More than 17 months after the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the Justice Department announced that 305 people have pleaded guilty to charges related to the attack, including 59 people who have pleaded guilty to felonies.


What You Need To Know

  • More than 840 defendants have been charged in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., in relation to the Capitol attack, according to the Department of Justice

  • According to the DOJ, 305 people have pleaded guilty to charges related to the attack, including 59 people who have pleaded guilty to felonies

  • Of those arrested, roughly 255 have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including 90 who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer

  • The figures from the Department of Justice come one day before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is set to hold its first public hearing

All told, the Justice Department said, more than 840 defendants have been charged in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., in relation to the Capitol attack.

Of those arrested, roughly 255 have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including 90 who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. All told, the Justice Department said, roughly 140 police officers were assaulted in the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, including 80 members of the Capitol Police and 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Nineteen people have pleaded guilty to federal charges of assaulting law enforcement officers, with eight people sentenced to prison terms of up to 63 months.

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was among those who died in the aftermath of the attack; while D.C.’s chief medical examiner declared that Sicknick died of natural causes, they added that “all that transpired played a role in his condition.” Additionally, four officers who responded to the Capitol attack died by suicide in the days, weeks and months after the insurrection.

“Under the continued leadership of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the investigation and prosecution of those responsible for the attack continues to move forward at an unprecedented speed and scale,” the DOJ wrote in a release. “The Department of Justice’s resolve to hold accountable those who committed crimes on Jan. 6, 2021, has not, and will not, wane.”

While the majority have pleaded guilty to misdemeanors, three people have pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, a charge which could carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison. Three members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia, have pleaded guilty to the charge.

Eleven members or associates of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia group, including its founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, were indicted in January on seditious conspiracy charges in the Capitol attack. Earlier this week, the former leader of the Proud Boys, another far-right group, and four of his top lieutenants were charged with seditious conspiracy.

The DOJ also noted that 185 defendants have been sentenced for their role in the insurrection, with 80 “sentenced to periods of incarceration.” Six people have been found guilty at trials, with five found guilty by juries of felony charges.

The Justice Department said that authorities are still searching for more than 350 people believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, including more than 250 who allegedly assaulted police officers.

The figures from the Department of Justice come one day before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack is set to hold its first public hearing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.