Criminal proceedings in the January 6 United States Capitol attack

[4]On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters attacked the Capitol, disrupting the joint session of Congress assembled to count electoral votes to formalize Biden's victory in the 2020 United States presidential election.

[26] Former acting FBI director Andrew McCabe and inspector general David C. Williams stated Trump could face criminal charges for inciting the riot.

[29] On January 7, 2021, Michael Sherwin, interim U.S attorney for the District of Columbia, expressed willingness to charge any Capitol Police officer found to have assisted the rioters.

[33] On January 12, 2021, Steven D'Antuono from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced the agency's expectation to arrest hundreds of people as it sorted through the vast amount of evidence submitted by the public.

[35] The FBI also created a website to solicit tips from the public specifically related to the riot,[36] and were especially assisted by the crowdsourced sleuthing group Sedition Hunters.

[37] On February 10, 2021, CNN reported that the FBI, investigating the death of U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, was in the process of narrowing down a list of potential suspects.

"[42] On March 2, 2022, the congressional committee investigating the January 6 attack stated in a court filing that they had enough evidence for "a good-faith basis for concluding that the president and members of his campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy".

[1] Upon Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2025, he granted "a full, complete and unconditional pardon" to everyone convicted of offenses related to the Capitol attack, who by then numbered over a thousand.

[61] A week after the riot, over 50 public sector employees and elected officials and over a dozen Capitol police officers were facing internal investigations to determine their possible complicity.

"[76] A month after the riot, an ABC News investigation found that, of about two hundred accused individuals facing federal charges, at least fifteen had claimed that they acted based on Trump's encouragement.

[78] In January 2022, The New York Times reported that federal prosecutors were asking defense attorneys of indicted rioters if their clients would admit in sworn statements that they stormed the Capitol believing Trump wanted them to stop Pence from certifying the election.

"[80] Before their trials, Stewart Rhodes and several Oath Keeper defendants who participated in the ‘insurrection’ sought to use a "public authority" defense arguing that they should be immune from criminal liability because they relied on Trump's orders.

[86] The jury convicted him on all counts, and after the verdict was rendered Judge Trevor N. McFadden said he would consider giving a sentencing enhancement to him because of the "highly dubious" nature of his testimony.

"[87] Taylor James Johnatakis said he accepted “full liability” for leading a crowd of rioters, but he did not plead guilty, claiming that he was a “sovereign citizen” to whom U.S. law did not apply.

"[91] On October 16, 2023, William Chrestman, a Proud Boys member, pled guilty to obstructing a congressional proceeding and to threatening to assault a federal officer.

"[105] Most people who were then still in prison for January 6 crimes had committed violence that day, whereas the nonviolent offenders "either never went to jail in the first place or had such short sentences that they are already out," as HuffPost concluded.

[113] On June 6, 2022, five members of the Proud Boys—their leader Enrique Tarrio, together with Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, Ethan Nordean and Dominic Pezzola—were indicted for seditious conspiracy.

[123][124] On June 28, 2024, the Supreme Court decided in Fischer v. United States that an obstruction charge could be valid for someone who intended to stop the arrival of electoral certificates but not if they were simply trying to forcibly enter the Capitol building.

[125] On August 28, the case returned to federal district court, where Judge Nichols said Joseph Fischer's trial would begin in February 2025 on six charges including assaulting law enforcement officers and civil disorder.

He was charged with civil disorder (a felony) as well as misdemeanors for allegedly sticking a pole with a “We the People” flag through a Senate wing window in the direction of officers inside.

[128] On February 2, 2024, Ryan Samsel, James Grant, Stephen Randolph, Paul Johnson and Jason Blythe were convicted of felony civil disorder.

During the riot, he had entered the Capitol building through the Senate Wing Door at 2:19 p.m. and stayed inside for a little over a minute, speaking to people holding “America First” flags.

[136] He had carried a holstered handgun, worn a helmet and body armor, and said he planned to drag House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from the Capitol by her ankles "with her head hitting every step on the way down".

On October 22, 2024, the court upheld his conviction, writing that he had broken the law despite not knowing "[t]he basis of the Secret Service's authority to prevent access to designated areas for the safety of its protectees".

She stole the laptop of Nancy Pelosi with the intent on selling it to Russian foreign intelligence services and attempted to wipe all evidence of her crimes, after bragging about her involvement, in the days following the assault.

Bozell led a mob through police lines, smashed the Capitol's windows and opened its doors from inside, raided Pelosi's office, and moved a security camera.

Authorities say that she was considered to be a particularly disruptive rioter who engaged in "prolonged, abusive, and violent" attacks on law enforcement officers, including one that ultimately took his own life following injuries caused by the insurrection.

[187] On October 28, 2024, former Bob's Burgers voice actor Jay Johnston, of Chicago, Illinois, was sentenced to 366 days plus 40 hours of community service and pay $2,000 in restitution.

[197][198] On October 15, 2021, U.S. Capitol Police Officer Michael A. Riley was arrested and charged with obstruction of justice for advising Jacob Hiles to remove incriminating posts from social media.

However, he said that some faces would be blurred to prevent those people “from being targeted for retaliation of any kind”, and that some footage would not be released due to security concerns "related to the building architecture”.