Currently, US law enforcement officials have no direct evidence that the participants in the storming of the Capitol planned to seize or kill members of Congress.

This was stated by Acting DC Attorney Michael Sherwin during a telephone press conference.

“We do not have direct evidence of the presence of groups for murder or capture (lawmakers. -

RT

),” he said.

According to Sherwin, due to the complexity of the investigation and the large number of persons involved, there may have been a misunderstanding between some of the prosecutors.

Earlier, as reported by the American media, federal prosecutors argued that the participants in the riots in the Capitol intended to capture and kill Congressmen.

A similar accusation, according to press reports, was contained in a statement that prosecutors filed Thursday in a Phoenix court against Jacob Chensley, an Arizona man who took part in the riots, walking around the Congress building with a naked torso, a painted face and a horned fur hat on head.

"There is compelling evidence, including the words and actions of Chensley himself, that the intentions of those who stormed the Capitol included the seizure and murder of selected US government officials," said the prosecutor's appeal, which also called for the defendant to remain in custody.

He is quoted by ABC News.

However, at the hearings in the Chensley case in Phoenix, according to the newspaper, the prosecution refused such an interpretation of events.

Nevertheless, the judge decided to leave the accused behind bars anyway until the start of the trial.

At the same time, the arrests of participants in the riots in Congress continue.

The US Department of Justice regularly publishes relevant information.

  • US Department of Justice

  • Reuters

  • © Andrew Kelly / File

As the deputy head of the FBI regional office in Washington, Stephen D'Antuono, clarified, "the identity of more than 270 suspects involved in criminal activities on the territory of the Capitol and in its environs has already been established."

“With the support of our partners across the country, we have been able to take into custody over 100 people,” he said during a telephone press conference.

"If you compare this investigation to American football, we are still in the first quarter of the game."

Capitol capture

We will remind, on January 6, the day when Congress was to ratify the results of the presidential election, supporters of the current American leader Donald Trump held a rally in Washington against the approval of the victory of Democrat Joe Biden.

Prior to that, the head of the White House had repeatedly called on his people to come to this action, and already on January 6 he made a speech, once again calling the election results falsified.

Later, the rally escalated into a siege of the Capitol, which was the meeting of the Congress.

The protesters broke into the building and staged a pogrom there.

During the incident, five people were killed and more than 50 police officers were injured.

After that, members of the Democratic Party announced the need to impeach Trump.

Biden, in turn, said that the participants in the siege of the Capitol should be treated like "internal terrorists", accusing the 45th US president of deliberately encouraging unrest.

This week, the House of Representatives of the US Congress by a majority vote approved a resolution that will remove the incumbent head of the White House from power under the article "Incitement to mutiny." 

However, Republican Majority Leader in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, has already said that the upper house will not issue an impeachment verdict until Biden's inauguration.

It is worth noting that an emergency regime was introduced in Washington on January 11.

In order to prevent new unrest, National Guard units continue to be sent to the capital.

The Pentagon agreed to provide up to 25,000 troops to provide security measures during Biden's inauguration.

This was reported by the press service of the US National Guard on Twitter.

The @DeptofDefense has agreed to provide up to 25,000 service members to support the Presidential Inauguration National Special Security Event federal law enforcement mission and security preparations, as led by the @SecretService.

Full media release: https://t.co/WODp0mjt7hpic.twitter.com/gRydFahTgj

- NGB-PA Press Desk (@ NGBPA1636) January 15, 2021

"The roller of the American legal machine"

As the director of the Franklin Roosevelt Foundation for the Study of the United States at Moscow State University Yuri Rogulyov noted, the latest actions of the prosecutors of the United States indicate that they have no evidence of any preliminary conspiracy of the participants to storm the Capitol.

“This is very important for those who have already been charged.

After all, it is one thing if they acted by coincidence, and quite another if they were preparing for a siege and wanted to carry it out on purpose.

In American law, the latter situation is qualified as a criminal collective conspiracy, which has much more serious consequences from the point of view of criminal law than a spontaneous assault, "the expert explained in an interview with RT.

  • Siege of the Capitol, January 6

  • Reuters

  • © Mike Theiler / File

According to Rogulev, prosecutors now face a difficult choice.

“If they say that this is a pre-planned organized action, which the special services did not know about and could not prevent it, this can be regarded as a puncture in the intelligence community.

If we are talking about a spontaneous performance, then the FBI and other departments will not be able to bring charges of any shortcomings.

Therefore, now they are spinning like snakes in a frying pan and trying to wriggle out of a difficult situation, ”the analyst said.

In his opinion, in the near future, Americans will hear contradictory statements from prosecutors and other officials more than once.

At the same time, Rogulyov did not rule out that the Ministry of Justice, in the end, could still "identify some ringleaders or organizers of the siege of the Capitol."

Political analyst Alexander Asafov, in turn, noted that the actions of the American prosecutors "should not be regarded as a move backward or a rejection of previously brought charges."

“This was done to defuse tensions among Trump supporters, some of whom do not abandon their plans to restore justice before Biden's inauguration.

And law enforcement officers need the inauguration to be held quietly so that during it the street events of January 6 do not repeat.

After all, the Americans can arrange, for example, a rally in defense of people who are threatened with serious persecution after participating in the siege of the Capitol, ”the expert said in a conversation with RT.

Asafov added that after January 20, when power is in the hands of Biden, prosecutors will surely find "evidence" of the planned armed uprising.

“After all, the American legal system can accuse a person not only of expressed intentions, but even intentions that are established by some indirect evidence.

Therefore, given that various objects and belongings of the participants in the assault were found, which can be interpreted as weapons, the selection of evidence is a matter of time.

The protesters who find themselves inside the Capitol will, in any case, receive rather severe punishments, including imprisonment, ”the analyst said.

In his opinion, the fate of these people, who "fall under the roller of the American legal machine, will be unenviable."

In turn, Yuri Rogulev believes that there will be many who want to persecute Trump's supporters and himself after Biden comes to power.

“Prosecutions and other tools will come into play.

Twitter and many American social networks will continue to block the accounts of supporters of the 45th US president.

As a result, the intensity of passions, of course, will subside, hotheads will recede into the shadows and, hopefully, the usual legal approach will finally prevail.

However, the United States still needs to survive the inauguration of a new president, ”the expert concluded.