...please, show us your "evidence"
If the FBI removes a picture, it means its agents no longer need the public’s assistance in identifying him, Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor who was an advisor to former FBI Director James B. Comey, told us in a phone interview.
There are many reasons that the FBI would remove Epps’ photo without filing charges during an ongoing investigation, Richman said, including that he may have spoken to investigators and clarified his role or that he is cooperating with investigators and may implicate others.
“It’s very much a work in progress from the government’s perspective,” said Richman, who also was a consultant to the Department of Justice.
+++++
“It is quite possible that insufficient evidence exists to charge him with a crime, either because his conduct did not amount to criminal behavior or the facts cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Barbara McQuade, a former U.S. attorney who co-chaired the attorney general’s advisory committee’s terrorism and national security subcommittee. “It could also be that he has agreed to cooperate, and so any charges are being deferred until prosecutors are able to assess the value of his cooperation.”
McQuade also noted that inciting violence at a protest would violate the FBI’s Domestic Investigations and Operation Guide, which, she said, “prohibits the FBI from interfering with First Amendment protected activities.”
“It is always possible that an individual agent has violated a policy,” McQuade said, but that agent would be guilty of misconduct if he incited violence and the bureau would be guilty of misconduct if it if it planted an agent to incite violence.
+++++
...this type of restraint is "standard practice" for Justice Department officials when it comes to ongoing investigations. Internal rules require it so that the investigations can preserve their integrity, and to protect the rights of suspects who haven’t been charged.
When Sanborn was asked more generally if "federal agents or those in service of federal agents actively encourage(d) violent and criminal conduct on Jan. 6," her answer was clear.
"Not to my knowledge, sir," Sanborn said.
