Federal law enforcement is investigating whether one woman charged in the attack on the Capitol earlier this month intended to sell a laptop from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office to Russia. The woman reportedly remains at large.
The detail about the computer from Pelosi’s office was noted in an FBI agent’s statement of facts in support of the criminal complaint against Riley June Williams. The charges were filed in federal court on Sunday.
The laptop claim came from an unidentified former romantic partner of Williams’, who is referred to as W1 in the court document and who allegedly called the FBI tip line after the attack.
“W1 also claimed to have spoken to friends of WILLIAMS, who showed W1 a video of WILLIAMS taking a laptop computer or hard drive from Speaker Pelosi’s office. W1 stated that WILLIAMS intended to send the computer device to a friend in Russia, who then planned to sell the device to SVR, Russian foreign intelligence service,” the court document alleged.
“According to W1, the transfer of the computer device to Russia fell through for unknown reasons and WILLIAMS still has the computer device or destroyed it,” the agent continued. “The matter remains under investigation.”
It’s unclear what if any computer hardware Williams actually took from Pelosi’s office, nor what happened to any equipment that she did manage to smuggle out of the Capitol. Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, confirmed a couple days after the attack that a laptop had been taken from Pelosi’s office.
A laptop from a conference room was stolen. It was a laptop that was only used for presentations. https://t.co/S7YGPnLaWy
— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill) January 8, 2021
Currently, Williams is charged with entering a restricted building and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
Williams’ identity was recently uncovered by the British television network ITV, whose Washington correspondent reported from inside the Capitol during the attack.
In footage from ITV, Williams directs other Capitol attackers into the building: “Up the stairs! Go! Keep going!” she tells them in the footage, as she shoves them forward.
The FBI agent, who cited the documentary in their statement of facts, noted that “the staircase depicted in the video does, in fact, lead to Speaker Pelosi’s office.”
An ITV reporter interviewed Williams’ mother at her apartment after the attack. Williams’ mother confirmed that the woman in the footage is her daughter, and that Williams recently “took off.”
The FBI agent noted that Williams’ mother told law enforcement her daughter had recently packed a bag and said she’d be gone for a couple weeks. Williams allegedly then changed her telephone number and deleted her presumed social media pages.
“It appears that WILLIAMS has fled,” the agent wrote.
Have I mentioned we’re kind of lucky these domestic terrorist are really stupid? Granted if they weren’t stupid at all they wouldn’t be terrorist in the first place.
self proclaimed patriots selling info to russia? interesting
so itv has a reporter named Riley Williams interviewing Riley Williams’s mother? what a coincidence.
It’s OK, because it’s Demonrat information.
You need to learn to “think” the way these people do. If you succeed, have yourself committed.
No! That’s my typo, thanks