A new report from a Senate probe into January 6 has found that the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “downplayed” warnings before the protest.
QUICK FACTS:
- A 105-page report released by the United States Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs discovered that the FBI and DHS “obtained multiple tips from numerous sources” prior to January 6, 2021.
- The report concluded that the agency “failed to fulfill their mission and connect the public and nonpublic information they received.”
- Titled “Planned in Plain Sight,” the committee specifies how certain tips should have prompted the FBI to take action prior to the events that unfolded.
- In December 2020, the agency reportedly received information that the “Proud Boys” were planning on being in Washington, D.C. to “kill people.”
- The following month the FBI was made aware of social media posts that also called for violence and “storming” of the Capitol building.
- The DHS’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis also allegedly received a warning of violence on Jan. 6 through online discussions of commentators claiming “police/military won’t be able to stop thousands of armed patriots.”
- Despite the many warnings, both agencies reportedly found “no credible or verifiable threat.”
- “Even without actionable or credible threats, the agencies should have communicated the concerning volume of violent rhetoric specifically targeting the U.S. Capitol and the overall heightened threat environment surrounding January 6th,” the committee said.
U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON THE FBI’S AWARENESS OF “VIOLENCE” AHEAD OF JANUARY 6:
“Indeed, if DOJ and FBI ‘all knew’ that thousands of people would come to the Capitol to disrupt Congress from certifying the U.S. presidential election, as former officials later recalled, it is unacceptable that these agencies did not take sufficient steps to warn their partner agencies to prepare for such a threat,” the committee argued.
BACKGROUND:
- Earlier this week, the FBI issued an official statemen denying that they were involved in the aggressive fight caught on camera allegedly between two “far-right groups” during a Pride event in Oregon over the weekend.
- Some observers claimed that one of the groups was made up of masked FBI agents who were there in disguise to police the event.
- “We are appalled by recent allegations that the FBI had personnel posing as protesters in Oregon City, OR this weekend. Any such claims are absolutely false,” the FBI said.
- Many responded to the statement, saying the FBI could not be trusted after the last few years of alleged bias and cover-ups from the agency.
- “The last 6 yrs, their reputation has been severely tarnished by their own screwups and politicization of top brass. Sad deal. Hard to trust anything they say anymore. Need to rebuild their brand. Why have they been sitting on Hunter’s laptop since 2019 and trying to bury it?” one user asked.
