Federal law enforcement officials are investigating a number of threats against members of Congress as the second trial of former President Donald Trump approaches
WASHINGTON – Federal law enforcement officials are investigating a number of threats directed against members of Congress as the second trial of former President Donald Trump approaches, including ominous banter about killing lawmakers or assaulting them outside the Capitol, a U.S. official told The Associated Press.
The threats and concerns that armed protesters could return to ransack the Capitol has prompted the U.S. Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement officials to insist that thousands of National Guard troops remain in Washington as the Senate continues with plans for Trump’s trial, the official said. said.
The shocking uprising in the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob prompted federal officials to rethink security in and around the landmarks, resulting in an unprecedented lockdown for Biden’s inauguration. While the event went smoothly and armed protests across the country failed to materialize, threats to lawmakers ahead of Trump’s trial exemplified the ongoing potential for danger.
Similar to those intercepted by investigators prior to Biden’s inauguration, the threats that law enforcement follow vary in specificity and credibility, the official, who had been briefed on the matter, said. The messages were primarily posted online and in chat groups and contained plots to attack members of Congress while traveling to and from the Capitol in the process, the official said.
The officer had no authority not to publicly discuss an ongoing investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Law enforcement officials are already starting to plan for armed protesters to return to the nation’s capital when Trump’s Senate trial accused of inciting violent insurgency begins the week of February 8. It would be the first impeachment trial of a former US. president.
Thousands of Trump supporters came to the Capitol on January 6 when Congress rallied to certify Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential race. More than 800 are said to have entered the Capitol during the violent siege and passed overwhelmed police officers. Capitol Police said they had plans for a protest against free speech, not a riot, and were caught off guard despite intelligence that the demonstration would turn into a riot. Five people died in the fight, including a Capitol police officer who was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher.
While much of the security apparatus set up around Washington after the riot and prior to Biden’s inauguration – it included dozens of military checkpoints and hundreds of additional law enforcement personnel – is no longer in place, about 7,000 National Guard members will remain to assist federal law enforcement, officials said.
The Guard Bureau said the number of Guard members in Washington on Sunday is less than 20,000. All but about 7,000 will go home in the coming days. The Guard Bureau said the number of troops in DC would then decrease further to about 5,000 in the coming weeks. They are expected to stay in DC until mid-March.
At least five people indicted by the federal government have suggested they believed they were taking orders from Trump when they marched on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6 to challenge certification of Biden’s election victory. But now those comments, captured in interviews with reporters and federal agents, will likely take center stage when the Democrats make their case.
More than 130 people have been charged by federal prosecutors for their role in the riot. In recent weeks, others have been arrested after posting threats against members of Congress.
They include a Proud Boys supporter who, according to authorities, threatened to deploy “three cars full of armed patriots” to Washington, who threatened damage to Senator Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., And who is accused of stocking military combat knives and more than 1,000 rifle bullets in his New York home. A Texas man was arrested this week for participating in the Capitol riot and for posting violent threats, including a call to assassinate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y.
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Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.