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What we know about the laptop that was stolen from Nancy Pelosi's aide during the Capitol siege

nancy pelosi
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sanitizes the gavel after Vice President Mike Pence walked off the dais during a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 6, 2021. Erin Schaff/Pool via REUTERS
  • Since the deadly siege on the US Capitol, lawmakers have reported various items stolen from their offices. Misinformation surrounding the items has already started to spread.

  • A laptop that belonged to an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was one of the items reported stolen.

  • On Monday, the FBI arrested a 22-year-old woman accused of stealing the laptop and planning to sell it to Russia.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

When US Capitol staff returned to work following the violent insurrection by pro-Trump extremists on January 6, they found broken windows and their offices pillaged.

A laptop that belonged to an aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was one of the items reported stolen.

Drew Hammill, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff, said on January 8 that the aide's laptop, which he said was "only used for presentations," was taken from a conference room in the Capitol.

On Monday, the FBI arrested a 22-year-old woman that they say stole the laptop and planned on selling it to Russia.

The suspect's ex and mother turned her in to the FBI

Riley June Williams, of Pennsylvania, has been charged with illegally entering the Capitol and disorderly conduct, according to an FBI affidavit.

A woman identified in a warrant logged January 17, 2021 by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as Riley June Williams, a Pennsylvania woman accused of unlawfully breaching the U.S. Capitol building and directing people to U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, is seen in an undated driver's license photograph. FBI/Handout via REUTERS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY.
An image of Riley June Williams released by the FBI. FBI/Handout via REUTERS

The FBI got a tip about Williams from a person who identified as her ex, the court documents said. The person told the FBI that Williams intended to send the device to a friend in Russia, who would then sell it to the country's foreign intelligence service, but the plan fell through.

Williams' mother also told investigators before the arrest that she had packed a bag, changed her phone number,and deleted her social media accounts.

CNN reported that she had surrendered herself to law-enforcement authorities. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request from Insider for more confirmation.

Williams has not yet been charged with theft, but the list of crimes Capitol rioters were arrested on are likely to grow as their cases progress.

Some far-right folks falsely speculated US Special Forces took the laptop

While far-right activists have already started spreading misinformation about the device - with some claiming it was taken by US Special Forces because it contained evidence of election fraud - there is no evidence that's the case.

The disinformation has stemmed from comments made by Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney.

McInerney has falsely claimed that Antifa is responsible for the riots and that panic over the laptop, which he claims is full of damning information, is why Democrats sought to impeach President Donald Trump.

Read more: The right-wing conspiracy theories that fueled the Capitol siege are going to instigate more violence

pelosi office
A supporter of US President Donald Trump leaves a note in the office of US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi as he protest inside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021 SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

Ken McGraw, a public affairs officer for US Special Operations Command, told USA TODAY on Wednesday the agency had nothing to do with the missing laptop.

"We have not received any reports or information that anyone in Special Forces or any other Special Operations Forces units entered the US Capitol on 6 January and stole Speaker Pelosi or any other congressional members' laptops during the riot," he told USA Today.

Another false viral claim about the laptop alleged that Trump was at Cheyenne Mountain military base in Colorado Springs, Colorado, looking at "evidence" taken from the laptop.

According to Snopes, this claim seemed to stem from a post on the right-wing social media platform Parler, which went offline after Amazon stopped hosting the website due to violent content.

The post also falsely claimed Pelosi was "stopped at the border" and would be brought to an "undisclosed location" as a result of the "evidence."

But according to Trump's public schedule, he has not visited Cheyenne Mountain. Save for a trip to Alamo, Texas, on January 12 to visit the border wall, the president hasn't left DC since the Capitol siege.

There's also no evidence Pelosi took a trip to the border. Snopes reported the Parler post was shared on January 6, but Pelosi was in Congress into the early morning hours of January 7 finishing the certification of the electoral votes.

An iPad was reported stolen, too

The laptop isn't the only device that was taken during the insurrection. CNN reported that House Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina reported an iPad stolen.

Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon tweeted a video that showed rioters stealing a laptop, USA Today reported.

There have also been false claims about papers being stolen from offices in the Capitol.

Brendan Keefe, an investigative reporter at Atlanta's WXIA-TV station, debunked a letter that people online claimed was stolen from Pelosi's desk.

Keefe showed how the fake letter was photo-edited.

Expanded Coverage Module: capitol-siege-module

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