Worthy Christian News > US News > U.S. Investigating Claims That Capitol Mob Tried To Capture and Kill Elected Officials

U.S. Investigating Claims That Capitol Mob Tried To Capture and Kill Elected Officials

By Worthy News Breaking News Team George Whitten and Stefan J. Bos

(Worthy News) – Federal authorities are investigating claims that some within the mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington last week intended to “capture and assassinate elected officials,” including the Vice President.

Though a top Justice Department official said Friday that the investigation was still in its early stages and that there was “no direct” evidence rioters had such objectives, the chilling details were laid out in court papers.

Acting D.C. U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin, who is leading the investigation into the January 6 assault, referenced federal prosecutors’ assertions in the U.S. District Court of Arizona against riot suspect Jacob Anthony Chansley.

The man was widely photographed in face paint and a horned helmet leading part of the mob. “Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the Capitol rioters intended to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government,” prosecutors wrote in their memo urging the judge to keep him behind bars.

The announcement came as American Christians began praying for the nation in crucial locations, including outside Washington D.C.

PRAYING FOR NATION

Prayers were also said on the Capitol steps in Oklahoma City as footage emerged proving an apparently pre-planned operation to storm the other, U.S. Capitol, housing Congress. “We have to pray for the nation,” said Worthy Ministries organizing the prayer meeting.

It underscored concerns among devoted Christians across the United States over events unfolding in the nation’s heart of democracy.

As President Donald J. Trump’s supporters massed outside the Capitol last week and sang the national anthem, a line of men wearing olive-drab helmets and body armor trudged purposefully up the marble stairs in a single-file line.

Each man was holding the jacket collar of the one ahead. The formation, known as “Ranger File,” is a standard operating procedure for a combat team that is “stacking up” to breach a building — The Associated Press news agency reported. It was instantly recognizable to any U.S. soldier or Marine who served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An Associated Press review of public records, social media posts, and videos shows at least 21 current or former members of the U.S. military or law enforcement have been identified as being at or near the Capitol riot.

MANY FACING CHARGES

More than a dozen others were under investigation but not yet named. In many cases, those who stormed the Capitol appeared to employ tactics, body armor, and technology such as two-way radio headsets that were similar to those of the very police they were confronting, the AP reported.

Amid the emerging footage, prosecutors filed late Thursday a motion in Phoenix in the case against Chansley, who calls himself Jake Angeli and is a well-known conspiracy theorist known as the “Q Shaman.”

Chansley became a media fixture as the Arizona man who took part in what was called an insurrection while sporting face paint, no shirt, and a furry hat with horns.

The prosecutor also noted what Chansley said when he climbed up to the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had been presiding moments earlier. He reportedly wrote a threatening note to Pence that said: “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

Pence and congressional leaders had been ushered out of the chamber by the Secret Service and U.S. Capitol Police before the rioters stormed into the room. Prosecutors also raised doubts about a former Air Force officer who they alleged carried plastic zip-tie handcuffs because he intended “to take hostages.”

STORMING THE ROOM

But Michael Sherwin, acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, cautioned Friday that they have “no direct evidence at this point of kill, capture teams.”

However, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is also investigating whether at least some rioters plotted to kidnap Congress members and hold them hostage.

Investigators focus mainly on men seen carrying plastic zip-tie handcuffs and pepper spray, Worthy News monitored. At least five people died due to the protests, including a woman fatally shot by police and Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick. The officer was reportedly assaulted by protesters and later collapsed.

Another officer, Howard Liebengood, who contributed to the response, subsequently died while off duty. The Associated Press later reported that two sources indicated his death was an apparent suicide.

Tens of thousands of National Guard troops, many more than in trouble spots Afghanistan or Iraq, have been staged at or near the Capitol grounds. Authorities say the heavily armed troops are to assist beef up security around next week’s inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th president of the United States.