Attack announced? FBI report would warn of ‘war’ on Capitol Hill a day earlier

An internal report from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warned the day before the attack on Capitol Hill that a group of extremists were preparing to launch a “war” on Washington and commit violence against it. Congress, the newspaper revealed on Tuesday. The Washington Post.

The information contradicts statements by FBI Washington bureau chief Steven D’Antuono, who told reporters on Friday that the agency had “no indication” that there was anything planned for January 6, beyond the protests by supporters of President Donald Trump, on a key day in Congress.

However, the FBI office in nearby Norfolk, Va., In a report approved for internal publication on the 5th, alerted to plans by extremists who shared a map of the Capitol Tunnels and raised specific threats. against this complex.

“As of January 5, 2021, the Norfolk FBI has received information indicating that there are calls for violence (…) which will begin on January 6, 2021 in Washington DC,” said the document, obtained by the Publish .

“A thread posted on the Internet mentions specific calls for violence, including this one: ‘Be prepared to fight. Congress needs to hear shards of glass, doors being kicked open and blood flow from his slave soldiers BLM and Pantifa, ”he adds.

The acronym BLM refers to the anti-racist activists of “Black Lives Matter,” while “Pantifa” is a pejorative allusion to the left-wing Antifa movement, whose members sometimes face right-wing extremists defending Trump.

“Be violent. Stop calling it a rally or a demonstration. Go there prepared for war. We get our president or we die. NOTHING else will allow us to achieve this goal, ”adds the message quoted in the FBI report.

This information was shared the same day – Jan.5 – with FBI agents in the Washington office, according to an agency official quoted by the Washington Post.

The revelation is another sample of the major mistakes made to prevent the Capitol attack, which has killed five people, including a police officer, and raises questions about why authorities failed to act if they had this information, even at the federal level.

The report quoted by the Post pointed out that the FBI did not know the identities of those who had made threats of violence on the Internet, and asked the agencies with which the material was shared not to act on this intelligence information, which did not were not “final”. “, without first consulting the federal police.

FBI and Capitol Police and Congressional Security Officials they avoided taking seriously the indications on social networks about possible violence at the premises that day, where lawmakers were expected to meet to ratify the victory of President-elect Democrat Joe Biden, who has yet to be recognized by Trump.

Amid the outbreak of violence, the session was suspended for a few hours, but eventually at dawn, Biden was confirmed as the future president and will take office on January 20.

Fear for Biden’s inauguration

The situation has changed since the attack, and on Monday, the FBI warned in an internal bulletin of the threat of “armed protests” across the country from Saturday, a nationwide “uprising” and another attempted assault on the Capitol from Sunday until Biden’s inauguration on Wednesday next week.

Other reports point to threats against Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, ”according to the FBI.

The National Guard reported on Monday that 15,000 troops will be deployed next week in the capital, to ensure security during the ceremony which is traditionally held in the open air, on the esplanade in front of the Capitol, with the presence of eminent officials policies.

Source: EFE and ANSA

CB