Capitol Rioters Planned to ‘Capture and Assassinate’ Elected Officials, US Says

When hundreds of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building last week, the intention of some was “to capture and assassinate elected officials,” federal prosecutors said Friday in a new court filing. The view was included in a memo seeking to keep rioter Jacob Anthony Chansley, also known as “QAnon Shaman,” in custody. According to Capitol Police information included in the filing, Chansley rallied people inside the Capitol using a bullhorn and was notable for his headdress, face paint and carrying of a six-foot spear.

“Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government,” prosecutors from Justice Department lawyers in Arizona wrote. A separate case from prosecutors in Texas alleges that retired Air Force reservists who carried plastic zip-tie handcuffs on the Senate floor may have intended to restrain lawmakers. Chansley is due in federal court in Arizona on Friday for a detention hearing.

“He loved Trump, every word. He listened to him. He felt like he was answering the call of our president,” Chansley’s attorney Al Watkins told CNN on Thursday. ” My client wasn’t violent. He didn’t cross over any police lines. He didn’t assault anyone.” Watkins said Chansley also hopes for a presidential pardon.

Prosecutors also describe the Capitol rioters as “insurrectionists” and offered new details about Chanley’s role in the siege. They said that after standing at the dais where Vice President Mike Pence stood earlier that morning, he wrote a note saying, “It’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” He later told the FBI he did not mean the note as a threat but said Pence was a “child-trafficking traitor.”

Chanley was also described as a drug user who is suffering from mental illness, according to prosecutors, who also said he is a flight risk capable of quickly raising money through non-traditional means as “one of the leaders and mascots of QAnon, a group commonly referred to as a cult (which preaches debunked and fictitious anti-government conspiracy theory).”

CBS News reports that a Washington D.C. police officer witnessed rioters use military-style hand signals to communicate inside the Capitol Building during the breach. Identifying individuals using military tactics is reportedly among the “highest priorities” for a Sedition Task Force being run by the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office. The usage of “small unit tactics,” witness both outside and inside the Capitol Building, drew immediate scrutiny from investigators.