Lawmakers warned police of possible attack ahead of siege

Democratic lawmakers warned U.S. Capitol Police a week before the deadly Jan.6 attack on Capitol Hill that thousands of staunch Trump supporters could storm the compound and try to “kill half of Congress” for them. prevent certifying Joe bidenJoe BidenCotton: Senate lacks power to hold impeachment trial once Trump steps down Marjorie Taylor Greene says she will present articles of impeachment against Biden’s acting director ICE resigns weeks after entering in functionthe electoral victory of.

One of them also warned that Vice President Pence’s life was in danger.

On December 30, Rep. Frederica wilsonFrederica Patricia WilsonMcMorris Rodgers Leaves President’s Chair Following Democrats’ In-Person Vote After COVID Diagnosis Five House Democrats Who May Join Biden Cabinet Lobbying World MORE (D-Fla.) Spoke with a police captain, informing the officer that – based on past death threats against her by Trump supporters and the violent language she saw used in the forums online – people could attack the Capitol and physically injure lawmakers by counting Electoral College Votes.

Wilson spoke to The Hill about the warning and provided notes on the hour-long phone call with the Capitol Police Captain.

She warned police that these web-connected Trump loyalists are being swayed by the “underground gossip that the election has been rigged and Mr. Trump should be the president,” and that Democrats “are stealing the election and the only one. way to prevent us from stealing. the election is to kill half of Congress.

“They are not ordinary protesters. These are not ordinary people expressing their First Amendment rights, ”Wilson told the police captain. “They are crazy.”

Trump reportedly urged Pence to block formalization of Biden’s victory, which Pence refused to do, noting that he simply did not have the authority. And Wilson, whose office monitors online threats to better keep him safe, told the police captain that Pence had planned long trips after the Jan.6 certification process because he was “scared” for his life.

“They are going to kill him if he announces that Joseph Biden is president of the United States,” she told the captain.

A spokeswoman for the Capitol Police did not respond to a request for comment.

Wilson was not the only lawmaker raising concerns about safety in the run-up to January 6. Maxine WatersMaxine Moore Waters, in impeachment speech, says Trump is ‘capable of starting civil war’ Brown puts housing and eviction safeguards high on banking panel agenda Questions and answers on the challenges of the electoral college READ MORE (D-Calif.), One of Trump’s harshest critics, said she had a long conversation with Capitol Hill Police Chief Steven Sund on Dec. 31, warning him that ” white supremacists were in town ”and wondering if the security measures were up to par. the task of defending the complex.

“He assured me that not only did they have it under control, but that they were working in cooperation with the DC Metropolitan Police,” Waters told Los Angeles Magazine on Jan.6.

“It all turned out to be wrong,” she added.

Wilson also questioned the captain about the type of perimeter policing planned to be set up around the Capitol and the number of officers on duty that day.

The captain responded that there would be low bike rack style fencing around the perimeter of the Capitol. “Additional patrols” would be stationed inside and outside the building, the officer added. In addition, platoons called “civil unrest units” would be on the Capitol grounds, while others would be nearby and ready to deploy if necessary.

The captain admitted that there was no way to predict the precise number of people who would participate in the protest, according to the notes of the conversation. But she added that department heads “always plan a lot more” than expected.

“No one should be able to access Capitol Square… unless you are a staff member or a member of Congress,” the captain said. Yet she also acknowledged that “these people are coming and there is no way to make them … all stay behind.”

Wilson was not convinced, warning the captain that the plan seemed grossly inadequate and reporting his concerns to Sund. He resigned on January 8, two days after the attack that killed an officer and four rioters.

When she arrived in Washington to take the oath that week, Wilson said she had personally examined the low barriers around the Capitol and personally told a police sergeant that Trump protesters would easily break them. After the assault, the police fortified the area by erecting 8-foot-high fences around the Capitol and the Supreme Court; the National Guard has also deployed thousands of troops to help consolidate the Capitol.

Sund told the Washington Post after the attack that he had not been made aware of an FBI bulletin warning that extremists were planning violence and “war” on Capitol Hill that day.

“I didn’t have this information, and this information was not factored into our security planning,” Sund told the newspaper.

But Wilson and Waters’ accounts of their warnings to Sund and other senior members of the force seem to contradict that claim.

Democratic lawmakers had good reason to sound the alarm bells before January 6. The two prominent female members of the Black Caucus who have been very critical of Trump have themselves been threatened with violence by Trump supporters.

Waters received death threats in 2018 after calling on protesters to confront and harass Trump administration officials in public over his “zero tolerance” immigration policy.

Wilson has faced death threats after criticizing Trump’s 2017 call for the widow of a US soldier killed in Niger. Trump tweeted that Wilson was “wacky” and accused her of heeding the call.

“I have intuition and experience with Mr. Trump,” Wilson said in a telephone interview Thursday. “He’s almost a cult and they don’t care about anything other than him; it’s like Jim Jones, ”the cult leader responsible for the Jonestown massacre.

“This is how these people behave. They were ready to kill themselves that day; they drank the poison, ”she said.