An FBI “red cell” report predicted that law enforcement action and a “lack of coordination” between groups would prevent widespread violence in response to a disputed election.
One week before Election Day 2020 and just over two months before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, an internal FBI analysis concluded that domestic violent extremists were “very willing to take action” in response to a disputed election but that “law enforcement preemption” and the “disorganization” of extremist groups “likely would hinder widespread violence.”
The so-called red cell report — the type of exercise that became widespread after the federal government’s Sept. 11 intelligence failures and are meant to challenge conventional wisdom and encourage outside-the-box thinking — was titled “Alternative Analysis: Potential Scenarios for Reactions of Domestic Violent Extremists to a Disputed 2020 US Presidential Election.” NBC News obtained a redacted copy of the report through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The Secret Service was in on January 6, or at least a faction within the Secret Service. Pence was aware of it. That’s why he refused to get in a car with other agents and only trusted his own personal detail.
Pointedly, Pence refused to let the Secret Service evacuate him from the Capitol, and he hasn’t given a straight, full, and honest answer explaining why he refused. And there’s a LOT of unconfirmed speculation that he refused because he was suspicious that Trump has co-opted his detail, and he had no idea where they’d take him or what they’d do, which is pretty fucking insane if there’s even a shred of truth to it.