(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A Treasury Department employee broke multiple laws by storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, but the Justice Department declined to prosecute that person, according to a new report in Bloomberg.
Citing a Treasury Inspector General report obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, Bloomberg reported Friday that Treasury received information from the DOJ Inspector General that the employee entered a restricted area at the Capitol “without lawful authority.” Treasury’s IG substantiated the allegation.
“The employee admitted in an interview that he ‘went through a barricade and remained inside the barricaded areas for an extended period of time,’” Bloomberg reported.
“But when he was later questioned about his presence there, he told officials he didn’t see any ‘confrontations’ or violence and that he didn’t witness ‘anyone breaking the law.’ The employee said he had no clue there was even a riot going on at the Capitol until he got home.”
The inspector general expressed doubt at the employee’s claims, saying that the employee lacked candor when interviewed.
Treasury referred the employee to the DOJ for prosecution, but the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia declined to prosecute the employee on May 20, 2022, according to the IG report.
“It’s unclear why,” Bloomberg reported. “A Justice Department spokesperson said the agency doesn’t comment on charging decisions. But there are all sorts of reasons prosecutors decide not to file criminal charges.”
When it comes to the DOJ’s Jan. 6 investigation, the only other case Headline USA has seen where the US Attorney declined to prosecute was that of notorious provocateur Ray Epps.
In the Epps case, a July 29, 2021, FBI report said that its “investigation did not reveal sufficient evidence that Epps … engaged in acts of violence or committed any other criminal violations.” That’s despite the fact that video had already surfaced showing him pushing a sign into a group of police officers, and that Epps had admitted to trespassing on Capitol grounds.
The FBI report said that the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Washington DC declined to prosecute Epps.
The DOJ apparently reopened the Epps case after Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Revolver News and other conservatives began to question whether he was being protected by government. The DOJ eventually slapped him with a lone misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
