The FBI has backed away from a claim that they had “strong evidence” of a plan “to capture and assassinate elected officials.”
Conservatives and republicans knew all along that no such plan existed, but the fact that the FBI has now confirmed this provides relief to thousands of Trumpers who taught they would be wrongly accused.
The allegation was made in papers that supported the detention of Jake Angeli (the QAnon Shaman). The Justice Department has described him as “one of the leaders and mascots of QAnon,” a group that “preaches debunked and fictitious anti-government conspiracy theories that a deep state is out to take down the current administration.”
After the Capitol storming, Jake has been charged with ” charged with civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, disorderly conduct in a restricted building, and demonstrating in the Capitol building.”
A detention hearing is about to start in federal court in Arkansas in the case of Richard Barnett, the man photographed sitting in Nancy Pelosi's office (see: https://t.co/GAAENhkxf0). He's been in custody since his arrest
— Zoe Tillman (@ZoeTillman) January 15, 2021
It is important to note that the people who stormed the Capitol were unarmed and mostly peaceful as video evidence indicates.
“Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin, the head of the investigation, had clarified earlier on Friday that there was “no direct evidence at this point of kill-capture teams and assassination.” Daily Wire reported.
“According to The Associated Press,” “Sherwin said there appears to have been confusion among some prosecutors in part because of the complexity of the investigation and number of people involved.” The outlet noted, “Prosecutors raised a similar prospect Thursday in the case of a former Air Force officer who they alleged carried plastic zip-tie handcuffs because he intended ‘to take hostages.’” The Daily Wire said.
Lawyers for Jake pointed out:
“My client did not break into the Capitol,” said Watkins. “My client had the doors to the Capitol held for him by Capitol Police. My client did not shroud his face in secrecy; he wasn’t wearing a bulletproof vest. My client was not armed. He didn’t have zip ties. My client fought, or was in the military, served honorably. No criminal background whatsoever. And he, like a lot of other disenfranchised people in our country, felt very, very, very solidly in sync with President Trump. They felt, he felt, like his voice was for the first time, being heard.”
Prosecutors accused Chansley of having “apparent mental health issues.”
“The fact that we had a bunch of our traitors in office hunker down, put on their gas masks and retreat into their underground bunker, I consider that a win,” Chansley reportedly said last week.
