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More than 150 people have been charged with federal crimes so far over the January 6 rampage at the US Capitol by supporters of then president Donald Trump, the Justice Department said Tuesday.
Investigators have opened probes into more than 400 people who participated in the violent attack on the US legislature, said Michael Sherwin, the acting federal prosecutor for Washington.
<p>Making use of copious video footage and social media records of the attack, as well as a huge amount of tips from the public, the Justice Department expects the number of cases to keep rising.</p><p>"As we sit here right now, that list is growing," said Sherwin.</p><p>Although many of the initial charges announced were for minor crimes of illegally entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct, Sherwin said prosecutors have now added "significant" felony charges for most of the 150 suspects.</p><p>Those include assaulting police officers and disrupting a federal proceeding -- the hundreds of attackers temporarily prevented lawmakers from certifying the election victory of President Joe Biden. </p><p>Such charges carry penalties ranging from five to 20 years in prison.</p><p>And federal authorities are also investigating a number of participants for possible conspiracy and sedition charges, which can bring up to 20 years in prison.</p><p>So far, three people have been charged on that basis, he said.</p><p>That case is significant, Sherwin said, because "it shows militia groups actively involved in planning and breaching the Capitol."</p><p>Steven D'Antuono, the FBI agent in charge of the investigation, said they are still searching for the person or persons who planted two pipe bombs -- that did not explode -- near the Capitol that day.</p><p>The FBI has offered a $75,000 reward in that case.</p><p>D'Antuono said the January 6 assault on the US legislature is among the largest cases the agency has handled, and has brought in more than 200,000 tips from the public. </p><p>"This case is challenging, complex, and it is big," he said.</p><p>The officials spoke as the US Senate prepared to put Trump, who stepped down as president on January 20, on trial for incitement of insurrection for allegedly encouraging the attack.</p>
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'You stole a Supreme Court seat': Critics slam McConnell threat to sabotage Democratic senate
January 27, 2021
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threatened Tuesday to grind the workings of the notoriously sluggish upper chamber to a complete halt if the Democratic majority attempts to scrap the legislative filibuster, a warning that was met with immediate derision given the Kentucky Republican's elimination of the 60-vote rule for Supreme Court nominees less than four years ago.
In a speech on the Senate floor just hours after he dropped his demand that Democrats commit to leaving the legislative filibuster intact as part of a must-pass organizing resolution, McConnell cautioned that "destroying the filibuster would drain comity and consent from this body to a degree that would be unparalleled in living memory.""Taking that plunge would not be some progressive dream. It would be a nightmare. I guarantee it," added McConnell, who said Republicans could obstruct Senate business by denying a quorum, the number of senators required to be present for the chamber to operate.
<p>As <em>Daily Kos</em> political director David Nir <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidNir/status/1354095465382473732" target="_blank">pointed out</a>, "if Republican senators refuse to show up for a quorum call, Democrats can direct the Senate's sergeant at arms to arrest them and compel their attendance."</p><p>"That's how radical a threat withholding quorum is—you can be arrested for doing so," Nir noted.</p><p>The minority leader echoed the message of his floor speech in a <a href="https://twitter.com/LeaderMcConnell/status/1354204878114086916" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweet</a> Tuesday evening, declaring that nuking the filibuster "would drain the consent and comity out of the institution" and leave the Senate unable to function.</p><p>Democratic lawmakers and commentators responded by pointing to McConnell's refusal to allow a vote on former President Barack Obama's Supreme Court nominee and subsequent elimination of the judicial filibuster to confirm right-wing Justice Neil Gorsuch in April of 2017—and clear the way for later confirmation of two additional Trump high court nominees.</p><p>"You lost all credibility when you stole a Supreme Court seat," <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1354238360437596168" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a> Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). "The filibuster is a Jim Crow relic. It represents everything wrong with Washington. Abolish it."</p><p>"By the way," the Minnesota Democrat added, "Senate Democrats represent 41.5 million more Americans than Mitch and his caucus. Blocking needed relief for Americans has nothing to do with 'consent and comity' and everything to do with destroying democracy."</p><p>Ari Berman of <em>Mother Jones</em> <a href="https://twitter.com/AriBerman/status/1354106698089308161" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> it is "truly maddening to hear Mitch McConnell warn of 'nightmare' if Dems abolish filibuster when he already killed it to put three Trump justices on the Supreme Court and confirmed Amy Coney Barrett eight days before an election."</p> <iframe src="https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=commondreams&creatorUserId=14296273&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=true&hideThread=true&id=1354231352107954176&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2F2021%2F01%2F27%2Fyou-stole-supreme-court-seat-critics-pan-mcconnell-threat-sabotage-democratic-senate&siteScreenName=commondreams&siteUserId=14296273&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px" style="position: static; visibility: visible; width: 550px; height: 320px; flex-grow: 1;" title="Twitter Tweet"></iframe> <p>McConnell's threat to gum up the works of the Senate even more than he already has came as the chamber's new Democratic majority began taking steps to advance President Joe Biden's <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2021/01/14/bidens-19-trillion-relief-plan-400-unemployment-boost-1400-checks-and-billions" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">proposed coronavirus relief package</a> through the special budget reconciliation process, a move made necessary by vocal Republican opposition to the new aid measure.</p><p>The <em>Washington Post</em> <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/01/26/mcconnell-scorched-earth-fillibuster/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reported</a> late Tuesday that "Democratic leaders in both chambers are tentatively planning to introduce a budget resolution on Monday that could come to a vote later in the week."</p><p>"The resolution would instruct committees to write legislation codifying Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic relief plan," the <em>Post</em> reported. "Under special rules governing the budget resolution, the resolution could pass the Senate with a simple majority vote, and the subsequent Covid-19 relief bill could also pass with a simple majority—even without eliminating the filibuster."</p><p>While a coronavirus relief package could clear the Senate with the filibuster intact, former Senate staffer Adam Jentleson said in an <a href="https://the.ink/p/how-to-save-the-senate" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">interview</a> with <em>The.Ink</em> Tuesday that Democrats "will never be able to use reconciliation to pass things like civil rights, democracy reforms, statehood, gun control, or many climate change solutions" due to rules restricting the kind of legislation that can be passed through the expedited budget process—meaning the urgency of abolishing the archaic 60-vote rule remains.</p><p>"Pulling our punches now will mean that we fail to reform our democracy and get climate change under control, for starters," Jentleson said. "Then, when McConnell is back in power, he will chuckle and nuke the filibuster himself the first time it serves his interests."</p><p>In a <a href="https://twitter.com/AJentleson/status/1354143181542187008" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">series of tweets</a> Tuesday, Jentleson argued that the minority leader's threat to defend the filibuster by plunging the Senate into chaos "is the worst he can come up with and it's vastly preferable to letting McConnell block Biden's agenda."</p><p>"Unintentionally," Jentleson added, "McConnell is revealing how his power relies heavily on the filibuster."</p>
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