The arrest of Mr. Sanford had nothing to do with the death of a Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, who was reportedly hit in the head by a fire extinguisher, according to two police officers.
Later that day, the charges against a man accused of beating a police officer on the Capitol grounds with an American flagpole were overturned. According to a criminal complaint, the man, Peter Stager, alleged that the victim of the attack was a member of Antifa, the loose collective of left-wing activists who have often grappled with far-right demonstrators, even though the words “Metropolitan Police” were clearly written on the officer’s uniform.
“Everyone there is a traitorous traitor,” Stager said in an apparent reference to the Capitol, according to a video obtained from the FBI. “Death is the only remedy against what is in this building.”
Even as they pursued new leads and suspects, federal investigators tried to investigate a fire charge brought up by several lawmakers this week: some members of Congress helped coordinate the attack.
On Wednesday, Representative Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat and former naval pilot, and more than 30 of her colleagues called for an investigation into what they called “suspicious” visits by outside groups to the Capitol the day before the riot at a time when most Tours were restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, another lawmaker, Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said she witnessed a tour of the building in person by “Trump supporters” prior to the January 6 attack.
A police officer said investigators had not yet found evidence that members of Congress were involved in planning the attack and warned that the investigation was extensive and that any evidence would need to be carefully checked.
The spate of arrests and investigations added an air of nervous activity to a city that appeared to be under siege. The National Mall area was overcrowded with military vehicles on Thursday and cut off from the surrounding area by metal fences. This created what the secret service agent responsible for opening security called a “safe bubble”.
