Sandy Lake, Pennsylvania – The FBI raided the home Thursday of Rachel Powell, a single mother of eight suspected of playing a role in the assault on the U.S. Capitol, CBS Pittsburgh reports. Officers loosened the house looking for any evidence that would help build a case against Powell and any clues that might indicate where he would have gone.
Neighbors say Powell and some of the younger children have not been seen for a week or more and are apparently in hiding.
Until Thursday, the FBI had refused to even call Powell a suspect and now only offers a brief statement, indicating that the agency obtained a search warrant for the raid on the home and that they were looking for her.
“We’re conducting authorized law enforcement to enforce the law in this place. We’re looking for Rachel Powell’s whereabouts,” the FBI said.
Any arrest or fugitive order would be under seal and would not be made public until Powell was located or handed herself over. The raid, however, confirms all beliefs that Powell is the “lady of the megaphone,” CBS Pittsburgh says.
Powell can be clearly seen in videos carrying a ram in the Capitol during the January 6 assault.
She has been known as the “lady of the megaphone” who seemed to have knowledge of the floor plan of the Capitol building. They saw her in a video instructing the insurgents where to go.
Powell is of particular concern to federal investigators, as if he had this knowledge, he could indicate that the assault was planned.
But Powell denies this in a piece in The New Yorker magazine.
The FBI has published photographs of him, seeking the help of the public.
Neighbors were surprised by the raid and the reasons for it.
“It’s crazy. We’re Republicans, but we would never do anything like that. Biden is the president right now. Live with that. Do it right,” Teresa Chisholm remarked on CBS Pittsburgh.