The Secret Service issued an intelligence bulletin warning of additional armed protests in Washington before and after the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden – particularly the Boogaloo Boys – who in some cases hopes to become violent.
The Secret Service bulletin, dated 11 January, is not classified, but is not scheduled for distribution outside of law enforcement channels, and was obtained by The Daily Beast. The Daily Beast is refusing to provide details about these rallies to prevent the rebels from organizing themselves through the media.
Although the Secret Service’s primary responsibility is to protect the president, the intelligence bulletin warns of protests scheduled for state capitals as well. This reinforces a recent FBI warning of armed protests in all 50 states. A previous report from Yahoo News said that a December 24 document from the FBI’s Minnesota office also alerted state and local officials about threats from extremist right groups in protests in Washington and other state capitals planned later this month.
A demonstration cited in the document is scheduled to take place before the inauguration by the Boogaloos, a collective movement of enthusiasts for a second civil war, several supporters of whom were arrested and accused of violence during the summer and autumn of 2020 against protests against Black Lives Matter . “Although no civil disobedience was confirmed,” says the bulletin, “the organizers encouraged participants to bring weapons to the event.”
Another demonstration scheduled for before the inauguration aims to bring “armed citizens” to a show of strength in state capitals and Washington, DC, although the sponsoring group, Tree of Liberty, which is affiliated with Boogaloo, claims to be peaceful.
Although the social media network Parler of Incitement was deactivated by Apple and Amazon, the Secret Service tracked a user who asked for a “Come and Take It” rally, a reference to the Spartan-Persian battle of Thermopylae, who “mentions fighting posted, ‘never, never, never stop fighting. ”The goal is to bring supporters to the Capitol and the White House to” literally STOP THEFT PHYSICALLY. “
The reaction of the biggest social media and web hosting companies to the January 6 uprising had a disturbing effect on planning right-wing demonstrations, the bulletin concluded. But it also has the effect of limiting “the Secret Service’s ability to review information for … situational awareness about these events,” he admits. Users frustrated by the closure of Parler and the displatability of many Twitter users are switching to secure messaging applications Telegraph and Signal, says the Secret Service bulletin.
Although many of the demonstrations monitored by the Secret Service are cited in the bulletin as a typical political protest, from both left and right groups, some of the opening protests are likely to be violent.
A planned demonstration, called Million Militia March, displays a logo with crossed AR-15s, an ersatz military patch and the American and Gadsden flags, and aims to be the “1st Regiment of the Restored American Republic”. The bulletin states that the organizers “have encouraged participants to bring weapons to the event through the use of weapon images in the event’s promotional materials. The group says it will not attack, but defend. ”The District of Columbia does not honor any other state license or weapon permit.
However, the Secret Service suggests that the event “appears to be a rough concept” by an organizer prone to posting statements like “I am the most intelligent human being”. But the prevalence of such posts, he continues, may nevertheless give the event a boost of its own. The organizer “encouraged participants to wear costumes representing weapons and MAGA paraphernalia”, and the event’s iconography includes an image of an AR-15 style long weapon with the caption “For all Democrats: enjoy hell”.
During a press conference on Tuesday, the US prosecutor who led the prosecutor’s response to the insurrection said that a grand jury was formed to examine additional charges for the January 6 protesters, including sedition and conspiracy – a suggestion of that the charges may extend beyond those who participated in the rebellion to catch the Republican politicians who incited it. A senior FBI officer, assistant director Steven D’Antuono of the Washington Field Office, said the bureau continued to receive information to stop “possible future violent activity”.
Several detailed agencies to help ensure the inauguration are contingency plans for events that result in mass casualties or major attacks, as well as isolated violent incidents near the Capitol, according to two senior officials and a separate police instruction package obtained by the The Daily Beast.
On Wednesday, President Donald Trump was briefed by some officials on possible security threats to Biden’s possession, a White House official told the Daily Beast. Two other sources with direct knowledge of the subject say that in private conversations over the past week, Trump continued to entertain totally incorrect conspiracy theories that antifascists infiltrated the MAGA crowd during the January 6 riots in the United States Capitol and caused problems. Trump also asked advisers and confidants to investigate such rumors.
The president also raised antifa and false flag theories in discussions about potential threats during the inauguration day, the sources said.
White House spokesmen did not immediately comment on the story on Wednesday.
House members were scheduled to be informed by the Secret Service on Wednesday afternoon about security of tenure measures, according to a Congressional source. Senators received a similar briefing on Tuesday.
On Monday, House Democrats took an initial look at the current environment of violent right-wing threats during a serious police phone call. On that call, first reported by HuffPost and then confirmed by The Daily Beast, the authorities outlined four different threats from extremists, from a plan to avenge the death of Ashli Babbitt, the MAGA rioter killed by the police on January 6 , even the general danger to legislators and law enforcement officials.
While National Guards patrolled the corridors of the Capitol building on Wednesday, lawmakers confessed to being uneasy – or at least uncertain – about how they could be kept safe next week.
“I feel safe today,” Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-SC), the House’s third Democrat, told Capitol reporters on Wednesday. “I have no idea how I will feel on the 20th”.