(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) An FBI intelligence warning that Jan. 6 protesters may turn violent was never sent to frontline police but was sent to a top aid of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, raising further uncertainty about who is to blame for security failures.
Capitol Police Deputy Chief Sean Gallagher emailed Schumer aide Kelly Fado reporting intelligence of a threat, sent to the FBI by a website owner, Just the News reported.
The information warned that demonstrators had detailed maps of the tunnel systems around the Capitol building.
“The owner of the website submitted an online tip to the FBI NTOC (National Threat Operations Center) stating that he has noticed a significant uptick in new visitors to his website,” Gallagher wrote.
“We have identified numerous open-source comments indicating groups intentions of finding the tunnel entrances and confronting/blocking” members of Congress.
The email contained several screen shots of web communications detailing maps and discussing specific actions, such as blocking tunnel exits.
These FBI warnings were not forwarded to the Capitol Police’s then-chief Steve Sund or the commanders and officers securing the building for the next morning.
“Similar to the intelligence already in IICD’s possession prior to January 5, the FBI SIR and the warning regarding the tunnel system were not elevated to USCP leadership,” the report noted.
Several Republican members of Congress said they were unaware of Gallagher’s tip off and said it provided further evidence that the House Jan. 6 committee was shielding Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi from criticism and accountability for their botched security.
“This is a really a shocking bombshell discovery … that shows the political nature of who received intelligence and who did not,” Rep. Jim Banks, chairman of the influential House Republican Study Committee, said.
“Remember the Capitol Police officers’ union chief said that they, the rank and file police officers, weren’t tipped off [to] the intelligence, that it was never shared with them.”
“That is a great example of the type of questions… that this sham committee should be investigating and digging into, but they’re not.”
A postmortem of the situation by the Capitol Police Department identified 53 major failures in total, and showed that the Trump Pentagon was offering to deploy National Guard troops four days before the protest.
