ICYMI – The United States Secret Service apparently considered the threat of “civil disobedience,” centered around former President Donald Trump’s January 6 “Save America” speech to be minimal.
Documents and emails as well as threat assessments and reports have shown that the Secret Service Protective Intelligence & Assessment Division knew well in advance that groups such as Proud Boys and Oath Keepers were expected to attend, and they didn’t anticipate a problem.
Almost 900 pages of documents revealed by a Freedom of Information Act request from Bloomberg News have shown that the events which took place that day were largely unexpected by the best intelligence assets in the country.
According to The Washington Examiner, a partially redacted 11-page intelligence report about the potential protests assessment concluded,
“Many of the groups planning to engage in demonstration activities on Jan. 6, 2021, are the same which participated in demonstration activities on Nov. 14, 2020, and Dec. 12, 2020. Verbal and physical altercations ensued between pro-Trump and anti-Trump supporters during both events.”
“Some members of the of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor and carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks,” the report read. The Secret Service “will continue to monitor all crowds in the area of the White House zone. No civil disobedience at this time.”
According to Newsweek, which also perused the reports at length, the “Protective Intelligence Brief, March for Trump, January 4, 2021”, exclusively obtained by them, the Secret Service pointed to a video by “Stop the Steal” inventor Ali Alexander urging individuals to bringing tents, food, sleeping bags and water.
“No organization efforts for events on January 6, 2021, have been identified on the dark web at this time,” the Secret Service intelligence component wrote.
During a multi-agency teleconference hosted by the D.C. Metro Police that had the FBI, the Secret Service, the Park Police, Supreme Court Police, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and DC Fire & Emergency Medical Services on the guest list, the first of three Daily Intelligence Reports from the Capitol Police were discussed.
Even the Capitol Police allegedly didn’t foresee a problem. They stated the “probability of acts of civil disobedience was on a continuum from ‘Remote’ to ‘Improbable,'” Newsweek reported.
They further added that there was “no indication of any acts of violence being pre-planned by any specific individual(s) or groups.”
Meanwhile, as Trump has repeatedly stated, his urging to deploy National Guard Force to protect the area and maintain order were ignored. He told Fox News, “They didn’t do their job. I believed the crowd was going to be bigger — just my instinct — and they had the chance to call up the National Guard three days before Jan. 6, and if they did, Jan. 6 would have been a very different day,” Trump said. “But they didn’t do it.”
