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Following reports that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is considering not charging a large portion of the insurrectionists who breached the United States Capitol on January 6th, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) sent a letter to Acting Attorney General Monty Wilkinson demanding that the Department of Justice dedicate every available resource to its offices across the country in order to ensure that all insurrectionists and rioters are held accountable.
Rep. Nadler is seeking any memorandum or guidance documents issued to the Justice Department’s 94 U.S. Attorney offices regarding any investigative guidelines, strike forces or prosecutorial guidance relating to these cases. Specifically, he is requesting more information on the strike force relating to sedition charges, as referenced by Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael R. Sherwin.
In the letter, the Chairman also demanded these investigations include an examination of whether insurrectionists targeted the Capitol Police Officers based on actual or perceived race or national origin.
Chairman Nadler has requested that the Committee receive briefings and written reports that include: aggregate numbers of the cases under investigation, charges filed and any resulting convictions, and demographic data about whether any of those charged held any current or past positions of public trust or military or law enforcement service.
On January 7th, Chairman Nadler, Committee on Oversight and Reform Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney, Committee on Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Adam B. Schiff, Committee on Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith, and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, sent a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray seeking an immediate briefing on the FBI’s efforts to investigate the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Following the briefing, the Members issued a statement expressing “grave concerns about ongoing and violent threats to our democracy.”
On January 16th, the Judiciary Committee, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Homeland Security, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform, opened an investigation into the events and intelligence surrounding the insurrection on January 6th incited by President Trump, and related threats against the nation’s peaceful transition of power.
Full text of today’s letter can be found here.
