Government Employee Violated Law on Jan. 6 but Wasn’t Prosecuted: Document

Attorney General Merrick Garland in Washington on Sept. 20, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

A U.S. government employee violated the law on Jan. 6, 2021, but was not prosecuted, according to an internal report obtained by The Epoch Times.

Investigators with the U.S. Treasury Department Office of Inspector General (OIG), acting on a tip from the U.S. Department of Justice’s inspector general, found that an OIG worker was on U.S. Capitol grounds as the Capitol was breached on Jan. 6.

The employee admitted during an interview with the OIG to being near the Capitol but made a number of false claims, including that he did not witness any violence and did not do anything illegal, according to the OIG.

There was “widespread unlawful behavior” happening around the Capitol when the worker was on Capitol grounds, the report stated. Video footage showed that people gained unauthorized access to areas past barricades at about 1:45 p.m., the same time that the Treasury employee later admitted to walking through a U.S. Capitol Police barricade at the East Plaza.

The worker stayed on the grounds, moving to the West Plaza, for about two hours. During that time, he said later, he saw clashes between the Capitol Police and protesters. Video footage from the scene showed law enforcement officers retreating, protesters becoming violent, and barricades lying on the ground.

The Treasury Department worker was not identified by name.

The official went onto restricted grounds “without lawful authority,” according to the report, which summarized the investigation and was first obtained by Bloomberg News.

“The investigation determined that the employee went through an U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) barricade and remained inside the restricted grounds for approximately two hours during the riot at the U.S. Capitol, in violation of restricted grounds or buildings and conduct while on government property,” the watchdog said. “The OIG substantiated this allegation after conducting interviews, reviewing records and conducting open source research. The employee admitted that he went through a barricade and remained inside the barricaded areas for an extended period of time.”

It also said that “the OIG also substantiated lack of candor.”

The Treasury Department did not respond to a request for comment.

An OIG spokesman told The Epoch Times in an email that the employee in question “is no longer employed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.”

“I’m sorry, we cannot discuss the circumstances of this employee’s departure,” he said.

The case was presented for prosecution to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, according to the document. That office declined on May 27, 2022, to prosecute the government employee.

The office did not respond when asked why it declined prosecution.

The investigation was closed on July 13, 2022.

The Epoch Times obtained the document through a Freedom of Information Act request. It has asked for the interviews conducted and records reviewed as part of the probe but did not receive them by press time.

Other Prosecutions

A small number of people who were employed by the government on Jan. 6 have been prosecuted.

Federico Klein, a former Marine who worked for the State Department, was charged with and later convicted of assault and other charges related to the breach.

He was sentenced in late 2023 to 70 months in prison and two years of supervised release.

Paul Lovley worked for the National Security Agency when the breach happened. He was charged with entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.

He pleaded guilty to the latter charge in exchange for prosecutors’ dropping the other count. He was sentenced in 2023 to three years of probation.

Others who worked for local governments, including police officers, have been charged and convicted over the breach.

As of April 6, some 1,387 people have been charged in relation to the breach, with nearly 800 pleading guilty and another 156 being found guilty. Prosecutors are still bringing charges, with the rate of new charges in the first quarter of 2024 being higher than that in the first quarters of 2023 and 2022.