Two years after the attack on the Capitol in Washington, US police are still looking for 350 participants as well as a person suspected of planting roadside bombs near the congressional headquarters the day before the attack. More than 950 people have been arrested in the past 24 months, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement released two days before the second anniversary of the coup.
More than a third have already been prosecuted on charges ranging from simple ‘trespass’ to ‘sedition’, and 192 have received prison sentences, according to a separate statement from Merrick Garland, the federal prosecutor in Washington who is overseeing this wide-ranging investigation .
But “our work is not done” and “we remain determined to prosecute all those responsible for the attack on our democracy”, the judge added.
VIDEO. Invasion of the Capitol: The Hours That Shook America
In particular, federal police are seeking to identify 350 people suspected of violence in the Capitol, including 250 against police officers, and again asked for the public’s help on Wednesday.
A bonus for anyone who condemns a craft bomber
In addition, the FBI increased the reward fivefold, from $100,000 to half a million dollars, for any information leading to the arrest of the person who planted a homemade bomb on the evening of January 5, 2021, near the seats of the Republican and Democratic parties . These never exploded and may have only been intended to keep the police away from the Capitol just before the assault.
“We hope (this new bounty) will encourage the public to look again at the photos and videos of the suspect,” the federal police wrote in a press release. These show a person who is difficult to identify because he is wearing a hood, a mask, glasses and gloves.
On January 6, 2021, several hundred supporters of Republican President Donald Trump had seen chaos and violence in the Capitol as elected officials confirmed his Democratic rival Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
So far, the prosecutor’s office has focused on those who directly participated in this attack, which shocked the whole world, but the Department of Justice is also investigating the responsibility of Donald Trump and his relatives. Since his declaration of presidential candidacy in 2024, a special prosecutor has been appointed to independently oversee the investigations into him.