US now says no direct evidence of ‘kill capture teams’ at Capitol

Federal prosecutors previously said there was evidence that rioters intended ‘to capture and assassinate’ officials. The top federal prosecutor in Washington, DC has said there is no “direct evidence” to suggest that rioters who stormed the US Capitol had formed “kill capture teams”. The comments on Friday by acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin appeared to be an effort to walk back claims federal prosecutors in Arizona had made in a court filing late on Thursday, in which they alleged there was evidence that rioters intended “to capture and assassinate elected officials”. Late on Thursday, federal prosecutors had made sweeping claims about the continuing investigation in a filing as they asked a judge to detain Jacob Chansley, an Arizona man and QAnon conspiracy theorist photographed wearing horns as he stood at the desk of Vice President Mike Pence in the chamber of the US Senate. In the filing, they said Chansley left a note for Pence warning that “it’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.” “Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States government,” the memo said.