Bombshell claims from a top lawyer investigating the January 6th riot at the Capitol indicate the FBI and other intelligence agencies could have prevented the chaos had they acted on the information that had already been gathered.
NBC News reports that former federal prosecutor Tim Heaphy, a Democrat and the committee’s chief investigative counsel, did continue to assert that former President Trump’s words incited the crowd to action.
“But for (Trump’s) words, and deeds, it wouldn’t have happened,” he contends.
However – and this is the biggest however – he also accused the House select committee of leaving out information from their reports and televised hearings that security agencies could have stopped the mob that day regardless.
“That said, what happened at the Capitol was also affected by law enforcement failures to operationalize the ample intelligence that was present before Jan. 6, about the threats of violence,” Heaphy said in an exclusive interview with NBC.
He added, “Law enforcement had a very direct role in contributing to the security failures that led to the violence.”
Exclusive: Top Jan. 6 investigator says FBI, DHS, Capitol Police could have repelled the Capitol mob had they acted on intelligence collected in the weeks before the attack https://t.co/MfzhKUgM7k
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) January 31, 2023
RELATED: Informant Warned FBI That January 6 Was a ‘Big’ Threat Weeks BEFORE Capitol Riot, They Did Nothing
Top Investigator: FBI Could Have Stopped January 6th
Aside from the admission from a top Democrat investigator that the events on January 6th could have been prevented by the FBI, the NBC News report also indicates the House select committee intentionally shielded the information from the public.
The highly partisan committee voted last month to refer four criminal charges against Trump to the Department of Justice over his alleged actions during the Capitol riot.
When asked about comments by committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) that placed the blame exclusively on Trump, Heaphy responded that “law enforcement could have and should have done a better job of anticipating” potential violence.
January 6 committee “findings about intelligence and security shortcomings were left out of the public hearings and downplayed in the report because committee members wanted to keep the focus on Trump” https://t.co/te9poXIE60
— Michael Shellenberger (@ShellenbergerMD) February 1, 2023
Additionally, the NBC news report indicates sources “familiar with the committee’s inner workings” have admitted to the intentional withholding of information from the public.
Those sources told NBC News that “the findings about intelligence and security shortcomings were left out of the public hearings and downplayed in the report because committee members wanted to keep the focus on Trump and avoid giving his supporters a talking point.”
Such an acknowledgment should be an embarrassment to the panel that had drawn their conclusions long before they even began any investigation.
An attempt to conceal facts not only fails to take away a talking point – Trump supporters had that knowledge well in advance with or without information from the panel – but it exposes the committee for the sham it was all along.
And they know it. Thompson, along with former congresswoman Liz Cheney, refused to provide NBC with a comment on their report.
“The intel in advance was pretty specific, and it was enough, in our view, for law enforcement to have done a better job.”
What the Jan 6 committee actually found, before leadership decided it distracted from the Trump narrative.
@KenDilanianNBC: https://t.co/K878VHo1pu
— Ryan J. Reilly (@ryanjreilly) January 31, 2023
Informant Warned FBI of a ‘Big’ Threat Weeks BEFORE Capitol Riot
Heaphy continued to insist that the FBI’s failures were just as crucial as Trump’s words and actions on and before the January 6th riot.
He notes that committee investigators “reviewed numerous examples of compelling intelligence that appeared to have been downplayed or ignored.”
The NBC News report seems to mesh with previous reporting on an informant who warned the FBI weeks in advance that January 6th posed a “big” threat of violence, but who was ultimately ignored.
Report: Informant Warned FBI That January 6 Was a ‘Big’ Threat Weeks BEFORE Capitol Riot, They Did Nothing – The Political Insider https://t.co/vpET8exLjE
— Kathlin Hawleys (@HawleysJadefav) December 21, 2022
The informant highlighted an uptick in messages speaking of Civil War and a willingness to sacrifice lives prior to the riot.
All of the information was sent to the FBI on December 19th and, as NBC News indicates, “adds to the mounting evidence that the FBI had intelligence warnings that Jan. 6 was a major threat.”
“The bureau saw this coming,” the informant accused.
Exclusive: An informant warned the FBI weeks before Jan. 6 that the far-right saw then-President Trump’s tweet summoning his supporters to a “wild” protest in the nation’s capital as “a call to arms,” according to an email reviewed by @NBCNews. https://t.co/YjcCAwVWA2
— NBC News (@NBCNews) December 21, 2022
Not only did the FBI have information weeks in advance, but they allegedly had numerous informants in the crowd that day and still didn’t prevent the riot from getting out of hand.
Court documents examined by the New York Times show the FBI had as many as eight informants embedded with the “Proud Boys” group in the months leading up to the Capitol riot.
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Prior to that, the Times publicized that the FBI had another well-placed informant within the Oath Keepers, another group that allegedly took part in the protest.
FBI Director Christopher Wray, when confronted on the possibility of the FBI being embedded in the crowd on January 6th, refused to offer a denial.
Wray instead said he had to “be very careful” about answering questions on whether the bureau had informants dressed as Trump supporters in the crowd.
REP. HIGGINS: “Did you have confidential human sources dressed as Trump supporters inside The Capitol on January 6th prior to the doors being opened?”
FBI DIR. WRAY: “I have to be very careful about what I can say.” pic.twitter.com/COGkWCPCpY
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 15, 2022
The informant told NBC News that the warnings and information given to the FBI regarding riots on January 6th didn’t involve random calls to a tip line or submissions through generic web forms. It came directly from a trusted and vetted source.
They had no excuse not to act and take preventative measures.
“When you make mistakes, ideally, you’ll learn from them,” Heaphy said. “And this was a mistake.”
Making mistakes is one thing. Wholesale incompetence, which the FBI seems to have had a monopoly on for decades, is another.
Now is the time to support and share the sources you trust.
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