Capitol riot lawyer John Pierce missing after using Covid as excuse:

Lawyer John Pierce — who is representing 17 criminal defendants in Capitol riot cases — has gone missing from court appearances amid conflicting excuses that include a claim he is hospitalized with Covid and is on a ventilator, a court filing says.

Federal prosecutors warned a judge in the filing that Pierce associate Ryan Marshall — who has been appearing in Pierce’s absence over the past week — “is not a licensed attorney.” Marshall also faces pending two separate felony criminal cases against him personally in Pennsylvania, the prosecutors said.

As a result, “Mr. Marshall cannot ethically or legally represent Mr. Pierce’s clients,” prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia told the judge in Monday’s filing, which was made in the case of riot defendant James Burton McGrew.

“The United States thus finds itself in a position where this defendant and 16 other defendants charged in connection with the Capitol Riot appear to be effectively without counsel,” prosecutors wrote Chief Judge Beryl Howell of Washington federal court.

All of Pierce’s riot defendants are being prosecuted in that court, as are hundreds of others accused of invading the Capitol complex on Jan. 6 after then-President Donald Trump urged supporters to fight against the confirmation of Joe Biden‘s election as president by a joint session of Congress.

Pierce’s clients include members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups.

Monday’s filing appears to give the benefit of the doubt to an initial claim by Marshall that Pierce, who is a Trump supporter himself, is, “Sadly … ill with COVID-19, on a ventilator, and unresponsive.”

“Unfortunately, it seems that Mr. Pierce may be hospitalized and unable to communicate, and it is unclear when Mr. Pierce will recover,” prosecutors wrote.

“The government is making the Court aware of Mr. Pierce’s reported illness so that it can take any steps it believes necessary to ensure the defendant’s rights are adequately protected while Mr. Pierce remains hospitalized,” the filing said.

Prosecutors also mention other reports that contradict that claim and give other explanations for the mysterious absence of Pierce, a name partner in the Los Angeles law firm Pierce Bainbridge.

“I have nothing to say,” Marshall told CNBC on Tuesday.

When CNBC called the main office phone number of Pierce’s firm on Tuesday, a recording said, “The number you called is not in service.”

Pierce did not answer a phone number given for him on the court’s docket. A message on that phone number said its voice mail had not been set up. Pierce did not immediately respond to an email query.

CNBC has left a message seeking comment with his firm on its online contact form.

Pierce previously represented Kyle Rittenhouse, an 18-year-old Illinois man charged with reckless…