A woman identified as having taken part in the storming of the US Capitol is accused of stealing a laptop belonging to top Democrat Nancy Pelosi which she hoped to sell to a Russian spy agency, according to the FBI.
There is no indication Riley June Williams, a 22-year-old careworker from Pennsylvania, took a laptop from Ms Pelosi’s office. The FBI, which is working off a tip, said in the court record the “matter remains under investigation.”
The complaint, filed late Sunday in US District Court in Washington, sought the arrest of Williams on grounds including “violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.”
Relying on several photos and videos of the chaotic January 6 riot, an FBI agent said Williams was seen near the office of Ms Pelosi, US House Speaker.
A witness, identified in the court document only as W1 but who claimed to be “the former romantic partner of Riley June Williams,” alleged that Williams planned to send the laptop to a friend in Russia to sell it to the SVR foreign intelligence agency.
That sale “fell through for unknown reasons, and Williams still has the computer device or destroyed it,” the affidavit says.
Several videos show the woman believed to be Williams actively directing fellow rioters, urging them “Go! Go! Up the stairs.”
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The complaint says Williams’ mother in the city of Harrisburg was shown pictures taken in the Capitol and confirmed a slender, bespectacled brown-haired woman in several pictures was her.
Wendy Willians said her daughter had “taken a sudden interest in President Trump’s politics.”
Williams had travelled to Washington with her father, though the two were separated during the chaos that day.
The complaint says that after Williams returned home, she packed a bag and told her mother she was leaving “for a couple of weeks.”
“It appears that Williams has fled,” the complaint says.
