FBI sent dire warning about ‘war’ at the US Capitol one day before the pro-Trump insurrection: report

Capitol Hill Police have denied culpability for their role in failing to keep the U.S. Capitol from being overrun by claiming that the insurrection could not have been anticipated.

But a new report by The Washington Post casts doubt on those claims.

"A day before rioters stormed Congress, an FBI office in Virginia issued an explicit internal warning that extremists were preparing to travel to Washington to commit violence and 'war,' according to an internal document reviewed by The Washington Post that contradicts a senior official's declaration the bureau had no intelligence indicating anyone at last week's pro-Trump protest planned to do harm," the newspaper reported.

The situational information reported, "painted a dire portrait of dangerous plans" the newspaper explained.

"As of 5 January 2021, FBI Norfolk received information indicating calls for violence in response to 'unlawful lockdowns' to begin on 6 January 2021 in Washington. D.C.," the document says. "An online thread discussed specific calls for violence to include stating 'Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal."

The report is likely to increase pressure for further investigations of what went wrong.

"The warning is the most stark evidence yet of the sizable intelligence failure that preceded the mayhem, during which five people died, although one law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid disciplinary action, said the failure was not one of intelligence, but of acting on the intelligence," the newspaper reported. "An FBI official familiar with the document said that within 45 minutes of learning about the alarming online conversation, the Norfolk FBI office wrote the report and shared it with others within the bureau. It was not immediately clear how many law enforcement agencies outside the FBI were told, but the information was briefed to FBI officials at the bureau's Washington field office the day before the attack, this official said."

Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund resigned from his position last week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on him to step down.

"Many of our Capitol Police just acted so bravely and with such concern for the staff, the members, for the Capitol ... and they deserve our gratitude. But there was a failure at the top of the Capitol Police," Pelosi said.

Read the full report.