Three years removed from Jan. 6, the Justice Department signaled thousands more Americans could be in their prosecutorial crosshairs, even if they never entered the U.S. Capitol.
This week, the pearl-clutching commemoration colloquially dubbed “Sixthmas” was marked in Washington, D.C. and elsewhere with crocodile tears and hand-wringing recounts from “survivors.” In furtherance of the historical fudging on what actually took place as Congress convened to certify the 2020 presidential election, a DOJ official indicated even more people present that day could be charged with a federal crime.
Speaking for roughly an hour Thursday, President Joe Biden-appointed U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves spoke to the expiration of the statue of limitations marked as Jan. 5, 2026 and the Justice Department’s intent to, as Attorney General Merrick Garland put it, “hold all Jan. 6 perpetrators at any level accountable under the law, whether they were present that day or otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.”
“It’s been three years since a violent mob attacked our Capitol,” began Graves who likened the breach of the U.S. Capitol to “scenes often reminiscent of a medieval battle.”
During his recounting, the U.S. Attorney ominously suggested a broadened scope of lawfare beyond those engaged in violent behavior and against those who were voicing their concerns about the integrity of the 2020 election.
“An important note when it comes to our prosecutions about those who remained outside the building. We have used our prosecutorial discretion to primarily focus on those who entered the building, or those who engaged in violent or corrupt conduct on Capitol grounds,” the official said. “But, if a person knowingly entered the restricted area without authorization, they had already committed a federal crime. Make no mistake, thousands of people occupying the area that they were not authorized to be present in in the first place.”
Graves statement was interpreted by many as a signal from the Justice Department, already under investigation for being politically weaponized by the administration, that “anyone who never entered [the] Capitol on J6 will be hunted down.”
The hunt continues. DC U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves makes it clear anyone who never entered Capitol on J6 will be hunted down.
They won’t ever stop, until we stop it. pic.twitter.com/Yx8NNEXfPX
— Spitfire (@DogRightGirl) January 6, 2024
“What a destructive exercise,” expressed columnist Miranda Devine in response as others reacted with calls of “Tyranny” and suggestions that this was “their election strategy.”
Once upon a time, this would be the kind of thing the ACLU would be pouncing on.
— Curious Workmanship (@CuriousWork) January 7, 2024
Tyranny
— 2VNews (@2VNews) January 7, 2024
It’s their election strategy.
— Osher Feldman (@osherfeldman) January 7, 2024
— American.357 (@ASimplePatriot) January 7, 2024
While it remains to be seen how many people the DOJ will actually pursue following Graves’ statement, the Associated Press harped on the over 1,230 charged with federal crimes “ranging from misdemeanor offenses like trespassing to felonies like assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy.”
“Roughly 730 people have pleaded guilty to charges, while another roughly 170 have been convicted of at least one charge at a trial decided by a judge or a jury,” the AP continued citing their own database.
Biden also got caught up in the narrative Friday with his penchant for storytelling leading him to reminisce while straining the borders of reality. “Jill and I attended the funerals of police officers who died as a result of the events that day,” claimed the president speaking from Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. “Because of Donald Trump’s lies. They died because these lies brought a mob to Washington.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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