US Prosecutors: Congressional Rioters Aimed to Capture, Assassinate Officials

US federal prosecutors presented a grim new picture of the Capitol siege last week, saying in a memo submitted to the court that the rioters supporting President Donald Trump intended to “capture and assassinate elected officials”.

In the warrant, the prosecution asked for a detention order for Jacob Chansley, an Arizona resident and widely circulated conspiracy theorist whose image with fur hanging over his horns and standing on the desk of Vice President Mike Pence in the Senate.

The memo, written by lawyers for the Arizona Department of Justice, went into greater detail about the FBI's investigations into Chansley, revealing that he had left a written note to Pence warning that "it is just a matter of time  justice is coming."

"Strong evidence, including the words and actions of Chansley himself on the Capitol, supports the notion that the rioters' intent was to capture and assassinate elected officials of the United States government," the prosecution memo said.

Chancley is due to appear in federal court today, Friday.

This comes at a time when prosecutors and federal agencies began directing more serious accusations related to the violence that took place, including the disclosure on Thursday of cases accusing retired firefighter Robert Sanford of throwing an extinguisher on a policeman's head, as well as accusing a person named Peter Stiger of beating another policeman with an American flag.

On the other hand, the Washington Post said that the far right in the United States of America (USA) is planning protests before and after the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday, January 20.

The newspaper quoted independent officials and experts as saying that inciting of the outgoing President Donald Trump to his supporters before their attack on the Capitol building last week stimulated a nationwide extremist movement, and fueled that intent on disrupting the transfer of power to Biden and violently challenging the legitimacy of the elections for months, maybe years.