Capitol attack was ‘domestic terrorism’, says FBI director – live updates | US news

FBI Director Christopher Wray said he was “pleased that the inauguration went smoothly,” despite social-media “chatter” about potential violence in connection to the event.

Wray said the FBI worked diligently, in coordination with a number of other law enforcement agencies, to ensure that the January 6 attack was not repeated as Joe Biden took the oath of office.

FBI Director Christopher Wray described the difficulties of assessing which threats shared on social media are legitimate and which are merely bluster.

Wray encouraged anyone who sees a worrisome social media post that could point to potential violence to contact local law enforcement or an FBI field office.

“If Americans see something on social media that crosses that line, then they need to say something,” Wray told senators.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has declined to provide additional details about the death of Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died the day after the January 6 insurrection.

Wray previously said there was an “ongoing investigation” into Sicknick’s death, and he said he did not want to get ahead of that investigation.

But the FBI director made a point to note that he believed the US Capitol police had correctly characterized Sicknick’s passing as a line of duty death.

Some right-wing commentators have tried to raise doubts about whether Sicknick really died as a result of his injuries from the Capitol insurrection, but the USCP has consistently said Sicknick died in the line of duty.

Members of the Senate judiciary committee are pressing the FBI director, Christopher Wray, on how the bureau tried to communicate the information from a January 5 field office report, which warned of potential violence at the Capitol the next day.

Wray noted that there are five Capitol police officers on the joint terrorism task force, which was alerted about the Norfolk field office’s report.

The FBI director also reiterated that the bureau verbally briefed the command post before the Capitol attack.

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, the Senate budget committee is holding a confirmation hearing for Shalanda Young, who has been nominated for deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget.

The hearing got started on a bipartisan note, with Republican Senator Lindsey Graham praising Young as a “highly qualified person for the job”.

Young, a longtime Hill staffer, has been consistently mentioned as a potential nominee for OMB director, if Neera Tanden cannot be confirmed by the Senate.

Asked whether she feels qualified to serve as OMB director, Young emphasized she was appearing before the committee to be confirmed as the deputy director of the agency.

“I hope after today you find me qualified for that position,” Young said.

Graham replied, “You’ll get my support, maybe for both jobs.”

The Senate judiciary committee’s hearing on the Capitol insurrection continues, but there is also some news on the coronavirus relief package.

The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, just said the chamber would take up the relief bill “as early as tomorrow”.

The Senate bill is not expected to include the $15 minimum wage provision, after the Senate parliamentarian ruled the proposal did not meet the requirements for passage via reconciliation.

The House passed its version of the relief bill on Saturday morning. But assuming the Senate approves a bill without the minimum wage provision included in it, the House will have to again pass the final version of the bill, which will likely happen next week.

Joe Biden has said he wants to sign the relief package by March 14, when extended unemployment benefits are currently set to expire.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has repeatedly emphasized the danger of white supremacy-motivated domestic terrorism in the US during today’s hearing.

Wray described white supremacist extremism as a “persistent, evolving threat” that has grown since he took control of the FBI in 2017.

White supremacists make up “the biggest chunk of our domestic terrorism portfolio overall,” Wray told members of the Senate judiciary committee.

Wray added that white supremacists “have been responsible for the most lethal attacks over the last decade.”

Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy asked FBI Director Christopher Wray whether there was any evidence of antifa involvement in the Capitol insurrection.

“We have not to date seen any evidence of anarchist violent extremists or people subscribing to antifa in connection with the 6th,” Wray replied.

Some on the right have tried to shift blame for the Capitol insurrection away from Donald Trump’s supporters, despite clear evidence that people went from the former president’s January 6 rally to the Capitol.

Wray has also noted that many of those arrested for the Capitol attack so far have had connections to far-right extremist groups.

Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Senate judiciary committee, asked FBI Director Christopher Wray why he has not provided lawmakers with a copy of the January 5 field office report that warned of potential violence at the Capitol.

“That information is law enforcement sensitive,” Wray replied.

The FBI director said he would confer with other bureau leaders to determine whether the Norfolk field office’s report can be released.

Senate judiciary committee chairman Dick Durbin asked FBI Director Christopher Wray whether the bureau believes the Capitol insurrection was carried out by “fake Trump protesters”.

“We have not seen evidence of that as this stage,” Wray replied.

The question comes two weeks after Republican Senator Ron Johnson amplified baseless claims that provocateurs and fake Trump protesters carried out the Capitol attack during a separate Senate hearing on the insurrection.

A number of those facing federal charges for their involvement in the Capitol insurrection have ties to far-right extremist and militia groups.

The attack also occurred shortly after Donald Trump encouraged his supporters attending a DC rally to march to the Capitol as lawmakers certified Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

No surprise here: the first question from Senate judiciary committee chairman Dick Durbin focused on a January 5 report from the FBI Norfolk field office, which warned of potential violence at the Capitol the next day.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the intelligence contained in the January 5 report was raw and uncorroborated, based on posts shared online before the Capitol attack.

Wray also noted that the FBI shared the report with the US Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, in an email to a terror task force and verbally at a command post briefing.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said the bureau views the Capitol insurrection as a clear act of domestic terrorism.

“That attack, that siege, was criminal behavior, plain and simple, and it’s behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism,” Wray said.

The FBI director added, “It’s got no place in our democracy, and tolerating it would make a mockery of our nation’s rule of law.”

Wray said the FBI is aggressively pursuing those who carried out the Capitol attack, and he noted that investigations are underway in 55 of the FBI’s 56 field offices.

More than 200 people have already been federally charged for participating in the insurrection.

FBI Director Christopher Wray has now been sworn in at the Senate judiciary committee hearing on the Capitol insurrection.

In his opening statement, Wray said he was “appalled” by the January 6 attack, which resulted in five deaths.

The FBI director noted that the insurrection was part of a pattern of rising domestic extremism across the US.

“January 6 was not an isolated event,” Wray said. “The problem of domestic terrorism has been metastasizing across the country for a number of years now, and it’s not going away any time soon.”

Senator Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the judiciary committee, focused his opening comments on condemning the antifa movement.

Grassley noted he did not disagree with anything that Democratic chairman Dick Durbin said about the danger of domestic extremism and white supremacy, but he argued that the federal government must confront extremism “wherever it falls on the political spectrum”.

It should be noted the Capitol insurrection, which resulted in five deaths, was carried out by a pro-Trump mob who was incited by the then-president.

It’s also worth recalling FBI Director Christopher Wray’s testimony about antifa in September, when he told House members, “It’s not a group or an organization. It’s a movement or an ideology.”