Plan to sell Nancy Pelosi's laptop to Russia is just like bungling Brad Pitt in 'Burn After Reading'

Rarely – if ever – has Brad Pitt been more hilariously hapless in a movie than in the Coen brothers' comedy Burn After Reading.

In it, he plays dim-witted personal trainer Chad Feldheimer, who after finding a disc containing sensitive CIA files in the changing rooms of his gym, tries to sell the information to the Russian embassy. Things do not end well.

But the similarities between a crime committed during the storming of the Capitol Building in Washington DC by Trump supporters on 6 January and the 2008 movie have not gone unnoticed.

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Among the items stolen while the seat of power in the US was being ransacked was a laptop belonging to house speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Now the FBI is hoping to speak to 22-year-old Riley June Williams, after issuing a warrant for her arrest over the weekend.

FBI officials have said that they were contacted by a former partner of Williams, who claims that she had stolen the laptop and was planning to sell it via a friend in Russia to the SVR, the Russian secret service.

However, the FBI said that the plan had fallen through.

Now, movie fans are noting the similarities between the stolen laptop plan and the Coen brothers movie, which also stars George Clooney, Frances McDormand and Tilda Swinton.

Following the theft, Pelosi's deputy chief of staff Drew Hammill confirmed that while the device had indeed been stolen from a conference room, 'it was a laptop that was only used for presentations'.

According to reports, Williams, from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has since absconded, having changed her phone number and deleted her social media accounts.

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Speaking to ITV, Williams' mother said that she had only recently taken an interest in Trump's politics, and had been using 'far-right message boards'.

Tuesday is Trump's last full day in office, before president-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Wednesday.

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