FBI launches new front in arresting Capitol insurrectionists: report

According to a report from the Washington Post, federal investigators are beginning the round-up of insurrectionists who assaulted members of the press covering the Capitol riot on Jan 6th.

To date, most arrests have been focused on extremists who invaded the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. Now the arrests are expanding to attendees who attacked the press.

"Nearly six months after the U.S. Capitol riot, the Justice Department has begun arresting a new category of alleged criminals — those who attacked reporters or damaged their equipment as journalists documented the violence perpetrated by supporters of President Donald Trump," reports the Post's Devlin Barrett. "The first such charge came last week, when 43-year-old Shane Jason Woods of Illinois was charged with engaging in violence on the Capitol grounds Jan. 6, as well as assaulting a law enforcement officer. Authorities say Woods was caught on video knocking down a cameraman."

One man, Joshua Dillon Haynes, has been charged with smashing journalist's equipment outside the Capitol on the 6th and then boasting about it in text messages to friends.

"We attacked the CNN reporters and the fake news and destroyed tens of thousands of dollars of their video and television equipment here's a picture behind me of the pile we made out of it," Haynes reportedly texted. His arrest makes five so far taken into custody on charges related to media attacks in just over a week.

"Court papers filed in the 'attacks on media' cases suggest that charging someone with assaulting a journalist or vandalizing their equipment is a bit more complex than other rioting charges," Barrett wrote. "There is no federal law specifically against attacking a journalist, so the Justice Department has charged those who went after reporters or their gear on Jan. 6 with committing violence in the restricted grounds of the Capitol, or destroying property on the Capitol grounds. More such arrests are expected, according to officials."

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