SEDITION HUNTERS

The January 6th attack is an unprecedented crime in American history. Sprawling and openly political, it can't be handled by the traditional rules and norms of law enforcement - threatening the very idea of justice and its role in society.

The attack on the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021 was an extraordinarily large and brazen crime, and one whose impact is ongoing. Sprawling and openly political, it can't be handled by the traditional rules and norms of law enforcement. Despite daily news items about arrests and investigations, Reilly's reporting shows that there are hundreds, even thousands, of participants who have not yet been charged or arrested. As the justice system struggles to function amid political chaos, this book portrays both its civic importance and its harrowing future. Sedition Hunters will include a wealth of new reporting on law enforcement's plans, actions, and challenges, on day of the attack itself, and on the online communities that have sprung up around it in every direction.

Conspiracies were formed on social media in full public view, the law-breakers paraded on national television with undisguised faces, and with outgoing President Donald Trump openly cheering them on. The basic concept of law enforcement--investigators find criminals and serve justice--quickly breaks down in the face of such an event. The system has been strained by the sheer volume of criminals and the widespread perception that what they did wasn't wrong.

A mass of online tipsters--"sedition hunters"--have mobilized, simultaneously providing the FBI with valuable intelligence and creating an ethical dilemma. Who gets to serve justice? How can law enforcement still function as a pillar of civil society? As the foundations of government are questioned, the FBI and Department of Justice are the first responders to a crisis of democracy and law that threatens to spread, and fast.

In this work of extraordinary reportage, Ryan Reilly gets to know would-be revolutionaries, obsessive online sleuths, and FBI agents, and shines a light on a justice system that's straining to maintain order in a polarized country. From the moment the police barriers were breached on January 6th, 2021, we knew something had seismically shifted. Sedition Hunters is the fascinating, high-stakes story of what happens next.

Ryan J. Reilly is a Justice reporter for NBC News. Previously, he was the senior justice reporter for HuffPost, where he covered the Justice Department and the FBI for more than a decade. He was 2017 Livingston Award finalist for his reporting on jail deaths, and has appeared on a variety of television programs, including The Situation Room, The Lead with Jake Tapper, Reliable Sources, All In with Chris Hayes, The Rachel Maddow Show, and American Voices with Alicia Mendendez. He lives in Washington, DC.