WASHINGTON (AP) – These suspects were not actually in hiding.
“This is me,” a man posted on Instagram with a hand emoji pointing to himself in a photo of the violent crowd descending on the Capitol. “Sooo we stormed Capitol Hill lol,” one woman texted someone while in the building. “I just wanted to blame myself,” wrote another on Facebook of a selfie he took in during the January 6 riot.
In dozens of cases, supporters of President Donald Trump plainly flaunt their social media activities on the day of the deadly uprising. Some, apparently realizing they were in trouble with the law, deleted their accounts only to discover that their friends and family members had already taken screenshots of their selfies, videos, and comments and sent them to the FBI.
Their total lack of concern about getting caught and the willingness of their friends to turn them in has helped authorities charge about 150 people with federal crimes as of Monday. But even with the help of the rioters themselves, investigators still have to work rigorously to link the footage to the vandalism and the suspects to the January 6 acts to prove their case in court. And because so few were arrested on the spot, the FBI and the US Marshals Service have been forced to send agents to find suspects.
“Just because you’ve left the DC region, you can still expect a knock on the door when we discover you were part of criminal activity in the Capitol,” said Steven D’Antuono, the FBI’s deputy director. Washington office, said earlier this month. “In short, the FBI is not sparing any resources on this investigation.”
In recent weeks, the FBI has received more than 200,000 photos and video tips related to the riot. Investigators have put up billboards in several states with photos of wanted rioters. Using tips from colleagues, acquaintances and friends, agents tracked down driver’s license photos to match their faces with those on the camera in the building. In some cases, authorities have obtained data from Facebook or Twitter to link their social media accounts with their email addresses or phone numbers. In other countries, agents used data from license plate readers to confirm their travels.
More than 800 are believed to have made their way to the Capitol, although it is likely that not everyone will be tracked down and charged with a crime. Federal prosecutors focus on the most critical cases and the most blatant examples of misconduct. And they have to weigh manpower, cost, and evidence when they sue rioters.
A special group of prosecutors are investigating whether to file charges against the rioters, who carry up to 20 years in prison. A trio were charged with conspiracy; most have been charged with such crimes as unlawful entry and disorderly conduct.
Many rioters posted selfies in the Capitol on their social media accounts, gave interviews to news outlets describing their experience, and when questioned federal investigators immediately admitted that they were there. A man created a Facebook album entitled ‘Who’s House? OUR HOUSE ”filled with photos of himself and others on the Capitol, officials said.
“They may have thought, like so many people who work with Trump, that if the president tells me to do it, it’s not breaking the law,” said Michael Gerhardt, an impeachment expert and professor at the University of Washington. North Carolina School of Law.
Others made blunders, such as a Houston police officer who denied entering the Capitol and agreed to let officers view the photos on his phone. In his deleted photos folder were photos and videos, including selfies he took inside the building, authorities said. Another man was wearing a court-ordered GPS monitor after a burglary conviction that tracked his movements around the building.
A retired firefighter from Long Island, New York, sent a video of himself in the Capitol rotunda to his girlfriend’s brother, saying he was “on the tip of the spear,” officials said. The brother happened to be a federal agent in the State Department’s diplomatic security service, who handed the video over to the FBI. A lawyer for the man, Thomas Fee, said he was “not part of any attempt to take over the Capitol” and that “the claim is that he only walked into the Capitol through an open door – that’s all.”
Another man in the Capitol was willing to betray another rioter who stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk and emailed the video to an FBI agent, even with his own name on it. “Hello nice FBI lady,” he wrote, “here are the links to the videos. Looks like Podium Guy is in one of them minus the stage. If you need anything else please let me know. “
In another case, a man was on a flight from DC two days after the riot when he kept saying “Trump 2020!” and was kicked off. An airport agent saw the man get off the plane and the man was booked on another flight. Forty-five minutes later, the officer watched a video on Instagram and recognized the man in a group of rioters. The man, wearing the same shirt as on the day he stormed the Capitol, was arrested at the airport, authorities said.
Even defense attorneys have acknowledged that the evidence is a problem for them.
“I’m not a magician,” said a lawyer for the man who can be seen in a photo with Pelosi’s lectern. “We have a photo of our client in what appears to be in a federal building or the Capitol with government property,” he told reporters.
Police in the Capitol only scheduled a free speech demonstration and were overwhelmed by the crowd who broke through and roamed the halls of the Capitol for hours while lawmakers were in hiding. Five people died in the fight, including a Capitol police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.
Trump was impeached after the riot on charges of “inciting violence against the United States government.” The opening arguments begin the week of February 8. He is the first president to be impeached twice and the first to face a trial after leaving office.
Unlike criminal cases, impeachment trials do not have specific rules of evidence, so anything said and done that day can be used. And several of the defendants have said in interviews with reporters or federal agents that they just listened to the president as they marched to the Capitol.
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Richer reported from Boston.