The Justice Department is asking Congress for a further $34 million in order to continue to investigate the January 6th Capitol siege with just weeks to go until November’s Midterm elections.
The funding bill would likely come before the House in December but should Republicans take control in a matter of weeks, it is unlikely such an approval for such a funding request would be granted.
The criminal investigation into those who participated in the riot has been sprawling and has looked into thousands of rioters who stormed the building in support of then-President Donald Trump. So far there have been 870 arrests.
‘There are lots of requests,’ House Appropriations Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut told NBC News about the DOJ’s request for the extra funding.
Violent insurrectionists loyal to President Donald Trump, stormed the Capitol, on January 6, 2021, in Washington D.C.
Online sleuths have managed to further identify hundreds of additional people who attended the protest but have not yet been arrested
‘We’re taking a look at all of them and seeing what makes it and seeing what doesn’t make it.’
The Justice Department has described the investigation into the events of January 6, 2021 as ‘the most wide-ranging’ in its history.
The Department has written to Congress outlining how more than $34 million in funding is ‘critically needed’ in order to fund the investigation.
‘The cases are unprecedented in scale and is expected to be among the most complex investigations prosecuted by the Department of Justice,’ the Justice Department wrote to the legislative branch.
Should the extra funds be unable to be procured, it would have a ‘detrimental impact’ on U.S. Attorney’s Offices across the country, which would ‘need to incur a budget reduction to fund these prosecutions.’
The January 6, 2021 Capitol riot grew out of President Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen
So far there have been 870 arrests but hundreds more people will be targeted. This still frame shows Thomas Webster, in a red jacket, at a barricade line at on the west front of the U.S. Capitol on January 6. He was sentenced for attacking a police officer with the pole
The worry then would be offices would be prevented from prosecuting other important cases in their locales.
The funding would be part of the fiscal year 2023 budget, which Congress is planning to pass in December, around a similar time that the January 6 committee will be issuing its final report.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia has led efforts together with assistance from 93 federal prosecutors offices across the country who have volunteered personnel but there is still more work to be done.
Online sleuths have managed to further identify hundreds of additional rioters who were present a the Capitol on that day but have not been arrested.
The Department’s in-tray is slowly being whittled down with those being sentenced outweighing the number of new arrests.
Since the start of the year there have been about four people arrested in connection with the riots each week.
Congress now has until December 16 to try and thrash out an agreement over funding.
The January 6 committee will be issuing its final report, likely in December
The initial funding request was packaged in a bill that cleared the Democratic-led House Appropriations Committee this summer, but it will be harder to pass as a bipartisan bill that will be able to be approved by both chambers.
A minimum of 10 Republican votes are required for the bill to pass the House chamber with the prospects of it gaining approval far slimmer should Republicans take the house making Trump ally, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the House Speaker.
A likely Judiciary Committee chair overseeing the Justice Department could be Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan who is also outspoken Trump ally who has peddled clams the election was stolen and outwardly criticized the January 6 committee.
Nevertheless, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Deputy Attorney General Lisa say the prosecutions into those who were involved on January 6 will go forward even if U.S. Attorneys’ offices take on the cases and a subsequent budget hit.
‘Of course, we’d like more resources, and if Congress wants to give that to us, that would be very nice,’ Garland said in July. ‘But we have people — prosecutors and agents — from all over the country working on this matter, and I have every confidence in their ability, their professionalism, their dedication to this task.’
President Donald Trump spoke to his supporters from The Ellipse near the White House and urged them to march to the Capitol on January 6, 2021
