The Secret Service knew about a threat to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi days ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol—but didn’t pass the information along to the United States Capitol Police until the attack was already underway, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington reports.
“January 6 starts #1776 all over again…Fight for EVERYTHING,” a Parler user not named by CREW posted on Dec. 31, 2020, in a post discovered by the Secret Service on Jan. 4, 2021. That line was accompanied by an “enemies” list with Pelosi’s name on it.
RELATED STORY: Report: Pence aide warned Secret Service of threat to VP before Jan. 6
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“Biden will die shortly after being elected,” a Jan. 2 post from the same account read. “Patriots are gonna tear his head off. Prison is his best case scenario.”
And the next day: “We’re all on a mission to save America. Lone wolf attacks are the way to go. Stay anonymous. Stay alive. Guns up Patriots!!”
It took until 5:55 PM on Jan. 6 for the Secret Service to send the post with Pelosi’s name in it to the Capitol Police. By that time, law enforcement had been fighting off the attack by a mob of insurrectionists for hours. They knew Pelosi was at risk, and she had been moved for her safety.
This is far from the first indication that a host of law enforcement agencies fell down on the job in the lead-up to Jan. 6. They had warnings. These social media posts filled with threats were … social media posts. They were available. What, though, is going on at the Secret Service?
First, the Secret Service denied former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s account of Donald Trump furiously demanding to be taken to the Capitol and attempting to wrest control of a vehicle from the Secret Service driver. There was supposedly going to be sworn testimony contradicting Hutchinson. Instead, the relevant agents and staff stopped cooperating and lawyered up. Worse, the Secret Service had deleted text messages from Jan. 6, and they apparently can’t be recovered.
The missing text messages showed the Secret Service to be complicit in a cover-up of Trump’s behavior during the attack on the Capitol. The fact that they didn’t turn the threat against Pelosi over to the Capitol Police when they found it—and that they were warned by a Mike Pence aide of threats to Pence as well—suggests that the cover-up wasn’t the only thing the Secret Service was complicit in. Either way, it’s time to clean house.
Trump and his followers proved on Jan. 6 how dangerously close they came to overturning our democracy. Help cancel Republican voter suppression with the power of your pen by clicking here and signing up to volunteer with Vote Forward, writing personalized letters to targeted voters urging them to exercise their right to vote this year.
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