LAPD wants to know if its officers attended Trump rally or Capitol Building riot

The Los Angeles Police Department is working with the FBI to identify any of its officers who may have attended President Donald Trump’s rally or the attack on the Capitol Building that followed, in the wake of reports of law enforcement and military members in the crowds.

Chief Michel Moore, in a Police Commission meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 12, said he spoke with LAPD’s command staff members and “instructed them that if we learned of anyone that has traveled to D.C. for the president’s remarks or was present at the Capitol to identify them and identify their involvement.”

Multiple media outlets have reported on off-duty police officers from around the country who showed up at the Jan. 6 rally in which Trump exhorted his followers to continue fighting a mostly symbolic vote in the House of Representatives and Senate to approve state certifications of the 2020 presidential election.

Thousands of those followers quickly descended onto the Capitol, with a large number then breaching police lines and ransacking the building.

No Southern California police agency had thus far identified any officer who attended the rally. But Moore said his department was taking a look at whether any LAPD officers were even in Washington, D.C. at the time of the rally.

Moore said he spoke to the agent in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, which he said was involved in the investigation into the Capitol attack.

He said he would order any officer who was there to interview with the FBI, which is looking for witnesses to the attack in addition to anyone who participated in the violence.

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