Nearly 10 days after the attack at the Capitol by far-right conservatives that left five people, including a policeman dead, the US Department of Justice investigators said they have not found any evidence that the rioters intended to capture and kill any lawmakers, reports AFP.
The federal prosecutors, in an Arizona court filing on Friday in the case of Jacob Chansley, took back an earlier assertion that pro-Trump supporters planned to “capture and assassinate elected officials” in the January 6 violence at the Capitol.
“There is no direct evidence at this point of kill-capture teams and assassination,” Michael Sherwin, the federal district attorney for Washington DC, who is overseeing the investigation of the Capitol attack, said on Friday.
To prevent Chansley’s bail, the prosecutors had made the claim but withdrew it on Friday saying no evidence was found despite calls during the siege to capture certain lawmakers and kill Vice President Mike Pence.
Chansley, aka Jake Angeli, was seen worldwide in photographs bare-shirted wearing a horned headdress and carrying a spear inside the US Capitol.
The US Capitol remains on a heavy lockdown ahead of the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th US President on January 20 as security officials worry of potential violent attacks on the event.