee's executive summary discusses information that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies received in the days before Jan. 6, saying some of the intelligence was shared with partners like the Capitol Police.

☆ Jury to begin deliberating in Oath Keepers' Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes III is facing trial alongside four other defendants: Jessica Watkins, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell. Watkins, Meggs and Harrelson went inside the Capitol during the attack, while Rhodes and Caldwell were present on restricted Capitol grounds on Jan. 6. Federal prosecutors have not proven that the Oath Keepers had an organized plan to storm the Capitol before Jan. 6. Three defendants — Rhodes, Caldwell and Watkins — took the stand in their own defense during the trial, which began with opening arguments on Oct. 3. In 1995, a jury convicted "Blind Sheikh" Omar Abdel-Rahman and others on seditious conspiracy charges in connection with the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

“For these defendants, the attack on the Capitol was a means to an end,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathryn Rakoczy told jurors. Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP fileBright told jurors there was not evidence of a "meeting of the minds" on seditious conspiracy. “We’ve had 50 witnesses in this case, not one person has testified to you there was a plan,” Bright said. Oath Keepers were upset about the results of the 2020 election, but them venting their frustrations to each other doesn’t constitute a conspiracy, Bright argued. Rhodes told you in his own words he was prepared to start a rebellion the day that president Biden took office,” Rakoczy said, referring back to Rhodes’ testimony in his own defense.

Garland's decision to appoint a special counsel was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. Given that Garland was appointed by President Joe Biden, naming a special counsel would give Garland more distance from the investigation into Trump, who could be Biden’s rival if the president decides to run for re-election. Trump was previously under investigation by former special counsel Robert Mueller, who issued his report in 2019 focusing on Russian interference in the 2020 election and Trump’s efforts to interfere with the Justice Department investigation. Garland said he was confident in the DOJ's ability to investigate Trump, but, "I also believe that appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do. Garland added that he will ensure Smith “receives the resources to conduct this work quickly and completely.”

☆ Capitol rioter who said he wanted Trump's 'approval' gets three years in Jan. 6 case
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Dustin Thompson, a college-educated Ohio man who testified that he believed Trump's lies about the 2020 election, was convicted on six charges in April after he told jurors he was seeking Trump's "respect" and "approval" on Jan. 6. His prior attorney argued that Trump "authorized" the attack on the Capitol, and took advantage of "vulnerable" people like his client. Dustin Thompson at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Department of Justice"You didn't love America that day," Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton told Thompson while sentencing him on Friday. Walton said he didn't understand how "people can be gullible enough to accept a lie and act on that lie."

☆ Newly released video shows Capitol rioters raiding Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — A video filmed by a man charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack shows rioters inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office during the insurrection. It was released to the media following a request by NBC News. In the video, rioters can be heard chanting, “Naaaancy, Naaaancy, Naaaancy" as they enter the speaker's suite, where staffers were huddled in a conference room, barricading themselves from the mob. The laptop was already gone by the time Lyons entered the conference room, the video shows. About 900 defendants have been charged in connection with the Capitol attack and more than 440 have pleaded guilty to various charges.

☆ Far-right extremist guided 'army' of rioters to Pelosi's office on Jan. 6 , prosecutors tell jury
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — A far-right extremist charged with aiding and abetting the theft of a laptop from Nancy Pelosi's office during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, "led an army" towards the House Speaker's suite, prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments on Wednesday. Video features her encouraging rioters to take a laptop inside Pelosi's office, and urging the mob to push up against officers inside the Capitol rotunda. Williams, both prosecutors and the defense agreed, was obsessed with Nick Fuentes and his group the "Groypers," a far-right, white nationalist movement. To prosecutors, Williams was a leader who directed the mob. Williams was "surprised to be where she was" in Pelosi's office, Ulrich said.

☆ Jan. 6 committee staffers told preliminary plan for final report would focus largely on Trump, not on law enforcement failures, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Dilanianmug.Jpg | Ken Dilanian | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +8 min

The final report — much like the committee’s hearings — seems to be shaping up to be “all-Trump,” one source said. The “blue team” examined the preparedness and response of law enforcement agencies. Some staffers remain hopeful that members of the Jan. 6 committee might push back on the current plan and incorporate their research into the final report. The committee needs to release its final report before a new Congress is seated in January. Congress has oversight over and controls the funding of federal law enforcement agencies.

During hours of testimony, Rhodes told jurors that going into the Capitol was "stupid" because it "opened the door for our political enemies to persecute us, and that’s what happened, and here we are." Meggs, Harrelson and Watkins went inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Rhodes said that he was "concerned" on Jan. 6 that Oath Keepers would get caught up "in all the nonsense with the Trump supporters" around the Capitol and that he sent a message on the encrypted app Signal asking Oath Keepers to gather at a spot near the Capitol for that reason. Yet as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol, Rhodes praised the "patriots" and compared their actions to those of the country's founders, according to government evidence presented at trial. Rhodes said that he and the Oath Keepers were prepared to walk the “founders' path” but that even today he hopes conflict can be avoided.

☆ Stewart Rhodes testifies in Oath Keepers Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers organization is testifying in his own defense at his seditious conspiracy trial on Friday. Stewart Rhodes is on trial along with Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell in connection with their actions surrounding the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The government rested its case on Thursday without calling cooperating witnesses who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Rhodes, talking about Jan. 6, said in the recording that his "only regret" was that they did not have guns that day. A government exhibit showing individuals associated with the Oath Keepers.

☆ Jan. 6 rioter invokes Epstein after getting a five-month sentence for smashing in a Capitol window
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter who smashed in a window at the U.S. Capitol invoked Jeffrey Epstein moments after he was sentenced to five months in federal prison Thursday. Faulkner told the court he supported former President Donald Trump because he believed Trump was "combatting human trafficking," a seeming reference to the QAnon conspiracy theory. Troy Faulkner wears a "Faulkner Painting" jacket while smashing a window at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. While leaving the courthouse after his sentencing, Faulkner walked about to news cameras outside and made a comment to the media about Epstein. Faulkner, his attorney said during his sentencing hearing, was "at a better place" than he was when he smashed in a Capitol window.

☆ DOJ rests in Oath Keepers trial without calling witnesses who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors rested their case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the far-right organization on Wednesday without calling three cooperating defendants who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. But the government did not call for three members of the group who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy — Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson — before resting their case. Stewart Rhodes, founder of the Oath Keepers, speaks during a rally outside the White House in Washington on Jun. Susan Walsh / AP fileProsecutors may have decided that presenting any of the three defendants who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy would be too much of a risk on cross examination. Prosecutors also can't explicitly argue that because a witness pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy that the defendants are guilty of the same charge, which limits the value of their testimony.

☆ Stewart Rhodes wrote message to Trump after Jan. 6 calling on him to 'save the Republic,' arrest members of Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Ryan J. Reilly | Daniel Barnes | Ryan J. Reilly Is A Justice Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

Alpers testified that he was not working on behalf of a federal law enforcement agency when he made the recording. Alpers testified on the stand that he had connections to Trump's inner circle and said he could get a message to Trump "indirectly." When he met with Rhodes on Jan. 10, he had Rhodes type a message intended for Trump on his phone. Oath Keepers members Joshua James, Brian Ulrich and William Todd Wilson all pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy. Several other Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty to other charges, including two Oath Keepers — Jason Dolan and Graydon Young — who testified in the trial.

“I felt it was like a Bastille-type moment in history," Graydon Young told jurors in the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other members of the organization. “Unfortunately, I was spending way too much time on YouTube and Facebook,” Young testified. "I thought protests were a waste of time, and they don’t achieve anything,” Young testified. On Jan. 6, Young testified, he was with his sister Laura Steele, who has also been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack but has pleaded not guilty. He later joined a group that rushed to the Capitol after hearing it was breached, Young said in court.

WASHINGTON — Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn testified during the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial on Monday that members of the far-right organization did not assist him during the Jan. 6 attack. Dunn, armed with a rifle, stood near House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office on Jan. 6 and interacted with members of the Oath Keepers. Video played by prosecutors captured some of his interactions with the Oath Keepers in the Capitol. Harry Dunn, third right, surrounded by Oath Keepers in a photo presented as evidence in the Oath Keepers trial. "I looked at my colleague and said, 'Oath Keepers?

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