New DHS watchdog report details how close Kamala Harris came to ‘viable’ pipe bomb on Jan. 6 (Page 3 ) | August 3, 2024

Annonce:

Cuffari’s report describes how in 2021, communication challenges and missed signs of potential violence impacted the Secret Service’s planning and response to the events of Jan. 6.

As described in the report, the Secret Service was focused on three main locations that day: the Ellipse in Washington, where they were protecting Trump at his “Save America” rally; the U.S. Capitol, where then-vice president Mike Pence was presiding over the certification of the 2020 election results; and the DNC building, where Harris was visiting.

Like many other law enforcement agencies, the Secret Service “anticipated that the planned Ellipse rally would be like previous pro-Trump rallies” in Washington, which saw “some violence” limited to clashes between opposing protesters, the report said.

But once the rally got underway, according to the report, “the Secret Service encountered indicators of potential for violence within the crowd,” including people trying to enter the secure area with ballistic vests and gas masks.

By the conclusion of the rally, the Secret Service alone had confiscated 269 blades, 242 bottles of pepper spray and 94 other prohibited items, the report says.

At 2:13 p.m., a little more than an hour after Trump finished his speech at the rally, rioters breached the Capitol building.