Authorities warn of extremists' plan to “blow up the Capitol” during Joe Biden's speech

The plan is to “kill as many members as possible” of Congress, by the time Joe Biden makes his first speech at the Capitol, authorities point out

Photo: JUSTIN LANE / EFE

For: EFE 30 February 2021

Acting Chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, alerted this Thursday of a possible extremists plan to blow up the headquarters of Congress when President Joe Biden delivers his first speech before both legislative chambers.

“We know that members of the militias who were present on January 6 have expressed their wishes that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members (of Congress) as possible, with a link to the State of the Union, on which we know a date has not yet been set, ”said Pittman in an appearance before a subcommittee of the Lower House to discuss the assault on the headquarters of Congress.

On January 6, hundreds of followers of former President Donald Trump stormed the headquarters of the Le US gislative while holding a joint session of the two houses to confirm Biden’s victory in the election, that until that moment had not been recognized by the ex-president. Five people died in the event, one of them a police officer.

Based on the information available to them, Pittman considered it “prudent” for the Capitol Police to maintain security measures.

After the assault on the Congress headquarters, the authorities erected several fences around the compound and deployed the Guard National, a military corps on the reserve.

Pittman emphasized that the extremists who stormed the Capitol were not only interested in attacking legislators and agents who were watching for security: “ They wanted to send a symbolic message to the nation about who was in charge of the legislative process “, he warned.

According to media communication Americans,

is expected to Joe Biden deliver his speech or, similar to that of the State of the Union (as it has not yet completed one year in power, it will be more to explain his government plans and his achievements in his first weeks), in a joint session of Congress, after the Legislature approves a third economic rescue for the pandemic.

Pittman, who replaced former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund after his resignation after the assault, said that The intelligence information collected prior to that attack did not show that there was “any credible threat.”

“It has been hinted that the department (which he heads) did not know or ignored crucial intelligence that indicated that an attack of the magnitude we experienced on January 6 was going to occur” said the person in charge, who added that this type of information never existed.

“Although we knew of the probability of violence by extremists, no credible threat indicated that tens of thousands were going to attack the U.S. Capitol, nor the Intelligence received by the FBI, nor by any other security partner indicated such a threat ”, he settled.

The person in charge also pointed out that they calculate that there was 02, 000 pro-Trump protesters around the Capitol on January 6, and that some 800 broke into its interior, in front of the 1, 200 agents who were working that day for guarantee the security of the venue.

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