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US woman, FBI alleges stole Pelosi’s laptop to sell to Russians, arrested

Williams is among the more than 100 people arrested in relation to events of Jan 6

Untitled design (49) A woman identified in a warrant logged January 17, 2021 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as Riley June Williams, accused of unlawfully breaching the U.S. Capitol building and directing people to US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, is seen in an undated driver's license photograph | Reuters

Riley June Williams, a woman who the FBI says took a laptop belonging to Speaker Nancy Pelosi when an angry mob stormed the Capitol building on January 6 and tried selling it to Russians has been arrested. Williams was arrested in the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Monday, as per a listing on the Justice Department’s website tracking arrests.  

Williams is among the more than 100 people arrested after a crowd charged Capitol grounds. She has been charged with remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

However, there is no indication in the court record that the laptop was taken from Speaker Pelosi’s office. Pelosi on Saturday said lawmakers who aided the mob at the Capitol on January 6 might be prosecuted

Witnesses have shown the FBI video footage of Williams stealing the laptop. 

The FBI is said to have received a tip of Williams stealing the laptop from her former partner, AP reported. The tipster is also said to have told the FBI that Williams intended to sell the laptop to SVR, Russia’s foreign intelligence unit. Pelosi’s chief of staff Drew Hamill told The Guardian on January 8 that the laptop was used only for presentations. 

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