January 1, FBI Sat On Warnings Before Capitol Riot

Wyatt’s Take

• The FBI got dozens of warnings about a possible armed attack on January 6.
• Some of those reports also flagged Antifa groups trying to blend into the crowd.
• Security changes could have been made, but the warnings were not shared widely enough.

Multiple informants told the FBI ahead of January 6 that dangerous groups were heading to Washington, D.C., planning trouble at the Capitol. These warnings were detailed and came from people inside radical organizations days before the riot.

Rep. Barry Loudermilk said he was shocked at how clear many warnings were, and how many different informants said the same thing. Yet, this serious intelligence was not used to boost Capitol security or to reconsider President Trump’s speech on the Ellipse that day.

“There is no way that at least the Washington Field Office or the FBI headquarters was not aware that there were elements, not the entire crowd. There were elements of people coming to Washington, DC with the intent of attacking the Capitol of the United States.”

Most warnings said the threat could be worse than what actually happened. Loudermilk pressed the FBI to explain why this intelligence did not reach Capitol Police or other law enforcement agencies who could have acted on it.

He confirmed that dozens of FBI informants were inside both left- and right-wing groups. Not only did right-leaning groups like the Proud Boys get attention, but for the first time, Loudermilk said Antifa members were also on the FBI’s radar, with warnings they would be inside the crowd.

“There were several references, again, not just isolated to one, but several different field offices, different organizations that were reporting that they had heard that Antifa would be embedded within the crowd.”

The FBI admits these threats and Antifa warnings were flagged by their sources and says Congress now has those reports as they are working to declassify them for the public.

Capitol Police were left in the dark, treating January 6 like any typical Trump rally, which left them unprepared. Requests from police leadership for the National Guard were ignored after others downplayed the threat.

Loudermilk believes that if the intelligence had been shared, security on January 6 would have looked very different, with more officers on duty and likely the National Guard protecting the Capitol from the start.

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Wyatt Matters

Our government must act when warnings arrive, not ignore them until it’s too late. Heartland families need leaders who treat our safety as their top priority.