DOJ: No evidence of 'kill capture teams' at riot
The top federal prosecutor in Washington, D.C. said on Friday there is no "direct evidence" to suggest that rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol had formed "kill capture teams."
The comments by Acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin appeared to be an effort to walk back claims that federal prosecutors in Arizona had made in a court filing late on Thursday, in which they claimed there was evidence that rioters intended to quote "capture and assassinate elected officials."
Sherwin said that his office is leading the prosecution effort, but as local offices help to run down suspects in their districts, there may have been a "disconnect" on the evidence obtained so far in the cases.
Late on Thursday, federal prosecutors had made sweeping claims about the ongoing investigation in a filing as they asked a judge to detain Jacob Chansley, an Arizona man and QAnon conspiracy theorist, who was famously photographed at the riot wearing horns.
The detention memo went into greater detail about the FBI's investigation into Chansley, revealing that he left a note for Vice President Mike Pence at his desk in the Senate Chamber warning quote/ "it's only a matter of time, justice is coming."
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona told Reuters the office plans to file an amended memo on Friday.
Sherwin said his office has brought 98 criminal prosecutions to date and has opened investigations into more than 275 people in connection with the Capitol riots, in which Trump’s supporters stormed the building, ransacked offices and in some cases, attacked police.
Steven D'Antuono, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office, urged suspects to turn themselves in freely, saying "To those of you who took part in the violence, here's something you should know: Every FBI field office in the country is looking for you. As a matter of fact, even your friends and family are tipping us off."
