By Emmanuel Nduka
Authorities in the US on Saturday announced the arrest of three persons wanted in connection with the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol.
The arrest comes as the country marked the third anniversary of the violent attack by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Jonathan Pollock, Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson were arrested early Saturday at a ranch in the southern US state of Florida, the FBI said in a statement.
The trio will appear in a federal court in the central city of Ocala on Monday.
They face multiple charges, including assaulting and resisting civil servants as well as disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.
The FBI had offered a $30,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Jonathan Pollock, a 24-year-old welder “considered armed and dangerous.”
Earlier, a Justice Department statement said Pollock had assaulted several police officers, pulling one down a set of steps, kneeing another and punching a third in the neck.
It said Hutchinson had also punched and kicked several officers, and that Olivia Pollock — Jonathan Pollock’s sister, according to local media — had elbowed an officer and tried to grab a baton from another.
Nearly 1,300 people have so far been charged in relation to the Capitol riot, which prosecutors have called an insurrection aimed at keeping Trump in the White House.
Most of them face charges of illegally entering the Capitol or causing property damage, while some 350 have been charged with assaulting law enforcement officers or resisting arrest.
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Others, including members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, have been convicted of the more serious charge of seditious conspiracy.
Trump, who is seeking a second term in the Oval Office, himself is facing felony charges over his alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and his role in the January 6, 2021 assault.
He has never acknowledged his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden and vigorously denies having incited his supporters to attack the seat of the US Congress.
In February, the Supreme Court will hear a case on whether Trump is eligible to seek election to a second term, given his alleged role in the assault. For the moment, he is the runaway leader in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
39 percent of Americans believe the assault on the Capitol was the result of a plot hatched by the FBI, according to a Washington Post/University of Maryland poll released this week.
