U.S. Backs Off Claim Rioters Tried to Capture and Kill Officials

In a dramatic account of the siege at the Capitol, U.S. prosecutors in Arizona claimed Thursday that rioters had sought to “capture and assassinate” elected officials, but retracted the assertion a day later.

After the acting U.S. attorney in Washington told reporters Friday that investigators had no “direct evidence” of “kill/capture” teams at the riot, an Arizona prosecutor asked a magistrate judge later in the day to strike the allegation from the court filing, CNN reported.

The back-and-forth laid bare the depth and complexity of the Capitol investigation as law enforcement agents and federal prosecutors across the country scramble to ...