Lawsuit reveals frantic texts sent between security agents on Jan. 6: 'Do your best'

Text messages sent by Homeland Security agents before and during the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021 have given a never-before-seen glimpse at law enforcement's reaction to the events of the day.

The messages were handed over after a lawsuit was filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, the watchdog group announced Wednesday.

The internal messages sent by members of the Federal Protective Services, which is a part of the department, show that advance warning that there could be trouble was received three days before the riot. "There will also be marches to the Capitol that will likely use the mall as their route," the text message warned FPS Director Kris Cline.

The information also reveals that on the evening of Jan. 5, Tex Alles, the deputy undersecretary for management at the DHS, sent a message to Cline and Chris Tomney, the director of the Office of Homeland Security Situational Awareness.

Alles confessed he was “glad D.C. has strict gun control.”

Tomney replied: “Yikes.”

As the chaos unfolded on the 6th, Tomney confessed he was increasingly concerned: "With so many weapons found so far, you wonder how many are unknown," he texted. "Could be sporty after dark.”

The Washington Post reported in October 2022 that a similar observation was overheard on the police radios and uncovered by the House committee.

"Individuals in a tree, a white male, about 6 feet tall, brown cowboy boots," a voice on the radio reports. "Got blue jeans and a blue jean jacket and he has an AR-15. He's with a group of individuals, 5 feet from other individuals. Two of the individuals in that group beneath the tree are in green fatigues, about 5'8", 5'9", skinny white males, brown cowboy boots, Glock-style pistols in their waist."

It is known that the Secret Service confessed similar concerns to former President Donald Trump at the time — that there were too many armed people trying to get into the area for his speech on The Ellipse.

According to testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson, Trump said: “I don’t f---ing care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me.”

The texts uncovered in the lawsuit also revealed that "intelligence" suggested “that the Proud Boys will storm the FBI Building at 1400 hour.”

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Other messages show concern from one individual that there were "1000s of people in the streets." Agents were told simply, "Do your best."

By 3 p.m. that afternoon, an officer asked if there were other deployments coming to help.

“You are not engaging at this time [redacted]. Get as close as you can,” was the response.

The texts are the first real look at how security services communicated as the events unfolded.

During the House Select Committee's investigation into the riot, it was discovered that Secret Service text messages from the day before and on Jan. 6 had all been deleted by a department-wide phone "data migration" — an erasure that came after a subpoena for them was issued by Congress. There was ultimately a criminal investigation into it.