Newly unearthed communications records show for the first time that the CIA played limited but key roles during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
Some 88 pages of documents that Judicial Watch shared with Secrets reveal the spy agency put “several” dog teams on alert near the Capitol and that it assigned “bomb techs” to the House side neighborhood where explosive devices were found at Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee headquarters.
The revelations were in heavily redacted documents provided to Judicial Watch, which had sued under the Freedom of Information Act for intelligence communications on Jan. 6, 2021, when pro-Trump supporters went to the Capitol to urge an end to the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, some violently.
While virtually all federal and city police had some involvement in dispatching the crowds that day, the CIA has remained in the background.
However, the new documents detail intelligence communications chains that noted the agency’s role and presence.
Judicial Watch said the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives provided a series of text messages under the heading “January 7 Intel Chain,” in which two separate references to participation by the CIA were made. One said that “two CIA bomb techs” are assisting with “a pipe bomb scene on New Jersey and D ST SE.” Another referenced “several CIA dog teams on standby.”
The government is still searching for who left pipe bombs at the party headquarters.
The texts also showed how initial reporting was sometimes in error, such as regarding the shooting death of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt inside the Capitol. Judicial Watch recently uncovered a new video of the unarmed ex-Air Force veteran’s killing by a U.S. Capitol Police officer.
Babbitt was shot in the shoulder as she was pushed through a doorway to the Speaker’s Lobby, which is behind the House floor. The texts suggested she was shot in the chest on the House floor. They also said the CIA director was informed.
“Party 1: ‘VP stuck inside last I heard.’ Party 2: ‘Copy.’ Party 1: ‘Capitol PD shot someone dead on house floor. Dead.’ Party 2: ‘Christ. What was the final in the devices real or not [redacted].’ Party 1: ‘Clearing Capitol now with bomb techs. Lots of damage.’ Party 2: ‘Damn that’s scary. So sad. Thx for keeping me in the loop brother. I was able to get I [sic] go to my team and the Director before they heard it from outside sources.’”
The text chain also reported that members of Congress were evacuated to Fort McNair, about 2 miles south of the Capitol: “Capitol has been transferred to Fort McNair,” one said. “It’s an alternate location so they can continue their work.”
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“These striking records show that CIA resources were deployed in reaction to the Jan. 6 disturbance,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.
His legal watchdog has led in the investigation of the riots and the government’s reaction to them.
