FBI considers adding Capitol rioters to the ‘no-fly list’

The FBI has publicly acknowledged for the first time that it is considering preventing those who attacked the U.S. Capitol last week from boarding planes by adding them to the federal no-fly list.

FBI Washington Field Of fice A ssistant Direct or in C ha rge St even D’Antuono said Tuesday the bureau would consider adding rioters to the no-fly list, which is maintained by the bureau and administered by the Transportation Security Administration.

“As for the no-f ly list, we look at all tools and techniques that we possibly can use within the FBI and that’s something we are actively looking at,” D’Antuono said in response to a question from CNN’s Evan Pérez.

On Tuesday, congressional leaders intensified calls to keep rioters off planes after they said they remained mostly in the dark from the agencies that oversee the list.

“We cannot allow these same insurrectionists to get on a plane and cause more violence, and more damage,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said during a Tuesday afternoon news conference.

The top Democrat and Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee also told TSA Administrator David Pekoske in a letter they were concerned “little is being done to disrupt the travel of terrorists who just attacked the seat of the U. S. Government and wish to do so again.”

House Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson, a Democrat, and ranking Republican member John Katko wrote they were concerned that “many of the same groups that planned and carried out Wednesday’s attack intend to return to Washington, DC, to cause further disruption and violence in the coming days, including at the inauguration of President- elect Joe Biden.”