The police warn of a possible conspiracy led by a group of militias. The Senate keeps its agenda intact.
The US House of Representatives has decided to suspend the session scheduled for this Thursday after reports from the intelligence services warned of a possible attack on the Capitol by a group of militias. Followers of the conspiracy and white supremacist movement QAnon believe that former President Donald Trump will return to power on March 4. The Senate, meanwhile, has chosen to keep its agenda intact. The surroundings of the Capitol remain armored and some 5,000 members of the National Guard have been monitoring it since the unprecedented assault by Trump supporters on January 6 .
“The United States Capitol Police Department is aware of and prepared for any potential threat to members of Congress or to the Capitol,” the compound police said in a statement. To increase security, officers are coordinating their work with local, state and federal bodies. “We take intelligence [information] seriously,” they said.
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told congressmen on Wednesday that he has “improved” security around the compound. “We are prepared to respond appropriately,” Pittman said, but declined to elaborate on the threats. The House of Representatives decided to advance the vote on a reform of the police force to Wednesday night.
March 4 was the original date set for the presidential inauguration in the Constitution, before the ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933 that changed it to January 20 . QAnon’s followers believe that President Joe Biden stole the elections from Trump, who has insisted on spreading the idea that electoral fraud took place, and they trust that this Thursday the Republican will seize power.
The Capitol Police are under scrutiny for their weak response to the attack on January 6 , where hundreds of Trumpistas were able to pass the security fences without difficulty and enter the building. Five people, including an agent, died during the violent day. In recent weeks, the police action has been the focus of multiple Congressional investigations.
The information from the intelligence services comes from an internal FBI document prepared at the end of February in which it describes an alleged plot perpetrated by a group of militias, including the paramilitary group Tres Percent, who are considering using diversionary tactics “such as the detonation of a bomb “to drive the security forces away from the Capitol before attacking it, according to a police source quoted by ABC.