Communication records from the Secret Service show agents knew the January 6 Capitol riot was armed, according to the January 6 Select Committee investigating the insurrection.
On Thursday (October 13), the panel publicized the recently obtained communications it had received from the Secret Service, showing, as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA.) stated, “that the crowd outside the magnetometers was armed, and the agents knew it.”
Schiff revealed the Committee received “nearly 1 million emails, recordings and other electronic records from the Secret Service,” explaining, “The documents we obtained from the Secret Service make clear that the crowd outside the magnetometers was armed, and the agents knew it.”
During the televised hearing, Schiff read several chat messages and email correspondence between agents.
Communication between agents in December showed agents already discussing online chatter about “intimidating Congress and invading the Capitol building.”
In an email dated December 26, 2020, Secret Service correspondence indicates the agency had received a tip that the far-right group, the Proud Boys, planned to march on the Capitol with a contingent so large it was feared they would overpower law enforcement.
In an email dated January 5, 2021, the deputy Secret Service chief directed agents to add a list of objects prohibited from being brought into the Ellipse rally near the White House; the list included tactical vests, ballistic helmets, and ballistic vests.
In a message on a group chat between agents, one describes January 6 morning as “Calm before the storm I assume.”
Schiff points to messages like this and the “hundreds of thousands of pages” of communications as “evidence about what happened on January 6 and the days leading up to it.”
