Barr: DOJ ‘cast their net far too broadly’ on prosecuting Jan. 6 rioters

by Lauren Irwin - 01/06/24 3:23 PM ET

Attorney General nominee Bill Barr arrives for a meeting with Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Jan. 26, 2019. The Judiciary panel is set to vote on Barr’s nomination Tuesday. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Former Attorney General Bill Barr argued that the Department of Justice (DOJ) cast its net “far too broadly” on prosecuting rioters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

“Well, you know, like everything else the left does, they did, I think, go too far,” Barr told Fox News’ Neil Cavuto on Saturday.

“I think there were people involved in January 6, particularly the people who attacked the police and broke their way into the Capitol, there were people that should have been prosecuted, but I think they cast their net far too broadly and have been hounding people that really, you know, just wanted into open doors in the Capitol and hung around,” Barr continued.

Barr, who served as attorney general for former President George H.W. Bush and then again for former President Trump, said he didn’t want to minimize what happened at the Capitol three years ago but does not “think it was an insurrection.”

“It clearly was a shameful episode, and some of the people involved should be prosecuted,” he said.

Barr’s comments come exactly three years after rioters at the “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, D.C., marched to the Capitol at the direction of Trump and participated in an insurrection attempting to overthrow the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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About 1,000 rioters have either pleaded guilty or been convicted of crimes ranging from felonies like seditious conspiracy and assaulting police officers to misdemeanors such as trespassing in the three years since the attack.

More than 1,200 individuals have been charged with federal crimes for the insurrection, The Hill previously reported.

In what has become the largest criminal investigation in American history, prosecutors are still searching for suspects and continue to ask for the public’s help in identifying at least 80 people.

A federal court ruled Friday that rioters who were passive during the attack can be convicted of disorderly conduct.

At least two dozen defendants are seeking to delay their cases until the Supreme Court decides whether an obstruction charge used to prosecute rioters was legitimately applied by the DOJ. Some are seeking pauses in their upcoming hearings while some already sentenced are hoping to be released from prison.