2 charged with assault in Capitol riot fatality

WASHINGTON — Two men were charged with assaulting Officer Brian D. Sicknick of the Capitol Police and other officers with a chemical spray during the Jan. 6 riot, the Justice Department announced Monday, but prosecutors stopped short of linking the attack to Sicknick’s death the next day.

The FBI arrested George Pierre Tanios, 39, of Morgantown, W. Va., and Julian Elie Khater, 32, of State College, Pa., on Sunday. Tanios was arrested at home, and Khater was arrested as he stepped off a plane in Newark, N.J., the department said.

They were charged with conspiracy to injure an officer, assaulting an officer with a dangerous weapon, civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and other crimes related to violent conduct on the grounds of the Capitol, the Justice Department said.

Both appeared via video before federal magistrate judges Monday. Tanios, who joined his hearing dressed in orange, will appear in court again Thursday to determine whether he will remain detained while awaiting trial. In a separate hearing, a lawyer for Khater indicated his client intended to plead not guilty.

Among other charges, they face up to 20 years for assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon.

Sicknick and two other police officers were injured “as a result of being sprayed in the face” with an unidentified substance by Khater and Tanios, the FBI said in search warrant applications filed in court. The officers were temporarily blinded and had to stop working to get medical attention, the bureau said.

Sicknick was one of five people left dead by the attack, and his death was a major focus for law enforcement officials conducting the sprawling inquiry into the riot. The Justice Department has said in court filings that the investigation is most likely “one of the largest in American history,” with more than 900 search warrants executed in nearly every state.

Law enforcement officials described the suspects as briefly plotting before the attack. The men, who were among the thousands who traveled to the Capitol to protest Congress’ certification of the election results Jan. 6, spoke to each other animatedly, surveillance video showed, and worked together “to assault law enforcement officers with an unknown chemical substance by spraying officers directly in the face and eyes,” an FBI agent said in a court document.