Ex-Capitol Police chief did not get FBI report warning of violence on Jan. 6

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund on Tuesday told lawmakers he did not receive a copy of an FBI report warning of violence that was issued the day before the attack on the Capitol. 

The FBI issued a report from its Norfolk, Va., field office on Jan. 5 that detailed specific calls for violence on Jan. 6, including those that suggested protesters go to the Capitol “ready for war.”

“I actually just in the last 24 hours was informed by the department that we actually had received that report,” Sund said in response to a question from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.).

Sund said an officer assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force with the FBI received the report, which then went to an official at the Intelligence Division at U.S. Capitol Police headquarters.

“It did not go any further than that,” Sund said. 

The new detail came as Sund and other officials testified before the Senate Rules and Homeland Security committees about the security lapses that occurred Jan. 6.

The law enforcement officials have argued that intelligence sharing was a key factor in explaining why Capitol security forces were unprepared the day of the riot.

Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) read snippets of online comments included in the FBI report, including one that said “Congress needs to hear glass breaking doors being kicked in,” and another that proclaimed “We get our president or we die.”

Merkley called the lack of information sharing within the Capitol security network concerning.

“That’s very concerning whether or not [there are] procedures for the head of the intelligence on the U.S. Capitol Police to get the intelligence report, to review it, especially when there were significant other indications of potential violence,” he said.