{"id":7280,"date":"2026-07-16T04:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7280"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T23:23:33","slug":"exclusive-trump-dojs-top-antifa-prosecutor-marched-with-crowd-on-jan-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=7280","title":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Trump DOJ\u2019s Top \u2018Antifa\u2019 Prosecutor Marched With Crowd on Jan. 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n<br><div id=\"article-content\">\n            \n\n\n\n\n<p>On Jan. 6, 2021, a man approached the Capitol who looked like many others in the crowd that day: white, with a Trump 2020 hat on and a shirt marking his service to the country in Afghanistan.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n<!-- \/wp:post-content -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>But this one was different. Brian W. Lynch was months into a new job as a federal prosecutor in Maryland when he attended the march on the Capitol. Yet, somehow, Lynch\u2019s presence at the Capitol that fateful day has not been publicly reported until now, more than five years later. In the meantime, Lynch remained at DOJ and, under the second Trump administration, received a big promotion: He\u2019s now running a national task force to prosecute left-wing political violence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>A DOJ official confirmed to TPM that Lynch \u201cwas present but never entered the capitol, left the grounds after a brief period, and did not commit and was never accused of any violation of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The prosecutor, Brian W. Lynch, did not return TPM\u2019s requests for comment.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Michael Romano, who was a deputy chief in the DOJ\u2019s since-disbanded Capitol Siege Section, described Jan. 6 to TPM as an act of massive political violence. He told TPM that he had never heard of anything like a federal prosecutor having been present at the march and continuing to work and be promoted years on.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cPeople were trying to stop the certification of the electoral college vote on January 6th,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power between one presidential administration and the next.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In the images, Lynch is wearing a Trump 2020 baseball hat. He has on a black shirt emblazoned with a map of Afghanistan that reads, \u201cAfghanistan 2012-2013.\u201d A LinkedIn profile for Lynch that was removed after <a href=\"http:\/\/google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/exclusive-doj-taps-gang-terrorism-prosecutors-to-crack-down-on-political-groups&amp;sa=D&amp;source=docs&amp;ust=1784141481907913&amp;usg=AOvVaw1icvtPkRjD_hOqV80EffB-\" target=\"_blank\">an earlier TPM story about him<\/a> said that he deployed to Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013 as part of a legal assistance program.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>One image that the DOJ confirmed to be of Lynch shows him in front of a green crane. Romano told TPM that it is \u201cdefinitely in the restricted area,\u201d and that \u201cthe boundaries were streets. Anyone that close to the building was inside the restricted area.\u201d <\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":1552316,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<div class=\"GalleryImageWrapper\"><h2 class=\"GalleryImageWrapper__Title\"\/><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2828\" height=\"1456\" src=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?w=804\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1552316\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png 2828w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=768,395 768w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=804,414 804w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=1536,791 1536w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=2048,1054 2048w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=600,309 600w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=1000,515 1000w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.31.32\u202fPM.png?resize=1200,618 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2828px) 100vw, 2828px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Lynch stands on the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 while wearing a star-spangled mask. (Obtained by TPM)<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In March, Lynch became co-director of Joint Task Force Vanguard, which DOJ has described as central to its effort to prosecute alleged left-wing political violence cases, including last month\u2019s indictment of 15 anti-ICE protesters in Minneapolis. Lynch reports to Todd Blanche, the deputy attorney general currently serving as acting attorney general while the Senate considers his nomination to the permanent position.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lynch\u2019s presence at the march on Jan. 6 puts him at the center of the highest-profile example of political violence in the U.S. this century and the first break in the country\u2019s streak of peaceful transfers of power since the country\u2019s founding. After more than a month of trying to overturn his loss in the 2020 election through legal wrangling, pressure on state legislatures and pressure on the courts, President Donald Trump directed his supporters to march on Congress as members voted to certify Joe Biden\u2019s victory. The march culminated in hours of spectacular violence in which rioters broke down barricades, assaulted law enforcement officers, and stormed into the heart of the Capitol, forcing members of Congress to flee.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>There\u2019s no evidence that Lynch entered the Capitol building itself or that he engaged in violence.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Romano, the Jan. 6 prosecutor, described the scale of the task facing DOJ as \u201chuge.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cWe knew that there had been thousands of people, um, who entered the Capitol and should not have, and who took part in disrupting the certification of the Electoral College that day,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd so we had the task of identifying as many of those people as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Romano added that charges largely depended on the person\u2019s conduct that day \u2013 limited investigative and prosecutorial resources went to those who committed acts of violence or who made it deeper into the Capitol. Those strayed into restricted areas were often overlooked out of resource constraints.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cWe took a lot of care and a lot of deliberation to really assess what people did and whether there was good evidence that they understood they were doing something wrong or something illegal before we charged,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>The attack on Congress prompted widespread condemnation, led to Trump\u2019s second impeachment, and resulted in the largest investigation in the DOJ\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Several people that TPM spoke with expressed disbelief that Lynch was not identified during the Jan. 6 investigation. The DOJ assigned hundreds of prosecutors and FBI agents from across the country to pore through footage and identify the rioters; a small army of online sleuths dedicated their lives to tracking down the identities of the people who breached the Capitol that day. More than 1,500 people were arrested in the course of the probe; several law enforcement officials and military personnel were identified and prosecuted over their involvement. The FBI said in 2023 that it <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.com\/US\/eve-hearing-fbi-revoked-security-clearances-3-agents\/story?id=99414928\" target=\"_blank\">revoked<\/a> the security clearances of three agents in relation to the attack.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Through all of that, Lynch does not appear to have ever been identified.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>In his final report, Special Counsel Jack Smith <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/storage\/Report-of-Special-Counsel-Smith-Volume-1-January-2025.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">described<\/a> Trump\u2019s coup attempt as an effort \u201cto defeat a federal government function foundational to the United States\u2019 democratic process.\u201d After Trump won the 2024 election, he pardoned nearly all of the rioters and commuted the sentences of a small few.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph --><!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>When the Capitol insurrection took place, Lynch was serving as an assistant U.S. attorney in the District of Maryland. He had moved there in November 2020 after spending years as a state prosecutor in Cleveland and, before then, in Ohio\u2019s Wayne County. In Maryland, Lynch prosecuted violent crime, weapons, and drug cases. He was three months into his tenure as a federal prosecutor when he appeared in a Trump 2020 hat among the crowd on Jan. 6.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>TPM reviewed a video of people marching down Pennsylvania Avenue on Jan. 6. It briefly shows a man resembling Lynch; several former colleagues of Lynch\u2019s told TPM that they recognized him as the man in screenshots of the video that TPM shared with them.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>By 2022, Lynch had changed offices to DOJ headquarters for a position in what\u2019s now known as the Violent Crime and Racketeering Section. There, he took charge of organized crime cases in Ohio and in Minnesota, where he lived for a time, and became a presence in the criminal division of the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:image {\"id\":1552310,\"sizeSlug\":\"large\",\"linkDestination\":\"none\"} -->\n<div class=\"GalleryImageWrapper\"><h2 class=\"GalleryImageWrapper__Title\"\/><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1244\" height=\"614\" src=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png?w=804\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1552310\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png 1244w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png?resize=768,379 768w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png?resize=804,397 804w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png?resize=600,296 600w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png?resize=1000,494 1000w, https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Screenshot-2026-07-15-at-5.21.39\u202fPM.png?resize=1200,592 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1244px) 100vw, 1244px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><em>Lynch (right) at a press conference in Minneapolis in June announcing the indictment of 15 anti-ICE protesters.\u00a0<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n<!-- \/wp:image -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>TPM <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/exclusive-doj-taps-gang-terrorism-prosecutors-to-crack-down-on-political-groups\" target=\"_blank\">first reported last month that the DOJ created<\/a> Joint Task Force Vanguard to pursue political violence cases across the country. That, a DOJ official told TPM, means <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/the-trump-admins-mostly-unnoticed-move-to-crack-down-on-the-opposition\" target=\"_blank\">implementing National Security Presidential Memorandum 7<\/a>. Issued after the killing of Charlie Kirk, NSPM-7 directs federal law enforcement to treat \u201canti-Americanism, anti-Capitalism, and anti-Christianity\u201d as indicators of political violence.<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>Lynch appeared at a press conference in Minneapolis last month announcing the new conspiracy indictment <a href=\"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/news\/minnesota-attorney-ice-protester-indictment\" target=\"_blank\">brought against 15 anti-ICE protesters<\/a> who took part in demonstrations against the Trump administration\u2019s surge of federal immigration enforcement into the city. The indictment dubbed the group \u201cAntifa.\u201d Though he did not speak there, he was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/15-members-direct-action-minnesota-minneapolis-based-direct-action-group-antifa-ties\" target=\"_blank\">quoted<\/a> in a DOJ press release saying that Vanguard\u2019s purpose is \u201cto counter groups that use violence and the threat of violence to achieve political ends.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->\n\n<!-- wp:paragraph -->\n<p>\u201cActs of political violence are priority matters for federal law enforcement and will be zealously investigated and prosecuted,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<!-- \/wp:paragraph -->          <\/div><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n    window.fbAsyncInit = function() {\n      FB.init({\n        appId: \"101800829865996\",\n        xfbml: true,\n        version: ' v2.6'\n      });\n      window.fbAsyncInit.__didInit = true;\n    };\n    (function(d, s, id) {\n      var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];\n      if (d.getElementById(id)) {\n        return;\n      }\n      js = d.createElement(s);\n      js.id = id;\n      js.src = \"https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/sdk.js\";\n      fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);\n    }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk'));\n  <\/script>\r\n<br><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Jan. 6, 2021, a man approached the Capitol who looked like many others in the crowd that day: white, with a Trump 2020 hat on and a shirt marking his service to the country in Afghanistan.\u00a0 But this one was different. Brian W. Lynch was months into a new job as a federal prosecutor&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7281,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/talkingpointsmemo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/DOJ-feature-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}