Lawmakers were briefed Monday night of security threats leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden just days after protesters descended on Capitol Hill in an attack that left five dead.
Capitol security officials warned members on the call of at least four armed threats across Washington, D.C. — targeting the U.S. Capitol, the White House, and the Supreme Court. One Democratic House member said the hourlong phone call was “horrifying, the most chilling hour imaginable,” according to the Hill.
Separately, Rep. Conor Lamb told CNN’s New Day that one threat involved “4,000 armed ‘patriots'” surrounding the Capitol to “prevent any Democrat from going in.”
“The threats we are facing are very specific — I don’t want anyone watching at home to think that we’re just sort of imagining the things could be bad,” the Pennsylvania Democrat said. “They have published rules of engagement, meaning when you shoot and when you don’t. So this is an organized group that has a plan. They are committed to doing what they’re doing because I think in their minds, you know, they are patriots, and they’re talking about 1776, and so this is now a contest of wills.”
“We are not negotiating with or reasoning with these people,” Lamb added. “They have to be prosecuted. They have to be stopped. And unfortunately, that includes the president. Which is why he needs to be impeached and removed from office.”
Last week, protests scheduled to take place while Congress counted the votes of the Electoral College and certify Biden’s victory descended into chaos as demonstrators breached the congressional building — smashing windows, breaking into office, and looting rooms.
At a “Stop the Steal” rally earlier in the day, President Trump urged his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol. He also repeated claims of widespread voter fraud and telling his supporters “we will never give up” and “we will never concede.”
After the Capitol breach, Trump called for peace but in a series of follow-up tweets sympathized with and appeared to defend his more extremist supporters, saying in a deleted tweet, “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots.”
Following the attack, 7-foot-tall “non-scalable” barriers were set up around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and other federal buildings. Trump also approved D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s request for an emergency declaration leading up to Inauguration Day, and the mayor urged people to watch the inauguration virtually rather than coming to the district in person.
House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro said increased security concerns leading up to Biden’s inauguration were “obvious” but stressed that security officials were “getting it under control.”
“I mean, the concern is obvious from Wednesday, but it’s what you do with the concern, and that’s what they’re dealing with,” DeLauro said.
The threats described on the phone call with lawmakers comes on top of reports that an internal FBI bulletin warned that armed protests are also being planned in all 50 state capitols.
“Armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols from 16 January through at least 20 January, and at the U.S. Capitol from 17 January through 20 January,” the bulletin said. The advisory also noted potential threats of an “uprising” if the Cabinet were to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump from power before Jan. 20.
