Top security officials in US Congress revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent a warning about possible violence launched by supporters of former President Donald J.Trump to the US Capitol Police the day before the deadly attack in January.
The officials said at a hearing before the Senate (the upper camera of Congress) that they did not see that warning.
They affirmed that the intelligence information they received did not prepare them for dealing with hundreds of Trump supporters.
They noted that many of the attackers were working in organized teams and wearing tactical equipment, according to "Reuters".
Officials provided conflicting accounts of the talks before the attack, about whether support for the National Guard should be called in, and whether preserving the appearance of the open Capitol Building played a role in the security failure. (Lawmakers opposed much of the fortification of the building as a symbol of American democracy
One of the officials, former Capitol Police Chief Stephen Sunde, told senators he had not seen a January 5 bulletin from the FBI's Norfolk Bureau in Virginia warning law enforcement agencies that extremists were preparing to commit violence.
"None of the intelligence that we received predicted what actually happened," Sunde added, referring to scenes in which Trump supporters assaulted police, smashed windows, and rushed across the Capitol, chanting, "Hang Mike Pence."
And he added by saying: We properly planned a mass demonstration with the possibility of violence. What we got was a coordinated military-style attack on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol.
During the chaos that engulfed the Capitol on the sixth of last month, more than 140 Capitol police and about 65 metropolitan police were injured, 5 people were killed, and more than 200 people were charged for their role in the riots, including some far-right groups.
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