NBC News is reporting that the Justice Department's Federal prosecutor staff has been overwhelmed with cases stemming from the Trumpist insurrection on January 6, and that the DOJ needs lawyers to prosecute the cases. The FBI, thanks to an outpouring of tips from the public, and from patriotic cyber sleuths identifying the rioters through Facebook and other social media, has arrested over 775 rioters. Of that total, so far 225 have pleaded guilty and over 50 have been sentenced to prison, leaving roughly 500 cases to be prosecuted:
"The Justice Department is asking Congress for additional funds to prosecute those cases — a list that keeps growing.
And even as the Justice Department closes in on the 800 arrest mark, there's still an incredibly long road ahead. Multiple online sleuths in a network of 'Sedition Hunters' working to find Jan. 6 participants have told NBC News that they've successfully identified to the FBI hundreds of additional Jan. 6 rioters — including dozens who are pictured on the FBI's Capitol Violence website.
'There are hundreds still to go,' said one online sleuth closely involved in the investigation, speaking anonymously to avoid retaliation from supporters of the rioters.
Some of the Jan. 6 participants who haven't been arrested were successfully identified months ago using open-source information publicly available on the internet — like public records, social media and internet photos.
By pouring over terabytes of photos and video footage from Jan. 6, citizen investigators have been able to identify hundreds of participants in the Capitol attack. More than 2,500 people made their way inside the Capitol, officials have estimated, and there are more than 350 individuals still listed on the FBI's Capitol Violence website who have not yet been arrested." (our emphasis)
When the arrests and convictions of all of the seditionist rioters are done, we owe a huge debt to the on line sleuths for tirelessly following leads and sticking with it, despite the slow pace of arrests and prosecutions. Now it's time for the Justice Department to get the resources they need to hire more prosecutors, and for the FBI and other law enforcement to arrest these actual domestic terrorists before they repeat their crimes.
(photo: Ryland West, ALM)
