(CNN) -
Justice Department prosecutors formally withdrew their claim in a court docket that said Capitol agitators sought to "capture and murder elected officials."
A federal prosecutor in Arizona asked a magistrate judge in a hearing on Friday to jump the line in a recent court filing about defendant Jacob Anthony Chansley, a man who allegedly led some of the crowd on the first wave to the Capitol. with a megaphone while carrying a spear and wearing a fur headdress.
The whole line that prosecutors want to omit from their court filing is: “Strong evidence, including Chansley's own words and actions on Capitol Hill, supports that the intent of the Capitol agitators was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the government. of the United States.
The astonishing move comes a few hours after Michael Sherwin, the acting US attorney in Washington, said at a press conference that "there was no direct evidence of capture and kill teams" at this time during the siege of the Capitol building.
In court, Todd Allison, a line prosecutor for the Department of Justice in Arizona, said the Justice Department might want to argue that kind of claim if Chansley goes to trial, but can't say that at this point.
"We do not want to mislead the court by discussing the strength of any specific evidence" related to his intent, Allison said.
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Prosecutors are still arguing with the judge to keep Chansley in custody.
Chansley's case will eventually move to federal court in Washington.
The line was a chilling description so far of the rioters who took over the Capitol last week, writing in a court file that the intention was "to capture and assassinate elected officials."
Lawyers for the Justice Department have begun to describe what happened in more alarming terms.
In a separate case, Texas court prosecutors alleged that a retired Air Force reservist wearing plastic restraints on the Senate floor may have intended to restrain lawmakers.
Chansley's attorney said he is not violent.
I loved Trump, every word.
He heard it.
I felt like I was responding to our president's call, "said Chansley's attorney, Al Watkins, who appeared on CNN Thursday night.
"My client was not violent.
He did not cross any police lines.
He did not attack anyone.
Watkins said Chansley also hopes for a presidential pardon.
Prosecutors describe those who took over the Capitol as "insurgents" and offer new details about Chansley's role in last week's violent siege, including the fact that after being on the stand where Vice President Mike Pence had been that Tomorrow, Chansley wrote a note saying "it's only a matter of time before justice arrives."
Chansley later told the FBI that he did not refer to the note as a threat, but said the vice president was a "traitorous child trafficker" and went on a lengthy tirade about Pence, Biden and other politicians as traitors.
Before being arrested, Chansley told the FBI that he wanted to return to Washington for the inauguration to protest.
Prosecutors accuse Chansley of being a flight risk who can raise money quickly through non-traditional means as "one of the leaders and symbols of QAnon, a group commonly known as a cult (that preaches the discredited and fictitious theory of anti-government conspiracy) ».
They also said that Chansley suffers from mental illness and is a habitual drug user, according to the arrest memorandum from prosecutors.
Assault on the Capitol