‘Bullets are going to ricochet all over the place’: Reporter says Secret Service feared ‘soldiers’ at Trump’s Jan. 6 speech
Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the Secret Service, spoke out about the revelations revealed by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Thursday.
The committee showed text messages, emails and reports from the Secret Service Protective Intelligence Unit that indicated the agency knew well in advance that the Capitol would be attacked and that former Vice President Mike Pence would be a target. One Secret Service agent even went so far as to text message “Probably not going to be good for Pence.”
"There were some new and surprising emails and internal communications among Secret Service agents and personnel several days before January 6, in which they appeared to be very well aware of what is being plotted on the Capitol," explained Leonnig. "Or at least what is threatened to happen. First off, starting December 26, the day after Christmas, there are emails in which tipsters are telling the Secret Service or other government officials and it is shared within the unit, that tries to assess the risks of these protests, the Secret Service units called the Protective Intelligence Unit, of getting information."
She quoted the tipster revealed by the committee, saying that "these people" were literally going to kill people, they'll storm Washington while armed and they'll outnumber police.
IN OTHER NEWS: Here’s the list of Trump co-conspirators facing Jan. 6 criminal referrals
"[It] was eerily prescient of exactly what happened," said Leonnig. "Another piece of information comes in from the U.S. Marshall Service, and the Secret Service also shared this material. In it, there is an extreme spike in threats against people the Secret Service protects, but very unique and particularly there are threats against the life of the vice president."
She also pointed out a point that the Secret Service knew enough to be prepared at the White House Ellipse to protect Trump, but did nothing else to protect others.
"Besides the fact that the Secret Service had tons of advance warning about what might happen, is how much they knew there was a group of soldiers in front of the president's speech on January 6. Surveillance video and other internal emails show the Secret Service literally was discussing the possibility for, you know, not hand-to-hand combat, but man-on-man gunfire because so many people appeared to be surreptitiously carrying firearms. Reports of a man with a glock. Reports of another man with a pistol, one man with a gun in a tree. And then finally, reports that DC police had detained a person with an automatic rifle. So, one Secret Service official remarks to another, as the president is on the rally stage — you've got to believe that there are a lot more weapons in people's hands. It could get a little sporty tonight. As if, you know, bullets are going to ricochet all over the place."
MSNBC's Katy Tur said that she's experienced Secret Service agents who refused to let her bring oranges into an event or a can of hairspray out of fear she would use it as a flamethrower.
See the video below or at this link.
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