The Secret Service was aware of a threat to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi days before the Jan. 6 riots, but only informed Capitol Police after protesters stormed the building, according to emails sent by a Washington Watchdog were obtained.
The details raise new questions about intelligence gathering ahead of the violent protest and law enforcement’s response as the riot unfolded.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics of Washington (CREW) on Wednesday released email communications between officials at the time of the clashes.
“Hello, U.S. Secret Intelligence Service is delivering to U.S. Capitol Police a notification of discovery of a social media threat targeting Spokesperson Nancy Pelosi,” read the key message, which appeared to be received by Capitol Police at 5:55 p.m has been received.
By then, officers had spent hours battling the rioters, some of whom had already posted pictures from inside the House Speaker’s office.
CREW reported that two days earlier, the Secret Service became aware of threatening posts on a Parler social media account.
The Secret Service only informed Capitol Police of a threat against the Speaker of the House on Jan. 6, after protesters stormed Congress, according to messages obtained by a watchdog
Details emerged amid existing criticism that no information was shared between authorities ahead of a planned Jan. 6 protest by Trump supporters and fringe groups
Protesters, including Richard Barnett, pictured here, even stormed into the House Speaker’s own office on the day Congress was supposed to confirm Joe Biden’s election victory
They included one posted on December 31st that said, “January 6th starts #1776 over again!! Fight for God! Fight for your freedom!! Fight for your children!! Fight for Trump!! Fight for America!! Fight for EVERYTHING… Enemies: #MSM #BarackObama #HillaryClinton #GeorgeSoros #JoeBiden #AndrewCuomo #GavinNewsom #NancyPelosi #BillDeBlasio.”
Twitter posts also apparently seen by the Secret Service and linked to the same account offered tips to protesters.
One said, “Keep MAGA gear hidden until AFTER check-in” at hotels, “DC is very BLUE and a hotbed for ANTIFA/BLM. Stay with the large group, especially at night,” urging protesters to beware of police officers.
The closer the protest day got, the more concrete the threats became.
“Biden will die shortly after his election,” the account published Jan. 2 read.
“Patriots will tear his head off. Prison is his best-case scenario.’
The emails reflect a spate of public warnings about how a gathering of Trump supporters, militias and conspiracy theorists could erupt in violence.
Since then, a series of investigations have looked into how law enforcement failed to act on intelligence information to secure the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The week the Government Accountability Office released details of its survey of Capitol Police Officers who were on the front lines defending the building.
“Of the 315 officers who responded to the survey, 153 felt slightly or not at all prepared to use force or use crowd control tactics during the attack,” it said.
“Additionally, 209 officers said that crowd control guidance — whether before or during protesters’ arrival — was less than very clear (in some cases they said it was not provided).”
Overall, it was said that police planning did not adequately address the possibility of extreme violence.
And it said it would continue to review sharing information beforehand.
Anthony Guglielmi, a Secret Service spokesman, did not comment on the timing of the news during an appearance on CNN, but said it has an “excellent” working relationship with other agencies.
The Secret Service is already under investigation for failing to keep text messages dated January 6th
“The Secret Service works tirelessly to share relevant information with our law enforcement partners,” he said.
“In the notice that referenced Speaker Pelosi, this information was provided to the U.S. Capitol Police for their situational awareness.”
But the newly uncovered messages come amid an investigation into whether and how the Secret Service preserved text messages from the day of the protest, and the House Committee investigating the attack is looking for any relevant messages.
“Over the past month we have learned that, despite explicit warnings, the Secret Service failed to prepare for the Jan. 6 violence and then deleted key evidence of the day, in likely violation of the law,” CREW said in its report.
“The delay in notifying Capitol Police of the threat to the House Speaker only reinforces the impression that the agency has failed to do its job and prompts more questions.”