The FBI was MIA as violence and threats piled up before the Capitol attack on Jan 6: former DOJ lawyer

After two days of hearings where lawmakers questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray, it's still unclear what the FBI knew in the run up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, wrote former DOJ special counsel Ryan Goodman and former FBI general counsel Andrew Weismann in The Washington Post this Friday.

According to Goodman and Weismann, Wray "repeatedly failed to provide the information lawmakers seek to perform their oversight role."

"Like many Americans, lawmakers have been astonished that the FBI and other agencies did not pick up on the threats of violence broadcast for weeks on social media by Trump supporters and militia groups before Jan. 6," they write, adding that Wray's claim that the FBI's hands were tied were "deeply unsatisfying."

"There were acts of violence and widely reported threats of more in the run-up to Jan. 6. FBI internal rules would have permitted an assessment of those dangers. The FBI, along with other agencies, routinely takes actions to prepare for highly sensitive events such as the Jan. 6 certification of the electoral college results."

The pair claim that the FBI knew enough to take action that would have headed off those who planned to attack the Capitol, but failed to do so.

Read the full op-ed over at The Washington Post.