[W]e got derogatory information from OSINT suggesting that some very, very violent individuals were organizing to come to DC, and not only were they organized to come to DC, but they were—these groups, these nonaligned groups were aligning. And so all the red flags went up at that point, you know, when you have armed militia, you know, collaborating with White supremacy groups, collaborating with conspiracy theory groups online all toward a common goal, you start seeing what we call in, you know, terrorism, a blended ideology, and that's a very, very bad sign. . . . [T]hen when the were clearly across—not just across one platform but across multiple platforms of these groups coordinating, not just like chatting, "Hey, how's it going, what's the weather like where you're at," but like, "what are you bringing, what are you wearing, you know, where do we meet up, do you have plans for the Capitol." That's operational—that's like preoperational intelligence, right, and that is something that's clearly alarming.[408]
Again, this type of intelligence was shared, including obvious warnings about potential violence prior to January 6th.[409] What was not shared, and was not fully understood by intelligence and law enforcement entities, is what role President Trump would play on January 6th in exacerbating the violence, and later refusing for multiple hours to instruct his supporters to stand down and leave the Capitol. No intelligence collection was apparently performed on President Trump's plans for January 6th, nor was there any analysis performed on what he might do to exacerbate potential violence. Certain Republican members of Congress who were working with Trump and the Giuliani team may have had insight on this particular risk, but none appear to have alerted the Capitol Police or any other law enforcement authority.
On January 2, 2021, Katrina Pierson wrote in an email to fellow rally organizers, "POTUS expectations are to have something intimate at the [E]llipse, and call on everyone to march to the Capitol."[410] And, on January 4, 2021, another rally organizer texted Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO, that President Trump would "unexpectedly" call on his supporters to march to the Capitol:
This stays only between us . . . . It can also not get out about the march because I will be in trouble with the national park service and all the agencies but POTUS is going to just call for it "unexpectedly."[411]
Testimony obtained by the Committee also indicates that President Trump was specifically aware that the crowd he had called to Washington was fired up and angry on the evening of January 5th. Judd Deere, a deputy
