We Will Follow The Facts

[W]e at the Department of Justice will do everything in our power to defend the American people and American democracy.

We will defend our democratic institutions from attack.

We will protect those who serve the public from violence and threats of violence.

We will protect the cornerstone of our democracy: the right to every eligible citizen to cast a vote that counts.

And we will do all of this in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country.

Tomorrow will mark the first anniversary of January 6th, 2021 -- the day the United States Capitol was attacked while lawmakers met to affirm the results of a presidential election. ...

In the aftermath of the attack, the Justice Department began its work on what has become one of the largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations in our history.

Only a small number of perpetrators were arrested in the tumult of January 6th itself.  Every day since, we have worked to identify, investigate, and apprehend defendants from across the country.  And we have done so at record speed and scale -- in the midst of a pandemic during which some grand juries and courtrooms were not able to operate. ...

The actions we have taken thus far will not be our last.

The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law -- whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.  We will follow the facts wherever they lead.

-- U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Remarks on the First Anniversary of the Attack on the Capitol, 5 January 2022