More than 950 people arrested in connection with attack on US Capitol two years ago

More than 950 people have so far been arrested in connection with the attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump which took place two years ago on Friday, the US department of justice has said.

In a report issued in advance of the anniversary, it said 192 people had to date been jailed for their roles in the assault on the building at a time when members of Congress were meeting to confirm the results of the 2020 presidential election, won by Joe Biden.

The justice department said that approximately 87 defendants had been sentenced to a period of home detention, including approximately 14 who also were sentenced to a period of incarceration.

It said more than 280 defendants had been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 99 individuals who had been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. About 50 people faced various conspiracy charges.

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It said the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the attack “continues to move forward at an unprecedented speed and scale”.

Last November Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia, was found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a charge arising from the January 6th attack on the US Capitol in Washington.

On Friday, to mark the anniversary of the attack, Mr Biden will host a ceremony at the White House and award the presidential citizens medal to 12 individuals “who made exemplary contributions to our democracy surrounding January 6th, 2021″. These include police officers, election workers and officials at state and local level.

Among those who will receive the award are Jocelyn Benson, who was secretary of state of Michigan during the 2020 election and faced pressure from those seeking to overturn the results, including armed protesters outside her home.

The Arizona House of Representatives speaker in 2020, Rusty Bowers, will also receive an award for facing down pressure to overturn the results.

Others who will receive the medal will be Ruby Freeman and her daughter Shaye Moss, who were election workers in Georgia and who faced threats and harassment from supporters of Mr Trump over unfounded allegations of fraud. Earlier this week Mr Trump again hit out at Ms Freeman in social media posts.

Several people died and nearly 140 police officers were injured during the riots at the Capitol. One Trump supporter was shot dead by police in the US Capitol while two others died due to medical conditions and one from an accidental overdose.

One police officer, Brian Sicknick, died from two strokes suffered nearly eight hours after being sprayed with a chemical irritant during the riot.

Four other police officers took their own lives in the days and months after the riot.

In late December a US congressional committee, which had investigated the events surrounding January 6th, in a final report accused Mr Trump of a “multi-part conspiracy” to thwart the will of the people and subvert democracy.

The report by a Democratic majority House of Representatives committee found that Mr Trump knew he had lost the 2020 presidential election but still put pressure on both state officials and vice-president Mike Pence to overturn the result. It concluded he “was directly responsible for summoning what became a violent mob” and refused repeated entreaties from his aides to condemn the rioters or to encourage them to leave.

“The central cause of January 6th was one man, former president Donald Trump, who many others followed,” the report’s executive summary maintained. “None of the events of January 6th would have happened without him.”

The committee recommended that the department of justice pursue criminal charges against Mr Trump for his role in the attack. It also urged that Congress to act to bar the former president and others involved in the January 6th attack from ever holding federal office again.

US attorney general Merrick Garland said in advance of the anniversary: “Two years ago the United States Capitol was attacked as lawmakers met to affirm the results of a presidential election. Perpetrators attacked police officers, targeted and assaulted members of the media, and interfered with a fundamental element of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to the next.

“Since then countless agents, investigators, prosecutors, analysts and others across the justice department have participated in one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history.”