Prosecutors Looking Into 'All Actors' Who Had a Role In the Riots at the Capitol—Including Trump

A day after armed Trump-loving extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol building, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin has opened more than 50 criminal cases against those who engaged in violence during the breach and anyone involved in inciting the unrest—including potentially Donald Trump himself.

“We’re looking at all actors here and anyone that had a role and, if the evidence fits the elements of the crime, they’re going to be charged,” Sherwin said during a call with reporters on Thursday.

Although all the charges haven’t yet been determined, on a call with reporters Sherwin didn’t rule out charges of rioting, insurrection, and seditious conspiracy. “Make no mistake about this,” he added. “It was a very dangerous situation. We are aggressively trying to address these cases as soon as possible.”

Forty local cases have been filed with the D.C. Superior Court related to entering the Capitol, assault, and possessing a firearm, and 15 cases have been filed on the federal level against people accused of illegally entering the Capitol, possessing a firearm, and/or stealing Congressional property—one against a man who was arrested with a military semi-automatic rifle and eleven Molotov cocktails.

In addition, Sherwin says that the theft of Congressional property that occurred during the breach could have an impact on national security.

“Electronic items were stolen from senators’ offices. Documents, materials were stolen, and we have to identify what was done, mitigate that, and it could have potential national security equities… If there was damage, we don’t know the extent of that yet.”

Although it was reported earlier on Thursday evening that a U.S. Capitol Police officer had died after the violence on Wednesday, that information was later determined to be false by Capitol police. Currently, D.C. officials know of four people who died during the riots and the storming of the Capitol building.

Also on Thursday, the U.S. Army Secretary announced that a “7-foot nonscalable fence” was being erected around the entire U.S. Capitol, and will remain up for at least the next 30 days. Putting up a massive wall to solve a problem that is actually caused by white supremacy? I wonder why that sounds so familiar…