Trump supporters planned the storming of the Capitol in advance: now they are discussing a new

The storming of the Capitol on January 6 was planned in advance: on the far-right forums there was discussion of ways of storming the building to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's election. In addition, all this was presented as actions by order of US President Donald Trump. The edition told in more detail The Washington Post.

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Trump supporters exchanged detailed tactical advice on what to bring and what to do when they gather outside the Capitol to conduct "civil arrests" of members of Congress.

Such comments weren't limited to the dark corners of the web. They were collected and cataloged by researchers who released their findings weeks before the seemingly untrained Capitol police force was captured by thousands of rioters.

The question remained unanswered why the authorities did not prepare more effectively for the assault, especially when those who planned it so openly declared their intentions.

“Given the very clear and obvious warning signs: Trump supporters expressing intent to 'storm and occupy Congress'; clear plans outlined in public forums; and the recent precedent of a plot to storm the Michigan Capitol building — it is truly stunning that the police were not better prepared,” said Rita Katz, executive director of the SITE Intelligence Group, which was on one of the research teams studying social media in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol. .

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Social networks reacted already after the fact, blocking the accounts of the most active rioters, even the president's accounts got under the distribution.

Concerns about an increase in violent incidents seem well founded. Calls for massive protests in the days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden have been rampant online for weeks. According to the calls, the demonstrations will end with the "March of a Million Militias," as the organizers dubbed it, on January 20, when Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are to take the oath.

“We all knew there would be tens of thousands of extremists in Washington, D.C., on January 6th, so there was no excuse for a lack of resources,” said Brian Harrell, a former assistant to the head of the Department of Homeland Security. “Law enforcement agencies were ill-prepared for the upcoming event, which the entire country knew was coming, and which the president had been signaling for weeks. This is shocking."

Calls for action in the final days before the incident included promises to bring guns to Washington in violation of the city's strict gun laws. A new analysis of such messages by Alethea Group, an anti-disinformation organization, found ample evidence of threatening plans across platforms large and small.

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Aggressive posts have appeared on both mainstream sites such as Twitter and Facebook, and narrowly conservative sites such as TheDonald.win and Parler. Locations indicated include the United States Capitol and Washington DC Trade Center and the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City. There were also calls for an "Armed March through the capitals of all states."

In some cases, online chat has been organized around hashtags such as #StormTheCapitol and has included threats to kill congressional leaders.

One message on the forum read: “He cannot openly tell you to rebel.” Most likely, “he” is Trump. Another message, according to the report, called for storming the building to "surround" Congress and "pursue traitors."

“It’s not that the police didn’t know. They seemed to be deliberately ignoring the possibility of violence,” said Mark Ginsberg, president of the Coalition for a Safer Internet, who personally shared his findings with government officials before the attack took place.

The warnings have even come from individuals, including activists, who are usually wary of the police. One activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of backlash from far-right groups, said she spent her Christmas head over heels in death threats, sneaking through online forums detailing plans to smuggle weapons into D.C., kidnap congressmen and attacks on the police.

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What she read alarmed her so much that she decided to break one of the basic rules of the DC activist groups she had been a member of since the summer: call the police. On Monday, December 28, she called FBI support and gave details of the threats and plans she read on forums including Parler, Telegram, and topics on TheDonald's website. They all proved to be the main staging area for planning the January 6 attack.

"There's a big difference between getting information and assessing threats," said Chuck Wexler, executive director of the Police Executive Research Forum, a think tank. “The question is what they did with the data they had.” Have they done a proper threat assessment? If not, why not?

Similar information is now “walking” on the Internet. Some event lists openly discuss the administration of "justice" for Ashley Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who was killed by police inside the Capitol on January 6, in the days leading up to the inauguration.

Cindy Otis, vice president of analysis at Alethea, said, “Much of the conversation right now is about general threats. There is a risk that these messages will lead to violence.”

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• On January 6, the US Congress met in Washington, DC to approve the results of the presidential election. At the same time numerous supporters of the incumbent US President Donald Trump crowded under the Capitol building to protest against these results... The situation quickly escalated and turned into chaos.
• House of Representatives and Senate confirmed Joe Biden's win early Thursday morning January 7... During the protests near the Capitol, at least 4 people died, there are casualties. The chaos near the Capitol was condemned by the leaders of many countries.
• US President Donald Trump returns to Twitter after 12 hours of blocking his account and posted a video in which he severely condemned the people who broke into the Capitol, and also admitted defeat for the first time in the elections.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked for Vice President Mike Pence apply the 25th amendmentto declare the president incapable of performing his duties. If Pence refuses this step, Democrats are using the impeachment mechanism again.

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