FBI chief calls Capitol attack 'domestic terrorism' and defends US intelligence
From WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM
The FBI director, Chris Wray, has condemned the 6 January riot at the US Capitol as an instance of “domestic terrorism”, while defending the bureau’s handling of intelligence indicating that violence was likely.
“That attack, that siege, was criminal behavior, plain and simple, and it’s behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism,” Wray told the Senate judiciary committee on Tuesday. He also said the bureau was pursuing around 2,000 domestic terrorism investigations, up from 1,400 at end of 2020.
Donald Trump incited the Capitol attack, telling supporters at a rally near the White House to “fight like hell” in an attempt to overturn his electoral defeat based on the lie, repeatedly thrown out of court, that Biden won thanks to electoral fraud.
Five people including a Capitol police officer were killed. Trump was impeached on a charge of inciting an insurrection but acquitted when only seven Republican senators voted to convict.
Wray told senators the attack had “no place in our democracy, and tolerating it would make a mockery of our nation’s rule of law”.
The FBI was aggressively pursuing those who carried out the attack, he said, adding that investigations were under way in 55 of 56 FBI field offices. More than 200 people have been charged.
His comments in his first appearance before Congress since the Capitol attack amounted to the FBI’s most vigorous defense against the suggestion it did not adequately communicate to police the distinct possibility of violence as lawmakers gathered to certify presidential election results.
Wray told lawmakers information was properly shared before the riot, even though it was raw and unverified.
A 5 January report from the FBI field office in Norfolk, Virginia warned of online posts foreshadowing a “war” in Washington the following day. Capitol police leaders have said they were unaware of that report and received no intelligence from the FBI that would have led them to expect the sort of violence which ensued.
Wray said the Norfolk report was shared though the FBI’s joint terrorism task force, discussed at a command post and posted on an internet portal. Ideally the FBI would have had more time to try to corroborate it, he said.
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Submitted 1148 days ago
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