DC police thought 6 January unrest was ‘highly unlikely,’ new documents reveal

The Capitol Police believed it was “highly improbable” that groups demonstrating in Washington DC on 6 January would cause violence or civil unrest, a trove of new documents reveal, even as the force had doubts about the identities of some groups seeking permits to assemble.

Following the 2020 presidential contest, as the right-wing “stop the steal” movement gained influence spreading election conspiracies, a number of groups sought to hold events around the US Capitol on 6 January, the day Congress would formally certify the election results that had already been confirmed by each state.

BuzzFeed News obtained the records pertaining to rally permits for five of these groups. It found that despite officers’ concerns that one group didn’t appear to exist, and all five seemed to be affiliated with stop the steal-related groups, all of them were approved.

Ultimately, top Capitol Police officials signed off on the events, finding they had “no plans for participants to enter the buildings,” and there was “no adverse intelligence related to the upcoming event”.

While none of the events reviewed have been directly accused of fueling the 6 January riot at the US Capitol, the investigation nonetheless reveals how the Capitol’s top policy agency viewed the threat environment in the run-up to the insurrection that eventually took place, which injured hundreds and killed five people.

In December 2020, a group called One Nation Under Good filed to host an event AT the Capitol on 6 January protesting “election fraud in swing states”.

An officer reviewing the application wrote that, “One Nation Under God is not an organization and does not maintain social media accounts or webpages.”

The officer also noted that research showed the group may be linked to Ali Alexander, a prominent right-wing activist who spread election conspiracies related to the stop the steal movement. (Mr Alexander did not respond to BuzzFeed’s request for comment.)

“It appears that the Stop the Steal and the One Nation Under God is one in the same due to the similarities and the affiliation with Ali Alexander,” the officer added, noting that there were worries “the permit requests … are being used as proxies for Stop the Steal” and “may also be involved with organizations that may be planning trouble”.

After interviewing personnel listed on the application, who failed to back up basic details on matters like the group’s leadership, One Nation Under God’s permit was approved anyway.

Other groups were researched with little more than a quick internet search before their applications were approved.

Right-wing groups spent months online openly describing their efforts to challenge the 2020 election results in increasingly violent terms on social media before 6 January.

The US Capitol police defended its vetting procedures in a statement to BuzzFeed.

“Denying someone a permit based only on a belief that the group is a ‘proxy’ for another group would be an unlawful prior restraint,” it wrote. “Before January 6, the Capitol Police knew the Congress and the Capitol Grounds were to be the focus of a large demonstration attracting various groups, including some encouraging violence.”

Republicans in Congress rejected efforts for a bipartisan, independent, 9/11 Commission-style inquiry into the Capitol riots earlier this year.

Still, in July, a House select committee began looking into the insurrection, and since then, a number of Washington-based police officers have testified.

Since then, the committee has requested communications between Donald Trump and top officials from the day of the riot, as well as records from eight different federal agencies and entities.

If the requests aren’t honoured, it could prompt the committee to launch subpoenas, setting up a likely ugly legal battle between the sitting Congress and the former president, who is now a private citizen without the special legal resources and protections of being in the White House.