As of the last count, a total of 638 people have been arrested and charged since the incident. The number of people charged in the so-called insurrection is expected to keep growing as Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents pore through video footage, social media posts, phone location data and tips from the public.
"The FBI is real. They've been to my house. They have my employee under house arrest," Sumrall told host Dan Happel of "Connecting the Dots" on Brighteon.TV.
"FBI agents come in with guns blazing, ready to shoot somebody. They're trying to get someone to snap. I have a story of one of the men that they arrested. They laid hands on his wife, trying to get to him, to incite him to do something so they can say 'see we got one of those crazy Trumpers.'"
The FBI is pursuing virtually every person who took part in the riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer, and more than 100 other officers injured. Prosecutors have said that the riot also caused at least $1.5 million in damages to the historic building. (Related: The false and exaggerated claims still being spread about the Capitol riot.)
Sumrall said one of the people arrested by the FBI has cancer and can't get treatment inside prison. There's also a pregnant woman under house arrest. Some of the people arrested had been moved from state to state without informing their families and relatives.
"This is psychological warfare. This is torture," Sumrall said. "This is the system that we live in. This is nothing the people need to suffer through for standing up for their president."
Double standard of the law
Happel highlighted the injustice of it all by comparing the cases of Black Lives Matter (BLM) and Antifa rioters to the Trump supporters.
"The U.S. Attorney's Office and the Department of Justice dropped almost all the charges against BLM and Antifa rioters, who burned down cities and even killed people. And yet, at the same time, they made it very clear that they plan on pursing the so-called insurrection at the Capitol to full completion and prosecution." Happel said. "That is a double standard of the law. No question about it."
Sumrall called it a "travesty." He was there when things unfolded and was convinced that the demonstration had been infiltrated by agitators and posers from the left. (Related: VIDEO: Capitol Police removed barriers and allowed protesters to walk right into the Capitol.)
"It was a beautiful day. The most patriotic day, hands down, in my life. It was beautiful to see people come together peacefully to redress their grievances with their government. That's the point, that's the whole story," Sumrall said. "And then you got the bad guys that came in and really mucked it all up for everybody. They made us look bad. They did things for optic reasons."
But he knew the FBI would not take a closer look on that angle, or even consider it. "They don't want the truth. They just want to build a case to smear any conservative," Sumrall said.
The suspects in the riot at the Capitol are a varied group, including an ousted West Virginia lawmaker, several police officers and a left-wing activist from Utah. Most of the rioters were allowed to leave the crime scene, forcing investigators to conduct a national manhunt for the pro-Trump crowd that stormed the halls of Congress.
Just weeks after the riot, FBI officials said they had already been inundated with 140,000 videos and photos from members of the public. According to federal criminal code, seditious conspiracy means an effort to conspire to overthrow the U.S. government. The punishment is up to 20 years in prison.
Interestingly, only a few of the rioters facing federal charges came from pro-Trump strongholds. Based on the George Washington University extremism tracker, most of them came from districts that voted for President Joe Biden in last year's election.
It's all about the optics
With hundreds of additional investigations still ongoing, prosecutors are expected to bring more serious charges against some defendants who have already been charged, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray.
"This is far from over. And with each arrest and each case we bring, not only are we driving toward accountability for the attack but we're also learning more about what was out there beforehand so we can use that to get better moving forward," Wray said.
Sumrall has figured that out a long time ago. "They want the optics. They don't want this to go away," he said.
The charges against the suspects arrested to date fall into three broad categories. At one end of the spectrum are those accused of illegally entering the Capitol but not engaging in any violence. They face misdemeanor charges such as trespassing and disorderly conduct, both of which carry little to no jail time.
At the other end are the members of three far-right groups – the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters and the Proud Boys – who had been accused of by prosecutors of having planned and coordinated their attack on the Capitol months in advance. They face multiple felony charges of conspiracy and other offenses.
The rest of the defendants face a combination of lesser misdemeanor charges and more serious felony charges of destruction of property and assaulting police officers.
Watch the full episode of "Connecting the Dots" with Dan Happel featuring David Sumrall here:
You can catch "Connecting the Dots" with Dan Happel live every Tuesday from 5-6 p.m. on Brighteon.TV.
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