The United States Department of Justice has issued a report into the intelligence gathered in the lead-up to the 2021 attack on the US Capitol — and whether that evidence was properly handled to prevent violence.
Thursday’s 88-page report, issued by the office of Inspector General Michael Horowitz, zoomed in on the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), one of the US’s foremost domestic intelligence agencies.
It concluded that the FBI had behaved “effectively” ahead of the attack on January 6, 2021, which sought to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election.
“Despite playing only a supporting role in preparing for and responding to the events of January 6, the FBI recognized the potential for violence and took significant and appropriate steps to prepare for this supporting role,” the inspector general’s office explained.
But, it added, the FBI could have gone further to identify intelligence about potential threats, including by canvassing its field offices for materials, as it does before major events like the Super Bowl.
An uncertain future
The FBI, however, has long come under scrutiny for its actions in the lead-up to the January 6 attack.
And the agency’s future is now in question, as its longtime director, Christopher Wray, prepares to step down after more than seven years at the helm.
Incoming President Donald Trump has long taken an adversarial approach to the bureau, which he has described as part of a “deep state” system designed to undercut his authority.
His nominee to lead the FBI, former prosecutor Kash Patel, has floated shuttering the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC, and significantly reducing its operations.
The report centres on the events of January 6, when Trump, the outgoing president at the time, held a rally near the White House calling on supporters to “stop the steal” of the 2020 election.
He claimed — falsely — that his defeat in the 2020 race was the result of widespread voter fraud.
In the hours afterwards, pro-Trump protesters moved from the Ellipse, a round park south of the White House, to the US Capitol, where members of Congress inside were certifying the election results.
Rioters assaulted law enforcement officers and brok