Defense lawyers seethe after DOJ pushes witness to identify more Jan. 6 perpetrators
A Jan. 6 trial briefly ground to a halt Tuesday after prosecutors pressed a defense witness to identify people who went inside the Capitol but had not been charged with any crimes.
“I don’t think it’s my job to doxx people,” said the witness, David Sumrall, who runs a website advocating and fundraising for Jan. 6 defendants.
Sumrall was called Tuesday as a witness by lawyers for Jan. 6 defendant Christopher Alberts — who carried a gun on Capitol grounds and is facing several felony charges for his conduct that day. Sumrall is a prolific podcaster, who has embraced and advocated for Jan. 6 defendants and echoed false claims that the attack on the Capitol was a setup.
Recognizing Sumrall’s prominence within the Jan. 6 community, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jordan Konig pressed the witness to identify others who went into the Capitol but had not yet been charged — raising the prospect that a truthful answer might incriminate his acquaintances or associates. After initially beginning to answer the question, Sumrall appeared to grow agitated.
Alberts’ attorney Roger Roots quickly objected, prompting U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper to recess the trial and debate the issue. After jurors left the room, Cooper professed to being blindsided by the line of questioning, calling it “unorthodox” and a “fairly unique situation.” He asked prosecutors to give him a heads-up next time if they planned to go that route.
Roots fumed that the line of questioning was a bid by prosecutors to turn Sumrall into a “cheese-eating rat” and “a snitch on the stand.” He accused prosecutors of “pretending they’re the FBI” and attempting to humiliate Sumrall in front of the jury.
“This is so outrageous,” Roots said.
Konig said Sumrall’s refusal to answer the question spoke to his credibility as a defense witness — proving that he was unwilling to testify in any way that would be harmful to a Jan. 6 defendant. His “ties to the Jan. 6 community,”…
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