A 106-page report by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security Committee found that the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and other agencies ignored, downplayed and did not share warnings of possible violence ahead of the Jan.6, 2021, protests at the Capitol.
The New York Times said the Democrats' report "Planning in Plain Sight" added to the claims by the now-defunct house Jan. 6 panel.
Several thousand additional documents from federal law enforcement agencies were obtained by the Democrats in preparation for the report.
The Democrats' report includes information the FBI received but did little about, including calls for armed violence, calls to occupy federal buildings and a warning that the Proud Boys group was allegedly planning to kill people on Jan. 6.
"Our intelligence agencies completely dropped the ball," said Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee.
"Despite a multitude of tips and other intelligence warnings of violence on Jan. 6, the report showed that these agencies repeatedly — repeatedly — downplayed the threat level and failed to share the intelligence they had with law enforcement partners."
The Times noted the report said the FBI was aware of threats of violence and failed to take appropriate action.
Three days before the protest, the FBI was aware of posts calling for violence, such as a Parler user who said, "Come armed." On Jan. 4, Justice Department leaders noted multiple concerning posts, including calls to "occupy federal buildings," discussions of "invading the capitol building" and individuals arming themselves "to engage in political violence."
Still, the report detailed interviews with FBI officials who insisted they were unaware that the Capitol building would be stormed.
"If everybody knew and all the public knew that they were going to storm Congress, I don't know why one person didn't tell us," Jennifer Moore, the special agent in charge of the FBI Washington Field Office's intelligence division, told the Senate investigators.
The Washington Post said the report also highlights how the DHS office tasked with analyzing intelligence was hesitant to issue warnings related to Jan. 6 — partly because of criticism it received for its handling of intelligence related to protests after the police killing of George Floyd the previous summer.
One DHS analyst messaged a co-worker on Jan. 3 saying: "there are threats" but "our threshold is just very high now."
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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