Washington Post: FBI warned of violent Capitol “war” in an internal report issued the day before the deadly turmoil

Washington Post: FBI warned of violent Capitol “war” in an internal report issued the day before the deadly turmoil

by

The Post said that last Tuesday, an FBI office in Norfolk, Virginia, issued an “explicit internal warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and ‘war'”. The report “painted a terrible picture of dangerous plans, including individuals sharing a map of the complex’s tunnels and possible meeting places for would-be conspirators to meet” in several states before heading to Washington, DC.

The report runs counter to statements made by police officers who indicated to CNN that the authorities did not notice the main signs before the siege, which left five dead and looted the Capitol. It is likely to raise additional questions about why officials were not prepared to respond to the turmoil and federal readiness to thwart future threats at a time when the FBI is warning of armed protests before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.

The report referred to an online topic in which conspirators discussed their plans, citing individuals as saying: “‘Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass smashing, doors being kicked and blood from its slave soldiers BLM and Pantifa being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling it a march, or rally, or protest. Get ready for war. We take our president or we die. NOTHING is going to achieve that anymore. ‘”

The information was “transmitted to FBI officials at the Washington office’s field office the day before the attack,” the Post reported. The newspaper, however, said that the document is clear that the information presented was not “intelligence finally assessed” and that the agencies that received it “are asked not to take action based on this crude report without prior coordination with the FBI.”

The newspaper also reported that the FBI was careful with its description of the individuals and organizations listed in the report, with the bureau writing that the activities in which they were involved are protected by the First Amendment to the Constitution and that, although they were mentioned in the report, ” Its inclusion here is not intended to associate protected activity with crime or a threat to national security, or to imply that such protected activity itself violates federal law. “

But the report also warned that “based on known information and / or specific historical observations, it is possible that the protected activity may provoke a violent reaction against the subject individual or others in retaliation or with the aim of preventing the protected activity from occurring in the first instance, “according to the Post.

Officials told CNN last week that as of Wednesday, they had no intelligence indicating that there was a threat that the US Capitol could be invaded. Following the attack, federal and local officials said they had no intelligence suggesting that any violent crowd was preparing to attack the Capitol, even when protesters publicly said on social media that they did not plan a typical protest.
The Post’s report led Rep. Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who is a member of the House Judiciary Committee, to turn on for your panel to open an investigation into the matter.

Former Virginia Republican MP Denver Riggleman, who is working with several former national security officials to analyze open source information about the attack, also called for an investigation.

“There is a clear breakdown of communications and the operational chain of command. It would be interesting to see what the internal intelligence memos were for the Capitol Police and supporting elements. My guess is that intelligence reports would have a possible incursion from Capitol,” he told CNN.

This story is emerging and will be updated.

CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed to this report.

.Source