US lawmakers threatened as Republicans signal resistance to Trump impeachment trial
- Online chatter said include plots to attack members of Congress during travel to and from the Capitol complex during the trial
- Republican lawmakers signal that Democrats will have fight on hands to secure conviction of Donald Trump
US federal law enforcement officials were examining a number of threats aimed at members of Congress as the second trial of former president Donald Trump nears, including ominous chatter about killing legislators or attacking them outside of the US Capitol, a US official said.
The threats, and concerns that armed protesters could return to sack the Capitol anew, have prompted the US Capitol Police and other federal law enforcement to insist thousands of National Guard troops remain in Washington as the Senate moves forward with plans for Trump’s trial, the official said.
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Similar to those intercepted by investigators ahead of Biden’s inauguration, the threats that law enforcement agents are tracking vary in specificity and credibility, said the official, who had been briefed on the matter. Mainly posted online and in chat groups, the messages have included plots to attack members of Congress during travel to and from the Capitol complex during the trial, according to the official.
The official was not authorised to not discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Law enforcement officials were already starting to plan for the possibility of armed protesters returning to the nation’s capital when Trump’s Senate trial on a charge of inciting a violent insurrection begins the week of February 8. It would be the first impeachment trial of a former US president.
Thousands of Trump’s supporters descended on the Capitol on January 6 as Congress met to certify Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential race. More than 800 were believed to have made their way into the Capitol during the violent siege, pushing past overwhelmed police. The Capitol police said they planned for a free speech protest, not a riot, and were caught off guard despite intelligence the rally would descend into a riot. Five people died in the melee, including a Capitol police officer who was struck in the head with a fire extinguisher.
Though much of the security apparatus around Washington set up after the riot and ahead of Biden’s inauguration – it included scores of military checkpoints and hundreds of additional law enforcement personnel – was no longer in place, about 7,000 members of the National Guard will remain to assist federal law enforcement, officials said.