DHS tracked proud boys ahead of the Capitol riot

The day before a crowd of Trump supporters invaded the United States Capitol, Homeland Security officials warned that “domestic extremists” would participate in the pro-Trump rallies planned for January 6. The authorities actively monitored far-right groups such as the Proud Boys as well as Facebook events with thousands of confirmed participants, some of whom explicitly outlined their plans to march in Congress and demonstrate on Capitol Hill.

Despite this, leaders insisted that there was no intelligence that federal facilities would be targeted, according to a cache of internal documents from the Federal Protection Service of the Department of Homeland Security.

“There is no intelligence / information to indicate that federal FPS-protected facilities will be targeted this week, however, a number of federal facilities are located in the planned protest area and we will be prepared to respond if necessary,” Richard “Kris” Cline, The deputy director of the FPS said in the January 5 email with the subject “preparing for Wednesday’s protests”.

The details on the 81 pages of edited documents, which include emails, photos and intelligence bulletins, shed more light on how closely federal security officials have been monitoring the activities of Trump extremist groups and supporters across the US in the United States. days before the deadly uprising. Although the US Capitol police were unprepared for the violent crowd, the documents show that Department of Homeland Security officials had information that tens of thousands of Trump supporters would converge on the National Mall and focus specifically on the Proud Boys, until even listing the hotel where they were staying. In DHS communications, officials shared dozens of events on Facebook, including some from militant groups, and wrote that they expected the groups to march to the Capitol.

Now, under new leadership, DHS is promising that it will work with local authorities and other agencies to improve its ability to deal with domestic extremist threats in the future.

“The lessons learned from the January 6 violent and illegal events will help to increase our ability to prevent future acts of violence. DHS is participating in investigations into the response to the attack and internally reviewing the best way to improve the sharing of information about threats, ”a spokesman told BuzzFeed News. “Under the leadership of Undersecretary Mayorkas, dealing with domestic violent extremism is one of DHS’s top priorities.”

BuzzFeed News obtained the documents through a request for the Freedom of Information Act. The agency withheld some information from the records citing a number of exemptions, including ongoing law enforcement investigations, privacy and possible threats to individuals, such as police or informants, if the details were released. The Washington Post also reported the documents on Wednesday.

The Federal Protective Service is a security and law enforcement agency within DHS that protects 9,500 federal properties across the country, although not the Capitol building itself. The previously little-known agency, which has about 1,300 full-time employees and 13,000 hired security guards, attracted national attention and protests after sending officers to Portland, Oregon, during the height of racial justice protests against then President Donald A Trump’s direction. Its director, L. Eric Patterson, also made the unusual move to give officers from other agencies within DHS the power to join the protest response without adequate training, according to a critical report from the Office of the Inspector General, generating chaos and violence as they clashed with protesters, injuring several and using unidentified cars to kidnap and detain others.

Although an FPS email said there was no intelligence about a January 6 threat to federal buildings, communications involving senior FPS officials reported that the Proud Boys and other extremist groups would be arriving in DC along with thousands of Trump supporters from all the USA. They planned to protest what they believed to be a stolen election and also planned to march to the Capitol to face Congress.

On January 3, the regional regional director for the department told leaders in an e-mail that several licenses approved by the National Park Service and sold-out hotels indicated that there would be “large crowds”. Among the “large number” of protesters expected, the director listed “Proud Boys and” many other smaller groups “. The director also signaled Capitol as a place where Trump supporters would gather, although he noted that “we do not anticipate any threats against federal facilities, based on the nature of this event.”

Then, on January 5, the FPS investigations section prepared a detailed information bulletin that was disseminated to law enforcement officials in the National Capital Region, the General Services Administration and other DHS divisions, warning of potentially violent threats associated with rallies of 6 January.

“Domestic extremists, including anarchist extremists, anti-government extremists and racially motivated violent extremists, are likely to participate in activities protected by the First Amendment and the use of activities as an opportunity to promote their ideologies and motivate followers to promote violence,” the bulletin said.

That night, authorities arrested four demonstrators for possession of a gun and “disorder” around Black Lives Matter Square, according to an e-mail. Homeland Security physical security officers also found and released protesters trying to sleep in their cars near the National Mall. In an e-mail sent on the morning of January 6, the regional director once again noted that they were expecting “large groups” on the United States Capitol because of the joint session of Congress at 1 pm to certify the results of the election. The FPS was tracking three major rallies, he wrote, two of which had plans to march to the Capitol when Congress began its session.

FPS officials were already scouring social media to track and monitor plans by Trump supporters to meet in Washington that day. In emails and intelligence bulletins shared with the national Homeland Security operations center and surveillance officers, FPS officials described dozens of Facebook events and other publications that explicitly detailed which groups planned to participate in rallies, where they came from and gathered and how many people RSVP’d. Their lists included groups coming by bus from places like Ohio and New Jersey. A memo from Homeland’s intelligence gathering arm, known as the Joint Tactical and Strategic Analysis Command Center, cataloged 29 protests against the January 6 election in Washington alone.

An event of the March in Congress, for example, had 1,200 people committed and 5,000 interested. A Million MAGA March / Stop the Steal rally had 2,300 interested parties. The United States Capitol Police also signaled demonstrations and shared them with federal partners – one of which was planned for the eastern front of the Capitol in order to urge Congress to vote against certification of what the organizers said was a fraudulent election.

On the day of the attack, FPS officers continued to discuss the crowds and sent information about groups of Proud Boys and potential disturbing threats. In a midday memo sent to FPS leaders and the FBI’s National Crisis Coordination Center, a commander counted “300 Proud Boys at the US Capitol” and added that they were “trying to shut down the water system in the center of the city, which includes government facilities. ”

At that time, there were about 25,000 people around the White House and, due to bag restrictions, “individuals are hiding bags in the bushes around the building”. In e-mail messages, federal security officials tracked the movements of thousands of protesters, as well as militia groups and people “in shock equipment” as they moved through the area. The DC Metropolitan Police also responded to a man carrying a rifle at one point.

“Approximately 200 people representing Proud Boys are at Union Square,” read an update at 11:13 am. A minute later, an FPS official sent a screenshot of a tweet that said that a “contingent of Proud Boys” has separated from the crowd “and is marching through the mall to the Capitol”.

Exactly an hour later, the officer updated his superiors: “POTUS is encouraging the protesters to march to the capital and continue to protest there”. Shortly thereafter, at 12:28 pm, he sent an e-mail again: “Protesters moving to the capital in Pennsylvania, the Constitution and Madison in an estimated 10 to 15,000.”

At 12:57 pm, a large group violated a barricade by the United States Capitol Police.

As the crowds began to wander around the National Mall and head for the Capitol, protection service officials monitored their live broadcasts, sending images of Trump supporters, first at federal monuments, then invading the Capitol.

At 1:45 pm, shortly after Congress opened its session, an FPS official sent two images of Capitol Square, showing a sea of ​​Trump supporters with the American flag breaking through the barricades to get up and sit on what appears to be the Peace Monument .

Another partly edited image of 2:26 pm shows about seven individuals, most of them wearing red hats, climbing a staircase in the Capitol. By this time, updates for FSP leaders were arriving quickly and urgently, showing how quickly demonstrators dominated police forces and flooded the building. “Several police officers in the capital reporting injuries …” wrote the FPS officer.

At 2:51 pm, the Federal Protection Service dispatched a small squadron to assist the Capitol Police, which had previously requested “mutual help from Maryland and Virginia,” according to the records.

At dusk, the authorities finally cleaned up the protesters’ building. In an e-mail sent at 6 pm, an FPS officer asked how many of his officers were there helping. The Department of Homeland Security “has 24 support bodies,” they wrote. “I need to know if they are including SPF in that count.”

A chief replied three minutes later. There were only 16 FPS officers on the Capitol. ●