An unnamed source told NBC News that federal authorities, who had intelligence suggesting a conspiracy was underway, visited more than a dozen individuals under investigation and discouraged them from traveling to Washington.
"Prior to this event, the FBI obtained credible and actionable information about individuals who were planning on traveling to the protests who expressed a desire to engage in violence," the senior FBI official confirmed to NBC News. "The FBI was able to discourage those individuals from traveling to D.C."
Federal law enforcement officials have been widely panned for the sluggish response as violence broke out on Capitol Hill Wednesday afternoon. House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving and his Senate counterpart, Michael Stenger, both resigned in the aftermath of the debacle.
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Steve D'Antuono, who heads the FBI's Washington field office, firmly denied that authorities had any advanced warning of the attack.
"There was no indication that there was anything [planned] other than First Amendment-protected activity," he stated.
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Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee supported this contention.
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"There was no intelligence that suggested there would be a breach of the U.S. Capitol," said Contee.
Contee identified four victims of the attack during a press conference held on Thursday and indicated that 68 people were arrested. A fifth casualty, U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, was also reported in connection to the riot.
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Authorities are continuing to investigate the sequence of events that led to the Capitol Hill siege, which resulted in a congressional lockdown and multiple deaths.
Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser sidestepped questions Sunday about the city’s apparent lack of preparedness before a mob of protesters stormed the US Capitol, leaving five dead.
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Speaking on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Bowser denied that her Jan. 5 letter to federal authorities saying the city did not want additional law enforcement played any role in DC getting caught off guard the following day.
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“What I know is that just prior to that we already requested federal support and it was granted in the form of the DC national guard, and the DC national guard had been deployed and received its assignment,” the mayor claimed.
“That letter called attention to the federal government for other federal policing agencies, and asked the federal government to coordinate with us if they were going to be on DC streets,” she concluded.
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“That letter has nothing to do with the capitol or other federal facilities.”
But Bowser dodged the question when asked why the Jan. 4 arrest of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio — who had two high-capacity firearm magazines when busted in DC — didn’t do more to put cops on alert for potential violence.
“Well certainly we were on the lookout for weapons and we saw him with these magazines that could carry bullets,” was all Bowser said.
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