At least 50 military service members have been charged with taking part in the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, including members of radical groups, CNN reported Tuesday.
Most of the dozens of those with military ties who have been arrested on various charges including assaulting police officers are veterans.
But some were active-duty members of the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
Nearly 500 people in all have been arrested around the country for their roles in the attack on the Capitol, which came after former President Donald Trump spoke to thousands of his followers.
The FBI and Department of Justice prosecutors have been poring over videos of the storming and even social media feeds to identify and track down protesters, who were allowed to leave the Capitol without being arrested.
Some of the accused protesters have sought to shift the blame to Trump for their actions, saying they believed they were acting on his orders.
Trump has denied inciting the storming and has praised his supporters as “wonderful people.”
Democrats want the military to root out racists and extremists from the eanks, citing the danger they face to American democracy. But the GOP does not want to see what they deride as a witch hunt of conservatives.
The role played by service members and other law enforcement officers in the Jan. 6 attack is one of the issues that supporters hope will be addressed by a bipartisan 9/11-style commission into the storming of the Capitol.
___
© 2021 New York Daily News Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC
