All members of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will likely receive their own US Capitol Police security detail due to an uptick in threats, according to a congressional source familiar with the matter.
It’s unclear exactly when the security detail would begin, but likely before members head home for Independence Day recess. Chair Bennie Thompson, Vice Chair liz cheney and GOP Rep. adam kinzinger already have security details, and the rest of the members have been requesting similar protection for a while, the source said. The Washington Post first reported that all members of the committee will likely get a detail due to the increase in threats.
The increase in threats comes as the committee, through witnesses, details attempts made by former President Trump and his allies to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election after the fact. On Tuesday, local election workers testified about threats made against them and their families for carrying out the election process according to the law.
Congress recently passed legislation to provide greater security of members of the Supreme Court, after a California man was arrested outside Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s home with weapons and charged with attempted murder. That suspect, Nicholas Roske, pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court Justice, and faces up to life in prison if convicted.
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Meanwhile, the Justice Department’s investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack appeared to gain momentum Wednesday as the FBI on Wednesday authorized law enforcement activity in two places — at the address of Brad Carver, a Georgia lawyer who allegedly signed a document claiming to be a Trump elector, and at the Virginia home of Thomas Lane, who worked on Trump campaign objectives in New Mexico and Arizona. The Washington Post first reported the law enforcement activity.
The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.
On Thursday, the committee is slated to hear from top former DOJ officials, in what Thompson described as former President Trump’s attempts to use the DOJ to help overturn the 2020 election.
“Just as we heard today that Donald Trump was deeply involved in the scheme to pressure state officials to overturn the election results, we will hear on Thursday that Donald Trump was also the driving force behind an effort to corrupt the Justice Department,” Thompson said during Tuesday’s hearing.
Michael Kaplan and Jeff Pegues contributed to this report.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism