The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ignored a “massive amount” of intelligence indicating the true scope of protests planned for Jan. 6, 2021, according to a new report.
The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee released a report on the issue Tuesday, finding that both organizations had downplayed or ignored plans by certain right-wing groups prior to the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Panel Chairman Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., said the issue was “largely a failure of imagination to see threats that the Capitol could be breached as credible.” For instance, law enforcement received one tip claiming that the Proud Boys were planning to “literally kill people.”
Officials took most threats leading up to the event, such as calls for Trump supporters to “come armed,” and prepare to “burn the place to the ground” as internet hyperbole. That proved to be the case only some of the time, however.
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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., reacted to the release of the report in a Tuesday appearance on Fox News, saying what is truly needed is an investigation by an independent third party.
“We haven’t had an opportunity to have a real objective analysis of what happened on January 6, before and after. What the Democrats in the House did was basically a partisan car wreck. We only got half of the information. Republicans were excluded. There have been no attempts in the Senate, by Senator Schumer. I think what we need is an objective look, if necessary, by some nonpartisan outside experts. The American people would like to know. But it’s gotten so politicized,” he said.
“I was there on the 6th. It was an abomination. I’m sorry that it happened. I wish it hadn’t happened, but we’re entitled to know, the American people are, why it happened. And if [the] federal government had advance notice and if so, why wasn’t it better prepared? I just don’t think any of that’s reasonable. But it’s all shot through with politics now,” he continued. “I just don’t know why the Justice Department and the leadership in the House and Senate and the FBI won’t just tell the American people the truth. The institutions in Washington are not going to regain their integrity in the eyes of the American people until they start telling the truth, and I’m afraid the problem is that all these people think the American people are morons.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.