Heightened tensions in the Washington, D.C., were on full display Wednesday after a series of tweets from reporters falsely reported that the Supreme Court had been evacuated because of a bomb threat.
“The Supreme Court evacuated after bomb threat,” Fox News’s Chad Pergram tweeted.
The Supreme Court evacuated after bomb threat.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) January 20, 2021
In a since-deleted tweet, CNN’s Jim Sciutto said that “the Supreme Court is being evacuated for bomb threat.”
The Supreme Court’s Public Information Office told the Washington Examiner that a bomb threat had been called in but after authorities checked the grounds, no threat was detected.
“The Court received a bomb threat, the building and grounds were checked out, and the building is not being evacuated,” the Supreme Court’s Public Information Office said.
The U.S. Capitol Police confirmed that a threat had not been detected and that the building had not been evacuated.
“According to Supreme Court Police, there is no evacuation of the Supreme Court and no threat,” a spokesperson for the Capitol Police told the Washington Examiner.
After pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol in an attack that left five dead, Washington, D.C., has been on high alert amid a number of reports from the FBI and the Secret Service about potential armed demonstrations in capitals across the country.
More than 20,000 National Guard troops from the District of Columbia and the states are in the district to guard the Capitol and other federal buildings from potential attacks leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. Troops have flooded the capital from as far away as Minnesota and Illinois.
The Homeland Security Department moved its lockdown of D.C. up by nearly a week at the request of Mayor Muriel Bowser, which allowed inaugural security forces to set up miles of barricades across town early. Dump trucks, buses, and other large vehicles were parked on dozens of roads to prevent attacks from vehicles.
