Washington: The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has launched a probe to find out if any foreign actors, including governments and groups, funded the rioters who attacked the US Capitol building in Washington D.C. on January 6, according to a news report published on Sunday.
The NBC News report, which cited a former and current FBI official, said the agency "is examining payments of $500,000 in bitcoin, apparently by a French national, to key figures and groups in the alt-right before the riot".
The officials told NBC News that tose payments were documented and posted online last week by a company that analyses cryptocurrency transfers.
Last week, a joint warning issued by the FBI, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other security agencies said that since the riot staged by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, "Russian, Iranian, and Chinese influence actors have seized the opportunity to amplify narratives in furtherance of their policy interest amid the presidential transition".
The US Capitol Police (USCP) has arrested a man when he tried to cross a checkpoint near the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., armed with a loaded gun and more than 500 rounds of ammunition, according to media reported.
Identified as Wesley Allen Beeler from Front Royal, Virginia, the man told police he was carrying a Glock semi-automatic pistol, which was later discovered to have been loaded with 17 rounds of ammunition and a round chamber ready to fire, Xinhua news agency quoted a CNN report citing a source familiar with the case as saying on Saturday.
A woman from the US state of Missouri, who was seen with a fractured sign belonging to House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the January 6 Capitol riots, has been charged, according to court documents. On Saturday, the documents filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia revealed that Emily Hernandez was slapped with five charges a day earlier in connection to the riot staged by supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump, The Hill news website reported.
The FBI received tips from at least three persons identifying Hernandez, who was allegedly seen in a video circulated by the UK's ITV news network.
According to The Hill news report, in the video the rioters are seen entering the Capitol and a few minutes later, they were seen going in and out of a room, which had a wooden sign above it saying, "Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi".
