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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 7 Juli 2021

Hunt for Capitol attackers still on 6 months after Jan. 6

(AP) - The first waves of arrests have turned over incriminating posts
in the deadly siege at the U.S. that defendants tried to delete after
Capitol focused on the easy tar- their gleeful celebrations of the siege
gets. Dozens in the pro-Trump gave way to fears of being arrested.
mob openly bragged about their Often, the attackers’ own family,
actions on Jan. 6 on social media friends or acquaintances tipped off
and were captured in shocking authorities.
footage broadcast live by national
news outlets. In one case, the FBI used facial com-
parison software to find a suspect on
But six months after the insurrection, his girlfriend’s Instagram account.
the Justice Department is still hunt- Agents then went undercover, secret-
ing for scores of rioters, even as the ly recorded the man at work and got
first of more than 500 people already him on tape admitting to being in the
arrested have pleaded guilty. The crowd, which he described as “fun.”
struggle reflects the massive scale of
the investigation and the grueling “The more of these people you iden-
work still ahead for authorities in the tify — potentially through search
face of an increasing effort by some warrants and social media communi-
Republican lawmakers to rewrite cations — you’re going to be able to
what happened that day. identify others,” said Tom O’Connor,
who focused on counterterrorism
Among those who still haven’t been as a special agent before leaving the
caught: the person who planted two bureau in 2019. “Those people who
pipe bombs outside the offices of the have been arrested will then be giv-
Republican and Democratic national en the opportunity to cooperate and
committees the night before the me- identify other persons involved.”
lee, as well as many people accused
of attacks on law enforcement of- The FBI has offered a reward of up
ficers or violence and threats against to $100,000 for information leading
journalists. The FBI website seeking of many of the attackers because this said the group has reported the pos- to the arrest of the person respon-
information about those involved in was their first run-in with the law. sible identities of about 100 suspects sible for planting the pipe bombs in
the Capitol violence includes more to the FBI based on evidence it col- Washington on Jan. 5. Footage shows
than 900 pictures of roughly 300 peo- “Most of these people never showed lected. a person in a gray hooded sweatshirt,
ple labeled “unidentified.” up on the radar screen before,” said a mask and gloves appearing to place
Frank Montoya Jr., a retired FBI spe- Sometimes, a distinctive article of one of the explosives under a bench
Part of the problem is that authorities cial agent who led the bureau’s field clothing helps the group make a outside the Democratic National
made very few arrests on Jan. 6. They offices in Seattle and Honolulu. “You match. In one case, a woman carrying Committee and the person walking
were focused instead on clearing the watch the movies and a name comes a unique iPhone case on Jan. 6 had in an alley near the Republican Na-
building of members of the mas- up on the radar screen and they know been photographed with the same tional Committee before the bomb
sive mob that attacked police, dam- all the aliases and the last place he ate case at an earlier protest, Rogers said. was placed there. It remains unclear
aged historic property and combed dinner, all with a click of a button. whether the bombs were related to
the halls for lawmakers they threat- Unfortunately, that’s not how it is in “It’s seeking justice,” he said. “This planning for the insurrection.
ened to kill. Federal investigators are reality.” is something that’s unprecedented in
forced to go back and hunt down par- the history of our country.” Rogers Justice Department officials say ar-
ticipants. The FBI has been helped by “sedi- asked, “Where else have you had sev- resting everyone involved in the in-
tion hunters,” or armchair detectives eral thousands of people who com- surrection remains a top priority. Au-
The FBI has since received countless who have teamed up to identify some mit a crime and then immediately thorities recently arrested the 100th
tips and pieces of digital media from of the most elusive suspects, using disperse all over the United States?” person accused of assaulting law en-
the public. But a tip is only the first crowdsourcing to pore over the vast forcement as well as the first person
step of a painstaking process — in- trove of videos and photos from the John Scott-Railton is a senior re- accused of assaulting a member of the
volving things like search warrants assault. searcher at the Citizen Lab at the press — a man prosecutors say tack-
and interviews — to confirm people’s University of Toronto who has been led a cameraman.
identities and their presence at the in- Forrest Rogers, a business consultant collaborating with journalists and
surrection in order to bring a case in who helped form a group of sedition others to identify suspects using digi- “They will find them,” said Robert
court. And authorities have no record hunters called “Deep State Dogs,” tal clues. He said that while much is Anderson Jr., former executive as-
known about the “small fish” who sistant director of the FBI’s Crimi-
committed crimes that day, a deeper nal, Cyber, Response, and Services
understanding is needed of the ac- Branch. “I don’t care how long it
tions of organized group leaders. takes. If they are looking for them,
they will find them.”
“We all need to be in a place where
we can have conversations about More than a dozen Jan. 6 defendants
what Jan. 6th was that go beyond a have pleaded guilty, including two
bunch of individuals motivated by a members of the Oath Keepers mili-
set of ideologies who showed up at tia group who admitted to conspir-
the Capitol,” he said. ing with other extremists to block the
certification of President Joe Biden’s
Those being sought include many ac- victory.
cused of violent attacks on officers.
One video released by the FBI shows Most of the other plea deals reached
an unidentified man attacking offi- so far are in cases where defendants
cers with a baton. In another, a man were charged only with misdemean-
is seen ripping the gas mask off an of- ors for illegally entering the Capitol.
ficer who screamed in pain as he was The only defendant who has been
being crushed into a doorway by the sentenced is an Indiana woman who
angry mob. pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and
was spared any time behind bars.
In some cases, social media platforms