The FBI is Taking Heat for the Absurd Action it Took One Night Before Capitol Riots
By Kyle Becker for Trending Politics
One night before the attack on the Capitol building on January 6th, agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation felt it was necessary to alert the Congress that there was a threat of violence.
So they did what any law enforcement official would do: They sent an email. To low-level officials. And zero follow-up.
NBC News reported on the surreal revelation, which came out during today’s Senate hearing on the Capitol riots.
An FBI intelligence report describing plans for violence at the Capitol was sent via email to lower-level officials the night before the Jan. 6 riot, and was never read by Capitol Police or Washington, D.C. leaders, according to testimony at Tuesday’s Senate hearing.
Senators called that “an intelligence breakdown” by both the Capitol Police and the FBI.
Ex-Capitol security chiefs deny ever seeing the FBI email, nor a memo that suggested a violent action was coming. Axios reported:
“The now-former officials responsible for Capitol security on Jan. 6 testified Tuesday that they did not receive an FBI threat report warning that extremists were planning to travel to Washington to commit violence and “war.”
The testimony by former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, and former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger came during the first in a series of congressional oversight hearings that will examine the security and law enforcement failures that led to the Jan. 6 insurrection.”
However, the Capitol Police had warned the Congress days prior that there was a high potential of violence breaking out at a protest near the Capitol building. Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund disclosed the information today at Senate testimony.
“As recent as Tuesday, January 5th, during a meeting I hosted with my executive team, the Capitol Police board and a dozen of the top law enforcement and military officials from DC,” he said. “No entity, including the FBI, provided any new intelligence regarding January 6. It should be also noted that the Secretary of Homeland Security did not issue an elevated or eminent alert in reference to the events at the United States Capitol on January 6th.”
“We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence, what we got was a military-style coordinated assault on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol building,” Sund said.
Sund also named intelligence that far-right extremist groups, anarchist groups and even Antifa was expected to be in attendance at a protest that could turn into a riot.
“The intelligence that we based our planning on indicated that the January 6 protests were expected to be similar to the previous [peaceful] MAGA rallies in 2020, which drew tens of thousands of participants,” he said. “The assessment indicated that members of the Proud Boys, white supremacist groups and Antifa and other extremist groups were expected to participate in on January 6th, and that it may be inclined to become violent.”
The January 6th capitol uprising was a pre-planned attack carried out by various extremist groups, including the far-right Proud Boys, the BLM-sympathizing anarchist group Boogaloo Bois, and even radical activists, like the Antifa-supporting founder of Insurrection USA John Sullivan.
The former Capitol Police Chief’s testimony has been indispensable in establishing that there was plenty of advanced warning for the House and Senate. Sund earlier stated that the House was warned six times about the pending danger. He revealed the resources the Capitol Police requested, including a stronger National Guard presence, in a resignation letter aimed directly to Speaker Pelosi.
The FBI reportedly did nothing to assist in the effort to secure the capitol, despite intelligence indicating that extremist groups were planning an assault as early as December. Americans really wish they could say that they are surprised.
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AND (related by the same author)
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Ex-Capitol Police Chief’s Testimony Blows Up Dem Narrative About Capitol Riot Attack
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund has provided explosive testimony to the U.S. Senate that runs directly against the Democrats’ narrative about the January 6th Capitol riots.
Sund, who was forced to resign after pressure from Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats, clearly relates that the House Democrats “knew” there was a high potential for a riot with the capacity for violence. But due to concerns about the “optics” of the situation, the House sergeant-at-arms did nothing to stop it, he earlier said.
The former Capitol Police Chief’s testimony has been indispensable in establishing that there was plenty of advanced warning for the House and Senate. Sund earlier stated that the House was warned six times about the pending danger. He revealed the resources the Capitol Police requested, including a stronger National Guard presence, in a resignation letter aimed directly to Speaker Pelosi.
The risk of a violent riot breaking out at the January 6th Electoral College session of Congress, following a contested election that would see Donald Trump purportedly “incite” a protest, was anticipated in detail as early as last March.
This was revealed in a Time piece that exposes a full-out effort by radical groups, powerful corporations, and labor unions to “fortify” the U.S. election and keep it from being won by Donald Trump. The Time article also reveals coordination among these influential left-wing groups and radical activists to keep a low-profile at the riots.
Testimony was also entered into the Senate record today from J. Michael Waller, who attested that ‘agents provocateurs’ had infiltrated and agitated the Capitol Riots crowd. There were also baffling acts, such as Capitol Police allowing protesters into the building.
Furthermore, concrete intelligence from early December suggesting foreign influence in the origins of the planned Capitol Building assault has since been reported by CBS News’ Catherine Herridge.
Everyone in D.C. had to have known it would be a powderkeg; just like it was following Donald Trump’s election and his inauguration in 2017, which also saw violent and destructive rioting.
On one hand, the gap between the intelligence indicating the high potential for a violent riot, along with far-right extremist plans for a capitol building raid, and on the other hand, the complete inaction by the House and Senate leadership, is a chasm that raises profound questions. One of the foremost questions regards what Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats knew about the impending riot and their concerns about the “optics” of the event.
“I have been in policing for almost 30 years, the events I witnessed on January 6 was the worst attack on law enforcement in our democracy that I have seen in my entire career,” Sund said.
“I witnessed insurgents beating police officers with fists, pipes, sticks, bats, metal barricades and flag poles,” he continued.
“These criminals came prepared for war. They came with their own radio system to coordinate the attack and climbing gear and other equipment to defeat the capitol’s security features,” Sund continued.
“I am sickened by what I witnessed that day,” he went on. “Our officers fought valiantly using batons, shields, chemical munitions and pepperball guns to hold back the attackers. Capitol Police and responding law enforcement agencies showed tremendous restraint by not using their firearms, which would have likely led to a more chaotic situation and ae possible mass casualty incident. No civilian law enforcement agency to include the United States Capitol Police is trained or equipped to repel an insurrection of thousands of individuals focused on breaching and building at all costs.”
Sund’s testimony thus raises the question about exactly why it was so unusually easy for unarmed protesters and rioters to freely enter the Capitol Building despite advanced warning that far-right groups were intending to raid the building. There were concrete plans to raid the Capitol Building posted online in public as early as December 28th. That would be a full week ahead of the event.
“Must have Tactical gear/ bullet proof vest, bring first aid kids and water. No firearms unless you are licensed to carry in D.C,” one advisery for a U.S. Against Racism banner said. It was such preparation that tipped off Antifa-supporting activist John Sullivan to infiltrate and agitate at the event.
“A clear lack of accurate and complete intelligence across several federal agencies contributed to this event and not poor planning by the United States Capitol Police,” he continued. “We rely on accurate information from our federal partners to help us develop effective security plans.”
“The intelligence that we based our planning on indicated that the January 6 protests were expected to be similar to the previous [peaceful] MAGA rallies in 2020, which drew tens of thousands of participants,” he said. “The assessment indicated that members of the Proud Boys, white supremacist groups and Antifa and other extremist groups were expected to participate in on January 6th, and that it may be inclined to become violent.”
The January 6th capitol uprising was a pre-planned attack carried out by various extremist groups, including the far-right Proud Boys, the BLM-sympathizing anarchist group Boogaloo Bois, and even radical activists, like the Antifa-supporting founder of Insurrection USA John Sullivan.
“As recent as Tuesday, January 5th, during a meeting I hosted with my executive team, the Capitol Police board and a dozen of the top law enforcement and military officials from DC,” he added. “No entity, including the FBI, provided any new intelligence regarding January 6. It should be also noted that the Secretary of Homeland Security did not issue an elevated or eminent alert in reference to the events at the United States Capitol on January 6th.”
“We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence, what we got was a military-style coordinated assault on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol building,” Sund said.
Indeed, if this was a “military-style” coordinated assault, it was one where the combatants were virtually completely unarmed. Furthermore, all of the deaths that can be established to have been sustained directly due to the rioting were of Trump supporters.
“While my officers were fighting, my post was in the command center coordinating resources from numerous agencies around the national capitol region to provide critically needed support,” he said. “I was also briefing the two sergeant in-arms [of the U.S. House and Senate] and working on establishing accountability and priorities for the incoming resources. As Capitol Police and outside resources began to re-establish the security perimeter, I responded to the capitol building to personally evaluate the situation and brief the sergeant-at-arms and leadership.”
This further corroborates the Capitol Police’s coordination with the House and Senate.
“These issues must be addressed, through new training policies and procedures, even our best efforts were not enough to stop this unprecedented assault on the capital,” he added. “However, casting blame solely on the United States Capitol Police Leadership is not only misplaced, but it also minimizes what truly occurred that day.”
Steven Sund’s testimony once again points to the lack of knowledge the American people have about the House and Senate failing to take the warnings more seriously. Furthermore, it appears that the FBI may have kept Sund deliberately out of the loop.
“Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund on Tuesday told lawmakers he did not receive a copy of an FBI report warning of violence that was issued the day before the attack on the Capitol,” the Hill reported. “The FBI issued a report from its Norfolk, Va., field office on Jan. 5 that detailed specific calls for violence on Jan. 6, including those that suggested protesters go to the Capitol ‘ready for war.’”
“I actually just in the last 24 hours was informed by the department that we actually had received that report,” Sund said in response to a question from ranking chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
The Washington Post earlier cited Sund regarding the responses to his warnings from the House’s and the Senate’s respective Sergeant at Arms:
House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving said he wasn’t comfortable with the “optics” of formally declaring an emergency ahead of the demonstration, Sund said. Meanwhile, Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger suggested that Sund should informally seek out his Guard contacts, asking them to “lean forward” and be on alert in case Capitol Police needed their help.
Speaker Pelosi has formed a 9/11-style commission to ‘look into’ the origins of the Capitol building attack, led by a hand-picked partisan general. Her announcement of the “independent” commission came on the same day high-ranking Republicans served Pelosi notice they are indeed interested in asking such questions.
It smacks of a brazen attempt to control the narrative about the nation-shaping incident and prevent serious questioning of her and the House Democrats. The testimony of former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and other eyewitnesses is indispensable for the American people getting real answers.