The Department of Justice has committed to paying more than $6 million to a multinational firm to create a database to host the reams of data that prosecutors are gathering in cases against accused participants of the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP was contracted in late May to help develop the database and the government has started transferring a large volume of materials, including tens of thousands of records from the U.S. Capitol Police, prosecutors said in a court filing last week.
The government will work with Deloitte to process, review, and produce material related to the breach, using various tools to redact certain personal information.
Prosecutors expect the database to be available for use in the near future.
“Once it is, the government will begin systematically reviewing materials for potentially discoverable information, tagging when possible (e.g., video by a location or type of conduct, tips by a type of allegation), and redacting when necessary,” prosecutors wrote.
Deloitte didn’t respond to a request by The Epoch Times for comment.
The firm, which is listed as having a Virginia address, was awarded $6.1 million by the Department of Justice for “automated litigation support services,” according to a database holding government contracts.
That figure could swell to $25.9 million, according to the database listing, which was reviewed by The Epoch Times.
The start date of the contract was June 1. The current end date is May 31, 2022. A potential end date was listed as May 31, 2027.
The existence of the database was first reported by Politico.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) on July 9 said the development signaled that U.S. prosecutors are focused only on prosecuting cases related to the breach.
“The DOJ is going to spend $6.1 million on a January 6 database. Where is the ANTIFA database? Where is the BLM database? It’s as if the DOJ has given up on all investigations other than January 6,” she wrote on Twitter.
Antifa is a far-left, anarcho-communist network that has perpetrated violence across the United States, primarily in the Pacific Northwest. BLM refers to Black Lives Matter, a movement that alleges minorities are systematically treated unjustly by law enforcement, among other claims. The Department of Justice (DOJ) also didn’t respond to a request for comment.
FBI agents are still seeking assistance identifying another 300 or so persons accused of participating in the tumult on Jan. 6.
The Federal Public Defender’s Office (FPD), meanwhile, is also considering putting multiple databases in place to help with the defense of accused Jan. 6 participants, prosecutors said.
“Given the volume of information that may be discoverable, FPD is carefully examining options for accepting materials. We understand that FPD is considering contracting with a vendor to establish databases that can be used to receive and perform technical searches upon discoverable materials. The government’s discovery team is in the process of identifying the scope and size of materials that may be turned over to FPD with as much detail as possible, so that FPD can obtain accurate quotes from potential database vendors,” they wrote in the new filing.
“It is hoped that this database will be used by FPD offices nationwide that are working on Capitol Breach cases and counsel that are appointed under the Criminal Justice Act. We believe that a database will be the most organized and economical way of ensuring that all counsel can obtain access to, and conduct meaningful searches upon, relevant voluminous materials, e.g., thousands of hours of body-worn camera and Capitol CCTV footage, and tens of thousands of documents, including the results of thousands of searches of Stored Communications Act accounts and devices.”
