Trump appointed Ohio U.S. attorneys vow to prosecute Capitol riot criminals

(The Center Square) – Both Ohio U.S. attorneys, each appointed by President Trump, vowed to prosecute Capitol Building rioters who traveled from Ohio planning criminal activity.

In a tweet late Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney David DeVillers, from the Southern District of Ohio, said federal crimes were committed when supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the building, overwhelming police officers and sending the nation’s lawmakers fleeing.

“Make no mistake…Federal crimes were committed today at our nation’s Capital building. Anyone who traveled from the Southern District of Ohio with the intent to commit such crimes will be prosecuted in the Southern District of Ohio,” DeVillers said in the tweet.

At the same time, Northern Ohio District U.S. Attorney Justin Herdman, who announced his resignation in mid-December, tweeted he would be willing to spend his final days in office working around the clock searching for those from Northern Ohio who committed crimes at the Capitol.

“I have two days left on this job. I can go with very little sleep in that remaining time,” Herdman tweeted. “If these people, or anyone else who committed federal crimes at the Capitol today, are from Northern Ohio, you are going to be held accountable before I leave office. Coffee is brewing.”

He followed it five hours later with the tweet saying he was still up and still working and included a link to the FBI tip line.

Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said the same people who called chargers against those who set fire to the federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon protesting police brutality over the same must react to Tuesday’s actions in the same manner.

“The rule of law means the same rules for everybody,” Yost said. “Those of us who called for prosecution of the people who stormed the federal courthouse in Portland must apply the same demand to those who stormed the Capitol today. The color of your skin or the slog upon your banner must not change what is and is not acceptable. Let all of us in Ohio remain peaceful. Do not let a sense of injustice produce more injustice.”

A former director of the organized crime and gang unit for the Franklin County prosecutor’s office, DeVillers secured the indictment in 2020 of former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder on federal racketeering changes in a $60 million bribery scandal surrounding the state’s House Bill 6.

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