Capitol Police intelligence official says leadership was warned of potential for violence days before Jan. 6

The acting director of intelligence for the Capitol Police cited an intelligence report provided three days before the Capitol attack as reasoning for why her department was not responsible for the insurrection.

“I think we provided the information. I think we did an excellent job,” Julie Farnam said to CBS of the report. “We knew there were going to be thousands of protesters. And we knew there were gonna be extremists there. And I knew things were not gonna be good that day.” 

She also added that the Capitol Police department was the only federal agency to provide “a comprehensive assessment and report that outlined the violence that was expected that day.” 

Farnam’s team warned that Trump supporters “see January 6 … as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election,” according to CBS News, which obtained the report given to Capitol Police leadership last Jan. 3. 

“This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent,” and “unlike previous post-election protests … Congress itself is the target of the 6th,” the analysis added.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), who chairs of the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees Capitol Police, has criticized the agency leadership’s response.

“They had the intelligence, the intelligence was right, but the leadership, I think, failed the rank-and-file members and they failed Congress,” he said, according to CBS. 

The Hill has reached out to the Capitol Police for comment. 

Since the attack nearly one year ago, at least one Capitol police officer has said that he and other officers are concerned about the potential for repeat attacks. 

“A lot of the officers have in mind the possibility of this being a recurring annual or every four year thing, which is why officers like myself are being outspoken about it, because we don’t want to go through this again,” U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell told NPR.

Since Jan. 6, hundreds of people who participated in storming the Capitol have faced charges for their actions.