Police and National Guard scramble to secure capitals

As troops with long guns patrolled a newly erected security fence around much of Capitol Hill on Saturday, some neighbors were pleased with the tighter security presence while others were concerned about the level of force as Police and National Guard troops deployed ahead of possible violence – upright and nationalist rallies on Sunday.

Dr Julia Skapik, 41, who lives near the Capitol, said the increased police activity made her feel safer and sent a strong message to would-be rioters: “There is no opportunity here. , so don’t even try.

Some of her neighbors had left town, she said, while others had closed their homes and moved stray bricks to their backyards, fearing they would be thrown by would-be attackers after the deadly insurgency last week on Capitol Hill by pro-Trump extremists encouraged by the outgoing president.

“I would much prefer to be here because what the federal government needs to bring together is so much more than the states,” she said.

Standing next to her, neighbor Edna Boone, also a health worker, said she understood the need to send a message, but was also bothered by the show of force, unable to sleep as the convoys continued to arrive every evening.

“It’s disturbing,” said Boone, 57.

The FBI warned law enforcement across the country last week that right-wing groups were planning to stage protests in Washington and state capitals on Sunday. Leaflets circulating online urged people to gather at noon, “armed at your discretion.”

On Saturday, Democratic leaders of four congressional committees said they had contacted the FBI and other agencies and opened a review of the Jan.6 attack on the Capitol to determine what was known in advance about the threats, whether the information had been properly shared, and whether foreign influence played a role.

Commercial airlines have tracked a recent increase in the number of passengers checking their guns on their way to the Washington area, according to a Department of Justice bulletin, and several airlines have announced that they are not. would not allow passengers to register their weapons.

More than 25,000 National Guard troops were sent to secure the United States Capitol this week. Governors of California and more than half a dozen other states have also deployed National Guard troops to protect their state capitals. In Oregon, state legislative leaders have delayed a session scheduled to start Tuesday by at least two days, citing security concerns.

Some national right-wing groups, including Boogaloo Bois, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, have sent warnings to supporters not to attend the weekend’s protests. Members of the group speculated online that the protests were “false flags” staged by federal officials, who have already filed criminal charges against dozens of participants in the Capitol uprising.

“The national enemies of the Constitution are doing all they can to organize false flag events right now, across the country,” Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes wrote on the group’s website. “They WANT you to come armed to the state capital where their paid provocateurs can drag innocent patriots into a false flag event. Don’t give them what they want.

Rhodes told Oath Keepers and other militias to “assemble” outside state capitals “in a friendly“ red ”county where you have a patriotic constitutional sheriff, county commissioners, a county judge. “

A channel called Boogaloo Intel Drop, created on Telegram after the Capitol attack, sent a note to over 8,000 subscribers saying, “No, we’re not going to tell you to show up on the XX day and do XX” Because that would be “fedposting” – warn federal officials.

Others, like the Telegram channel Proud Boys Uncensored – with more than 35,500 subscribers – praised Ashli ​​Babbitt, the San Diego veteran who died during the Capitol siege, and called for a further insurgency .

“The mistakes made by the Patriots on Capitol Hill are not going far enough,” they wrote. “When they assault you, it’s ‘the law’ and when your rage overflows at having no representation or voice, they call it terrorism.”

Federal authorities have accused people in several states of making threats or attempting to breach security around the expected protests over the weekend.

Late Friday, Wesley Allen Beeler, 31, of Front Royal, Va., Was arrested with an unauthorized pass at a United States Capitol security checkpoint and arrested after authorities found a weapon loaded 9-millimeter handgun and over 500 rounds of ammunition in his van. , which had “Assault life” and “If they’re coming for your guns, give them your bullets first” stickers.

Beeler appeared in DC Superior Court on Saturday, where a judge ordered him to stay away from Washington and released him on his own recognizance.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday signed an executive order activating the National Guard in the capital Tallahassee, hours after the FBI arrested a local man on allegations of threats of violence over the weekend. Daniel Baker, 33, an army veteran, has been charged with transmitting a threat of kidnapping or injury, accused of posting a “call to arms” online Thursday, court records showed.

“This arrest serves as a message to anyone who intends to incite or commit violence … if you pose a threat to public safety, we will come and get you, we will find you and we will pursue you,” Lawrence Keefe, US attorney for the Northern District of Florida said in a statement.

Tallahassee Mayor John E. Dailey thanked DeSantis for activating the National Guard.

“If we have learned anything from the events of the past week, it is that we cannot risk being under-prepared for the potential threat posed by those who wish to attack the citadel of democracy in our state and who have perhaps emboldened by the events of the past week ”. Dailey wrote on Twitter.

Police set up barricades outside the Florida State Capitol on Saturday and blocked nearby streets. Legislative leaders in both the Republican and Democratic states have urged their staff to work remotely in the coming days.

In Texas, Troy Anthony Smocks, 58, of Dallas, was accused on Friday of passing on threats after visiting Washington last week and reportedly announced on Speak that he would return armed for the inauguration and act.

“Smocks threatened that he and others” would hunt down these cowards like the traitors that each of them is, “” specifically threatening “RINOS, Democrats and Tech Execs,” “according to court records.

The Texas Department of Public Safety closed the State Capitol in Austin from Friday night to Wednesday due to what its director called, “violent extremists who may seek to exploit constitutionally protected events.” State soldiers and Texas State Guard soldiers surrounded the grounds on Saturday as a small group of protesters gathered on the nearby sidewalk, some armed.

“We are here to protect democracy,” said Rocky Reno, 42, wearing a camouflage body armor and carrying an AR-15 style rifle, joined by other self-proclaimed “peacekeepers” . “There is no doubt that this election was stolen.”

Periodically helicopters flew overhead, but the scene remained calm.

In Washington, the Eighty Percent Coalition, a group allied with President Trump, withdrew its request for a permit to demonstrate near Capitol Hill. Saturday afternoon, but some Trump supporters still came to the area.

Milosh Jecmenic, a Trump supporter, a truck driver who divides his time between Washington and Miami, visited the security fence at Black Lives Matter Plaza to film a video and photograph himself near a handful of anti-Trump protesters.

Jecmenic, 36, a Serbian immigrant wearing an American flag protective mask, said he was unarmed, not affiliated with any group and not “a fanatic.” But he also defended those who stormed the Capitol, saying they had the right to protest. He noted that during the Black Lives Matter protests, buildings were also damaged.

Jecmenic said he has a room at a nearby hostel and plans to stay during the inauguration to protest.

“I think there are people in town who are going to show up,” he says. “Some things are worth fighting for.”

Hennessy-Fiske reported from Washington, McDonnell from Austin and Lee from Tallahassee. Times Del Quentin Wilber editors in Washington, Richard Read in Olympia, Washington, Jaweed Kaleem in Phoenix, and Molly O’Toole in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.