It’s not easy being an FBI Agent lately, sorting through mountains of evidence and sifting through tens of thousands of tips; but our intrepid federal officers remain undaunted in bringing those responsible for attacking our democracy to justice.
The biggest case since 9/11
The Washington Post
FBI agents around the country are working to unravel the various motives, relationships, goals and actions of the hundreds of Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Some inside the bureau have described the Capitol riot investigation as their biggest case since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and a top priority of the agents’ work is to determine the extent to which that violence and chaos was preplanned and coordinated.
Investigators caution there is an important legal distinction between gathering like-minded people for a political rally — which is protected by the First Amendment — and organizing an armed assault on the seat of American government. The task now is to distinguish which people belong in each category, and who played key roles in committing or coordinating the violence.
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“Historically, within the right-wing extremist movements, leadership has produced rhetoric to spin up their members, increase radicalization and recruitment, and then stand back and let small cells or individual lone offenders follow through on that rhetoric with violent action,” said Thomas O’Connor, a former FBI agent who spent decades investigating domestic terrorists. “Domestic terrorism actually developed the leaderless resistance concept, taking the potential blame away from the leadership and putting it down into small groups or individuals, and I think that is what you’re starting to see here.”
Friday two members of the Proud Boys were charged with conspiracy among a slew of other charges...
The New York Times
In an indictment filed in federal court in Washington, prosecutors charged the two Proud Boys, Dominic Pezzola, of Rochester, N.Y., and William Pepe, of Beacon, N.Y., with 11 counts, including conspiracy, assaulting an officer and civil disorder. Both Mr. Pezzola, a former boxer and Marine, and Mr. Pepe, an employee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, were already facing lesser charges connected to the Capitol attack, which followed a Jan. 6 rally in support of President Donald J. Trump.
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The new Proud Boys indictment offers no evidence that members of the group worked in advance to plot the Capitol assault and describes only vague links between its two defendants, Mr. Pezzola and Mr. Pepe. Still, the indictment notes that the men worked with other individuals — both “known and unknown” — leaving open the possibility that further charges could be filed.
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Court papers released on Friday morning said that he was in the first wave of rioters to enter the building, shattering a window with a plastic police shield. After climbing through the window, prosecutors said, Mr. Pezzola joined a mob that confronted a Capitol Police officer, Eugene Goodman, in a stairwell near the Senate floor. According to court papers, someone in the mob called out, “Where they meeting at? Where they counting the votes?”
Reuters
U.S. law enforcement agents found bomb-making instructions inside the home of a member of the Proud Boys right-wing extremist group who was charged with participating in the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol, prosecutors said on Friday.
Dominic Pezzola, 43, had “weapons- and bomb-making manuals” on a thumb drive device found within his home near Rochester, New York, prosecutors said in a court filing arguing that he should be jailed pending trial.
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Pezzola, known as “Spaz” to associates, poses a “serious danger to the community and a serious risk of flight,” the prosecution brief stated. Pezzola was arrested in New York.
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Once inside the Capitol, Pezzola chased a police officer up the stairs near the entrance to the Senate chamber, and smoked a cigar while bragging on video about the attack, prosecutors said.
npr
The Associated Press previously reported that Pezzola is a former Marine. He spent six years in the infantry before being discharged as a corporal in 2005. According to a criminal complaint affidavit, one witness said Pezzola bragged that he broke the windows of the Capitol with a police shield and then entered the building. The witness also told authorities Pezzola admitted that he would have killed Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence, if given the chance.
13WHAM
It is alleged that Pezzola possessed tactical vests branded with the Proud Boys logo, and had attended various Proud Boys gatherings and protests, according to the the Department of Justice.
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Pezzola is said to have removed temporary metal barricades erected by the Capitol Police for the purpose of controlling access to the Capitol Grounds, and stealing property belonging to Capitol Police.
It is further alleged that Pezzola confronted a Capitol Police officer attempting to control the crowd and ripped away the officer’s riot shield, while the officer was physically engaging with individuals who had gathered unlawfully in the west plaza of the Capitol.
Last Tuesday three Oath Keepers were likewise charged with conspiracy, etc...
npr
Individuals tied to what the Justice Department calls a paramilitary group were indicted Wednesday on federal charges related to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. They face up to 20 years in prison.
Jessica Marie Watkins, 38, and Donovan Ray Crowl, 50, both from Champaign County, Ohio, and Thomas Caldwell, 65, of Clarke County, Va., were arrested about two weeks after the insurrection in Washington, D.C., a Justice Department news release said. They face a slew of charges: conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, destruction of government property and unlawful entry on restricted building or grounds.
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Watkins, Crowl and Caldwell are accused of communicating their plans long before the assault in Washington. The Justice Department said the three coordinated their attack on the Capitol. Additionally, they documented their participation in the attack on social media, investigators said. Watkins posted a video of herself inside the Capitol on Parler. "Yeah. We stormed the Capitol today. Teargassed, the whole, 9," she said. "Pushed our way into the Rotunda. Made it into the Senate even."
The Lima News
Two Ohioans who are part of a right-wing militia group began plans for military-style training in November in Ohio with an eye on the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, weeks before they participated in the Jan. 6 violent riot at the U.S. Capitol, according to new details contained in federal court records.
In text messages on Nov. 9, the week Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, Jessica Watkins invited others interested in joining her self-styled Ohio militia group to come to a week-long “Basic Training class coming up in the beginning of January,” telling one recruit, “I need you fighting fit by innaugeration [sic],” according to an indictment filed in federal court late Wednesday.
“It’s a military style basic, here in Ohio, with a Marine Drill sergeant running it. An hour north of columbus ohio,” Watkins wrote in a text message, according to the indictment, which offers no additional details about the training camp, including its specific location.
If you have information that might assist federal authorities you can submit a tip to the FBI at fbi.gov/tips.