WASHINGTON (AP) – Law enforcement was on high alert around the Capitol on Thursday after authorities said the intelligence agency discovered a “possible plot” by a militia to re-storm the iconic building. The warning came two months after Donald Trump supporters broke windows and doors to try to prevent Congress from certifying current President Joe Biden’s victory.
The threat appeared to be related to a far-right conspiracy theory, promoted mainly by QAnon supporters, that former President Trump would return to power on March 4 and that thousands would come to Washington to try to remove the Democrats from office. March 4 was the original day of the presidential inauguration until 1933, after which it was moved to January 20.
There were no signs of unrest in the high-security building Thursday, with Capitol and National Guard police and a large perimeter fence erected after the January 6 riot. The Pentagon is reviewing a request to extend the Guard’s deployment by 60 days after the current expiration date of March 12.
Online chatter identified by authorities included discussions among members of the Three Percenters, an anti-government militia group, about possible plots against the Capitol on Thursday, according to two law enforcement officials who were not authorized to speak in public and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Members of the Three Percenters were among the extremists who stormed the Capitol on January 6.
The threat came when Capitol police and other law enforcement agencies were criticized by Congress during controversial hearings this week over their handling of the Jan. 6 riot. The police were ill-prepared to the masses of Trump supporters, some in tactical gear and armed, and it took hours for National Guard reinforcements to arrive. By this time, rioters had broken into the building and roamed the halls for hours, temporarily halting Congress’ certification efforts and hiding lawmakers.
Lawmakers, convention personnel, and law enforcement officials are still tense after the Jan. 6 attack, even as security around the Capitol remains at an unprecedented level.
The US House finished its work for the week on Wednesday evening, but the US Senate still had a busy day scheduled for Thursday with votes until the evening. Police reinforced their presence in and around the Capitol. About 5,200 National Guard members remain in DC, the rest of the roughly 26,000 brought in for President Biden’s inauguration in January, which went off without a hitch.
Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, the former chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee and among those briefed on the new threat, said lawmakers are bracing themselves.
“I think we’ll see some violence here,” he said in an interview.
But unlike on January 6, the Capitol is now fortified against intruders. “We have the barbed wire, we have the National Guard. We didn’t have that January 6th. So I have a lot of faith in security, ”he said.
At first it seemed that the online chatter was not reaching the level of serious concern; An advisory sent to members of Congress earlier this week by Timothy Blodgett, the acting House sergeant-at-arms, said Capitol Police “had no indication that groups will travel to Washington, DC to protest or to commit acts of violence. “
But that advice was updated Wednesday morning in a note to lawmakers. Blodgett wrote that Capitol Police had received “new and troubling information and intelligence indicating increased interest in the Capitol for March 4-6 dates by a militia.”
Acting Chief of Police for the Capitol, Yogananda Pittman, said during the House’s testimony on Wednesday that her detectives had collected “intelligence information” but declined to disclose it, saying it was “sensitive to law enforcement” and that she was a private briefing to the subcommittee. members.
Meanwhile, federal agents found no significant increase in the number of hotel rooms rented in Washington, or in flights to the area, car rental reservations, or buses being chartered, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was unable to publicly discuss the details of the security planning and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security also sent a joint intelligence bulletin to local law enforcement officials on Tuesday, saying a group of militia extremists had discussed the attempt to take control of the Capitol on March 4 and encouraged thousands to go to DC to try to remove the Democrats from power.
But there was a noticeable decline in online activity on some social media platforms around the March 4 efforts, and there was already significantly less online chatter than during the run-up to January 6, a day Trump had repeatedly promoted for his own. gathered and encouraged thousands to come to the nation’s capital.
Also thousands of accounts that promoted the Jan. 6 event that led to a violent storming of the Capitol has since been shelved by major tech companies such as Facebook and Twitter, making it much more difficult for groups to stage a rerun of the mass rally.
About 300 people have been charged so far with federal crimes for their role in the riot. Five people, including a Capitol policeman, died.
Since his defeat, Trump has been promoting lies that the election has been stolen his through massive voter fraud, even though such claims have been rejected by judges, Republican government officials and Trump’s own administration. He was impeached by the House after the January 6 riot for inciting uprising but was acquitted by the Senate.
Associated Press Writers Nomaan Merchant in Houston; Alan Fram, Mary Clare Jalonick, Colleen Long and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Amanda Seitz in Chicago contributed to this report.