The battered police, the woman who was shot dead, the senator who fled in a gas mask in a hurry… A week later, Americans still vividly see the terrible attack on the Capitol. The violence on January 6 resulted in six deaths and dozens of arrests.
Many blame Trump’s incitement on the day for the riots known as “shake the country”, but internal reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) show that this is not exactly the case. It turns out that the FBI knew that extremists were preparing to go to Washington to carry out “violence and war” long before Trump supporters captured Congress.
The Washington Post reported on the 13th that this information is the most obvious evidence so far, indicating that the intelligence services made serious mistakes before the chaos – they had a chance to stop it, but did nothing.
“On January 5, 2021, the FBI office (Norfolk, Virginia) received information that calls were made to respond violently to the ‘illegal lockdown’ imposed on Washington on the 6th. A web post discusses the specific information of the appeal:
‘Prepared for battle’ Congress needs to hear broken glass, the sound of kicking doors, and the sound of blood spilling from the BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers. Be violent. Stop calling this a parade, rally or protest. We have to go and prepare for the battle. There is no other way to either take back the presidency or die.”
The BLM here refers to “black people’s lives are also lives”, and Pantifa is a derogatory term for the anti-fascist organization “ANTIFA”.
The above remarks came from an internal report document of the FBI office in Virginia, which was later leaked to the Washington Post by an anonymous insider. The document shows that the FBI had obtained information about the threat of violent “war” the day before the bloody conflict in Congress on January 6, which revealed that some people shared maps of the tunnels of the Capitol complex and several secret meeting places before they went to Washington on the Internet.
While listing many potential violent attacks, the authors of the report use caution, arguing that the individuals and organizations listed in the document are protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and “do not associate it with crime or national security threats”.
The document also said that the information in the report is not “finally assessed intelligence” and that the agencies receiving the information should “take action on the basis of the report after coordination with the FBI”.
In response, the author explained that this is because Trump supporters are famous for “exaggeration” and some information on the Internet contradicts – both threatening to attack ANTIFA members and preparing medical emergency supplies.
FBI officials familiar with the situation told the Washington Post that after obtaining the above information, their office in Norfolk wrote the report within 45 minutes and shared the information with their colleagues in Washington.
It is worth noting that this is contrary to the FBI’s previous statement.
Steven D’antuono, head of the FBI’s Washington office, told reporters on Friday that the agency did not have information to prove that Trump supporters would turn into illegal activities.
The Washington Post believes that this information is the most obvious evidence to date, indicating that the intelligence department had made serious mistakes before the chaos – they had had the opportunity to stop it, but did nothing.
On January 6, Trump supporters forcibly broke through the Capitol and clashed with armed police.
This demonstration, which the American media called “shake the country’s foundation”, resulted in the death of many people, including two policemen, and made the outside world question the “democracy” of the United States.
At a press conference on the 12th, Dantono, head of the FBI’s Washington office, responded to the Washington Post’s report.
He acknowledged that the department received early warning information on January 5, but did not deal with it in a timely manner because he did not know who published the post in the document.
Dantono did not answer what the results would be different if they acted earlier; nor did he answer why he made a completely different statement last Friday denying that he had received an early warning.
At present, the FBI and Washington, D.C. police are fully responsible for the protesters who entered the Capitol.
Meanwhile, another FBI internal announcement warned that “armed protests” may break out in all 50 states and capital Washington, D.C., from this week to the day of the inauguration of the President of the United States.
In a threat message to the FBI, a group said that if President Trump was removed from office before inauguration day, they would “attack” into courthouses and administrative buildings of the U.S. state, local and federal governments.
