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There's a lot we still don't know about why law enforcement allowed something to happen that D.C. went through decades of security theater to prevent. But it's not because they weren't warned.
Quick story with @loganjaffe @iarnsdorf and @davidmcswane: https://www.propublica.org/article/capitol-rioters-planned-for-weeks-in-plain-sight-the-police-werent-ready
Quick story with @loganjaffe @iarnsdorf and @davidmcswane: https://www.propublica.org/article/capitol-rioters-planned-for-weeks-in-plain-sight-the-police-werent-ready
WEEKS of posts on right-wing social media platforms called for escalation -- to "take the hill or die trying," as one put it. For MONTHS, the intelligence establishment had identified white supremacist movements as the nation's most immediate domestic terror threat.
As has been noted many times, nothing on the order of that kind of threat nevertheless precipitated a level of mobilization around the protests in June that left D.C. feeling like it was living under military occupation. And yet yesterday, the Capitol was essentially undefended.
A 34-year Capitol Police member told us that the perimeter should never have been breached. “We have a planned, known demonstration that has a propensity for violence in the past and threats to carry weapons — why would you not prepare yourself as we have done in the past?”
Clearly something broke down here. We (and I expect many others) are working to figure out why -- if you've got actual knowledge, drop us a line. (SIgnal - 202-913-3717, email [email protected], other secure means here https://www.propublica.org/tips/ )
Before I go back to sleep, a couple videos from yesterday that wouldn’t load while I was in the crowd — people excitedly cheering the invasion of the Capitol, excited that they had managed to stop the count. – bei Capitol Reflecting Pool
– bei Capitol Reflecting Pool
In the end, with no chance of actually overthrowing the government, it was all a big self-gratifying party -- and law enforcement let it happen.
