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‘Their plan is to literally kill people’: Newly released emails show Secret Service was aware of plans for violence on Jan 6
Agents shared social media messages and law enforcement tips with talk of violence in days before Capitol attack
Emails and messages among members of the US Secret Service at least 10 days before the attack on the US Capitol reveal that the agency was well aware of violent threats and plans to occupy the halls of Congress, according to the House select committee investigating the assault.
A Secret Service field office relayed one tip sent to the FBI warning that members of the far-right nationalist gang the Proud Boys planned to march, armed, into Washington DC.
The message sent on 26 December, 2020 said “their plan is to literally kill people.”
“Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further,” the message read, according to the committee.
The FBI also briefed the Secret Service on 5 January, 2021, one day before the attack, that right-wing groups planned “quick reaction forces” staged near the Capitol that were “standing by at the ready” should Donald Trump “request assistance.”
Those “quick reaction forces” are also central to federal prosecutors’ argument that the far-right anti-government group the Oath Keepers planned for weeks to forcefully disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election, with members of the militia facing charges of seditious conspiracy in connection with the attack.
After underscoring his links to the attack and his steadfast plans to reject the outcome of the election, the former president also has been subpoenaed by the committee.
Committee members argued that Mr Trump and his rhetoric were “central” to the violence on 6 January.
US Rep Elaine Luria said Mr Trump’s failed attempts to overturn the results informed his decision to make a “coordinated, multi-part plan to ensure he stayed in power,” and that he was the “driver” and “personally, directly involved” in executing his attempt to subvert the will of the American people.
Other messages from the Secret Service shared by the committee describe how agents observed online threats against Vice President Mike Pence, who is described in one message shared with agents as a “dead man walking” if he did not support Mr Trump’s baseless efforts to reject the outcome of the election.
The committee also revealed that Secret Service was aware of planning and violent chatter on far-right social media platforms and message boards in the days after the 2020 election – and that members of the crowd that would later enter the Capitol to block those results were armed.
“Certain White House and Secret Service witnesses previously testified that they had received no intelligence about violence that could potentially threaten any of their protectees on 6 January,” according to committee member Adam Schiff.
“Evidence strongly suggests that this testimony is not credible.”
The congressman said the violence at the Capitol was “entirely consistent with the violent rhetoric circulating in the days beforehand on pro-Trump websites.”
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See also:
1) 'F*** the voting. Let’s get right to the violence’: Jan 6 panel shares video of [Trump's personal advisor] Roger Stone linked to Capitol attack
See link #2. From that link:
The committee shared footage of Mr Stone saying of the 2020 election that “I suspect it will be very much up in the air” and that “the key thing to do then is declare victory”.
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law,” he said in footage aired by the committee during a hearing on 13 October. “We won. F*** you.”
2) ‘I don’t want people to know we lost’: Trump blasted aides after Supreme Court rejection, Jan 6 panel reveals
See Link #3. From that link:
The committee had previously laid out how many of Mr Trump’s closest advisers has acknowledged the reality of his defeat long before Jan 6, and that his top insiders such as Roger Stone and Steve Bannon had known of a plan for the president to simply declare victory before the results were counted or if it appeared he was losing on election night. But to hear two of Mr Trump’s top White House aides testify that the words came directly from his mouth are new.
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