US DOJ could send out 1,000 indictments over Jan. 6 Capitol riot

In a letter sent to Chief Judge Beryl Howell on October 28, the DOJ advised the court to prepare for another 700 to 1,200 defendants

US DOJ could send out 1,000 indictments over Jan. 6 Capitol riot
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File
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The Department of Justice has alerted the District Court for the District of Columbia that it may indict over 1,000 additional individuals in connection with the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.

In a letter sent to Chief Judge Beryl Howell on October 28, the DOJ advised the court to prepare for another 700 to 1,200 defendants, according to Bloomberg, which reviewed the letter in a Wednesday report. At that time, the DOJ had already filed charges against around 900 people.

The number of DOJ arrests has since increased to roughly 1,000. The department's estimate of remaining cases is consistent with the official estimate of 2,000 to 2,500 individuals who entered the U.S. Capitol during the riot. The current volume of arrests and prosecutions has placed significant strain on the resources of the DOJ, the federal public defender's office, and the court system. DOJ officials have publicly reiterated their commitment to pursuing every potential case.

David Sundberg, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI Washington Field Office, stated in January that the FBI would continue to work with U.S. attorney's offices across the country to prosecute offenders.

“In the months and years to come, the FBI Washington Field Office will continue to partner with U.S. attorney’s offices across the country to bring to justice those who attempted to use violence to substitute their will over the will of the people,” he said in a January statement.

Federal crimes typically have a five-year statute of limitations.

Details of the October letter surfaced after Fox News host Tucker Carlson obtained and aired a portion of the 41,000 hours of footage from the Capitol on January 6.

Carlson challenged the portrayal of the events by the House January 6 Committee and the media, claiming that the majority of the crowd were peaceful sightseers, with only a small percentage being hooligans.

“The tapes show the Capitol Police never stopped Jacob Chansley. They helped him. They acted as his tour guides,” said Carlson.

Most of the footage provided to Carlson has been available to defense attorneys representing clients charged in relation to the January 6 events. The vast amount of video, however, may prove too overwhelming for defense teams to thoroughly review.

William Shipley, the attorney representing "QAnon Shaman" Jacob Chansley, questioned the expectation to watch 14,000 hours of video in a recent Twitter post.

In January, the FBI announced that it had compiled and reviewed over 30,000 files of video footage from various sources, amounting to nine terabytes of information.

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