The FBI and prosecutors at the Justice Department are debating whether to decline to charge some of the MAGA rioters who stormed the United States Capitol on January 6 in an attempt to derail President Joe Biden‘s certification.
There is concern among DOJ officials that bringing charges against all of the estimated 800 rioters who ransacked the Capitol building could flood the local federal courthouse in Washington, DC, with cases.
There have been internal discussions about forgoing charges against those who were not involved in any violence or vandalism but were simply trespassing or ‘going along with the crowd,’ The Washington Post reported.
But the Post report indicates that those talks are only in their early stages and no decisions have been made.
DOJ and FBI officials are mindful of the fact that declining to charge rioters could be perceived as the federal government condoning political violence and unlawful behavior.
Those who support bringing charges against all of the rioters argue that doing so would bring a measure of deterrence that would make others think twice about engaging in similar acts in the future, according to the Post.
There are internal discussions ongoing at the Justice Department over whether to decline to bring charges against many of those seen storming the United States Capitol building on January 6
But there is no denying that the workload that will inevitably accumulate by charging hundreds of people will increase the burden on DOJ and FBI agents who have already indicted more than 135 suspects.
In 2019, the DC federal courts tried about 430 criminal cases. Last year, that number fell to fewer than 300 due to the pandemic…
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