PHOENIX (AP) — At least a dozen of the 400 people charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol have made questionable claims about their encounters with officers while inside the building.
Some rioters say officers welcomed them into the Capitol, even though they walked past discarded police barriers into a building where windows were broken and chemical irritants were in the air.
Some have claimed officers told them the building was now theirs. Experts say nonviolent rioters who exited the building immediately stand a better chance at such defenses than those who were violent.