(Headline USA) The Justice Department said this week that it will not be investigating or prosecuting any of the anti-Israel activists who shut down the Senate cafeteria in the U.S. Capitol complex this week, despite its charges against Jan. 6 defendants accused of similar misconduct.
More than 50 leftist activists were arrested on Tuesday and charged with crowding, obstructing, or incommoding after they stormed the Dirksen Senate Office Building, chanting, “Senate can’t eat until Gaza eats!”
Video footage of the protest showed the activists walking through the hallways of the building and yelling.
A source told Fox News that at one point Capitol Police shouted, “Everybody out or be placed under arrest,” to which a protester replied, “This is the house of the people!”
Capitol Police released a statement afterwards, noting, “It is illegal to demonstrate inside any of the Congressional Buildings.”
Many of the individuals arrested in the Senate building appear to be the same activists who interrupted testimony by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin during a Senate Armed Services Committee earlier that morning, according to Fox News.
As Austin was delivering his opening statement before the Senate Armed Services Committee, the protesters began yelling, “The blood of the people of Palestine is on your hands” and “Stop funding Israel!”
When asked if the D.C. U.S. Attorney would be launching its own investigation into the breach of the Senate office building, a spokesperson for the DOJ office said no, according to investigative reporter Julie Kelly.
“The Office of Attorney General for DC is handling those,” spokeswoman Patricia Hartman added.
The spokeswoman for the DC US Attorney's office just told me via email that Matthew Graves' office is not investigating any pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel demonstrators who have broken federal laws (per J6 precedent) including parading, disorderly conduct, civil disorder, or… https://t.co/vbA5aqrdtE
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) April 10, 2024
The D.C. U.S. Attorney, however, has not shied away from prosecuting charges against Jan. 6 defendants.
Since the Jan. 6, 2021 uprising at the Capitol, federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,265 defendants across nearly all 50 states and D.C., and have secured sentences of incarceration for more than 460 people, according to the DOJ.
