LAST UPDATE | 7 Jan 2021
THE TOP PROSECUTOR for the District of Columbia has said “all options are on the table” for charging members of the pro-Trump mob that stormed the US Capitol — including sedition.
Michael Sherwin, acting US attorney for Washington DC, said prosecutors plan to file 15 federal cases today for crimes including unauthorised access and theft of property, and investigators are combing through reams of evidence to bring additional charges.
“All of those charges are on the table. We will bring the most maximum charges we can,” he said.
More than 90 people have been arrested by police in Washington and more arrests are likely.
US attorneys from across the country have vowed to find and bring to justice any residents who participated in the insurrection aimed at thwarting the peaceful transfer of power.
Experts say some could face the rarely used seditious conspiracy charge.
It is the same charge that former attorney general William Barr’s Justice Department told prosecutors to consider levying against those who caused violence at protests last summer over the killings of black Americans by police.
Then-deputy attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, who stepped into the top Justice Department job when Mr Barr resigned last month, told prosecutors in a memo in September that they should consider the use of seditious conspiracy charges against violent demonstrators, saying “it does not require proof of a plot to overthrow the US government despite what the name might suggest”.
‘Domestic terrorists’
US President-elect Joe Biden condemned Donald Trump’s behaviour and called those who stormed the US Capitol “domestic terrorists” during a press conference this afternoon.
He said yesterday’s events were an “assault on our liberty” and speaking about the demonstrators, he said:
“What we witnessed yesterday was not dissent. It was not disorder. It was not protest. It was chaos. They weren’t protesters. Don’t dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that simple.”
“Don’t dare call them protesters – they were a riotous mob, insurrectionists.”
“No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday there wouldn’t — they wouldn’t have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” he said.
Biden said he would not address questions regarding the invocation of the 25th Amendment against President Trump which House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling for.
Pelosi said that if that doesn’t happen then Congress may move to impeach Trump.
Members of the president’s own cabinet reportedly discussed the move last night, while several Democratic members of Congress also urged Pence to declare Trump unfit to continue leading the country.
Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution, a US president can declare they are unable to carry out their duties, or members of government can decide this for them.
If this happens, the vice president becomes president, even just temporarily (for example, if the president is sick or incapacitated for a short time).
“I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this President by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment,” Pelosi told the press.
“If the vice president and the Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment that is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus and the American people.”
“My members are very much interested. My phone is exploding with ‘impeach, impeach, impeach,’” she said, adding, “I don’t have immediate plans. We haven’t even been to sleep since the folly of the Republicans deciding we should go until four in the morning for no purpose whatsoever except to be enablers of the President’s sedition.”
In another blow to Trump, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said she is resigning, becoming the highest-ranking member of the administration to quit in protest after the insurrection at the Capitol.
Chao, who is married to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, said the violent attack on the Capitol “has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside”.
"While there are only 13 days left, any day could be a horror show for America" -- Pelosi pic.twitter.com/1jFtYneIIp
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 7, 2021
The chief of the US Capitol Police said the violent mob that stormed the building wielded metal pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons against law enforcement.
Steven Sund issued a statement saying the rioting protesters “actively attacked” police officers and “were determined to enter into the Capitol Building by causing great damage”.
A Capitol Police officer shot and killed one person, who Sund identified as Ashli Babbitt.
Sund did not identify the officer but said they would be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Washington police Chief Robert Contee said three other people had died yesterday in the area around the Capitol, but did not link those deaths to the violence. The deaths were described as medical emergencies.
Sund defended his agency’s response from criticism that officers did not stop the incursion.
He says his agency “had a robust plan” for what he anticipated would be peaceful protests, but what occurred Wednesday was “criminal riotous behaviour”.
He said more than 50 Capitol and Washington police officers were injured and several Capitol Police officers were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
Former attorney general William Barr said Trump’s conduct as a violent mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol was a “betrayal of his office and supporters”.
In a statement, Barr said that “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable”.
Barr was one of Trump’s most loyal and ardent defenders in the Cabinet.
Barr resigned last month amid lingering tension over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into Biden’s son.
The US special envoy for Northern Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, resigned from his role earlier today following yesterday’s riot. So far, several White House officials, including the deputy national security adviser, have resigned.
Facebook and Instagram have blocked Donald Trump’s accounts “indefinitely” following yesterday’s unrest.
Mark Zuckerberg said that the last 24 hours “clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden”.
Twitter has already blocked Trump’s accounts and removed two tweets due to what they described as “violating Twitter rules”.
With reporting from Adam Daly
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