WASHINGTON – Federal police officers are examining a series of threats directed at members of Congress as ex-President Donald Trump’s second trial approaches, including ominous conversations about killing lawmakers or attacking them outside the U.S. Capitol, an American official told Associated. Press.
Threats and concerns that armed demonstrators may return to plunder the Capitol again have prompted the US Capitol Police and other federal officials to insist that thousands of National Guard soldiers remain in Washington while the Senate moves forward with plans for the trial of Trump said the official said Sunday.
The shocking uprising on Capitol Hill by a pro-Trump crowd has prompted federal officials to rethink security within and around its landmarks, resulting in an unprecedented blockade of Biden’s tenure. While the event went smoothly and armed protests across the country did not materialize, threats to lawmakers before Trump’s trial exemplified the continuing potential for danger.
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Security is increased around the Capitol before President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris took office on Sunday, January 17, 2021 in Washington, Sunday, January 17, 2021. (AP Photo / John Minchillo )
((AP Photo / John Minchillo))
Similar to those intercepted by investigators before Biden’s inauguration, the threats that law enforcement officials are tracking vary in specificity and credibility, said the officer, who had been briefed on the matter. Posted mainly online and in chat groups, the messages included plans to attack members of Congress during trips to and from the Capitol complex during the trial, according to the official.
The officer was not allowed not to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
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Law enforcement officials are already beginning to plan the possibility of armed protesters returning to the nation’s capital when Trump’s Senate trial on charges of inciting a violent uprising begins in the week of February 8. It would be the first impeachment trial for a former American President.
Thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol on January 6 as Congress met to certify Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential race. More than 800 are believed to have entered the Capitol during the violent siege, passing by oppressed policemen. Capitol police said they planned a free speech protest, not a riot, and were caught off guard, although intelligence suggested the demonstration would turn into a riot. Five people died in the confusion, including a Capitol police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.
Although much of the security apparatus around Washington set up after the riot and before Biden’s inauguration – including dozens of military checkpoints and hundreds of additional police officers – is no longer installed, some 7,000 members of the National Guard will remain to help federal law enforcement, officials said.
The Guard’s Office said the number of Guard members in DC is less than 20,000 on Sunday. All but 7,000 of them will be going home in the next few days. The Guard’s Office said the number of soldiers in DC would continue to decline in the coming weeks to about 5,000. They are expected to remain in DC until mid-March.
At least five people facing federal charges suggested they believed they were taking orders from Trump when they marched on Capitol Hill on January 6 to challenge Biden’s election victory certification. But now those comments, captured in interviews with reporters and federal agents, are expected to take center stage while Democrats expose their case.
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More than 130 people have been charged by federal prosecutors for their roles in the riot. In recent weeks, others have been arrested after posting threats against members of Congress.
They include a supporter of the Proud Boys who the authorities said had threatened to send “three cars full of armed patriots” to Washington, threatened to hurt Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., And who is accused of storing military-style combat knives and much more 1,000 rifle shots at his New York home. A Texas man was arrested this week for participating in a Capitol riot and posting violent threats, including a call to assassinate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y.