WASHINGTON — More than two months after the U.S. Capitol was attacked on Jan. 6, the Justice Department has yet to answer a key question: Was the siege planned well in advance?
Or was the decision to storm the building made on the spot by demonstrators who conspired to go to Washington to engage in violent protest in the streets?
A federal prosecutor said during a court hearing Friday for nine defendants facing conspiracy charges that “we do not have at this point someone explicitly saying our plan is to force entry into the Capitol in order to stop the certification.”
In the days immediately following the riots, federal prosecutors suggested in court documents that two separate extremist groups made up of followers of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, planned to forcibly enter the Capitol and stop the official counting of Electoral College votes for president.
Source: Still a mystery: Was the Capitol riot planned far in advance?
