The FBI is reported to be vetting all 25,000 National Guard personnel serving in Washington, DC, due to concerns of an “insider attack” on the Inauguration. These are the wages of professional political disinformation. Every political actor inside or outside of government who has helped Trump to spread his big lie about the election, or other baseless lies about “communists”—lies which have been used to radicalize people to commit acts of terror and intimidation—bears responsibility for this dangerous situation.

Part of the concern stems from apparent participation of people with military training in the attack on the US Capitol. Beyond that, one defense official told the Washington Post:

the Pentagon received 143 notifications of extremism-related probes last year from the FBI, 68 of which were related to suspected domestic extremism among current and former service members — a category that includes white nationalism, anti-fascist, antiabortion and anti-government beliefs. Most of the cases were related to veterans, the official said.

After President Trump declined to send aid to the Capitol, for at least 2 hours, there is concern that the DC National Guard answers to the President, rather than to the governor of a state. It is unclear at this writing precisely how decision-making about National Guard responsiveness will be handled, in the hours leading up to the formal handover of the powers of the Presidency.

Among the most horrific details of the January 6 attack on the US Capitol were the chants and pronouncements from the attackers that they planned to assassinate the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and other elected officials. Now, federal prosecutors say Jacob Anthony Chansley is an ongoing threat and cite evidence the plan was “to capture and assassinate elected officials.”

In their filing, prosecutors wrote:

Strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government… they were there to take out several United States congressmen.

Katelyn Polantz is reporting today for CNN that:

Prosecutors describe those who took over the Capitol as “insurrectionists” and offer new details about Chansley’s role in the violent siege last week, including that after standing at the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had stood that morning, Chansley wrote a note saying “it’s only a matter of time, justice is coming.”

This latest filing by prosecutors signals the deepening gravity of the charges facing insurrectionists and their network of sympathizers and supporters—including, potentially, those who funded their planning, travel, and events in Washington, DC. The news comes amid emerging evidence one heavily armed insurrectionist hoped to coordinate with at least one Senator.

In a stunning, detailed account of police officers’ desperate struggle to protect the Capitol, Peter Hermann reports in the Washington Post:

many appeared to be on a mission, and they launched what he and the police chief described as a coordinated assault.

“Everything they did was in a military fashion,” Glover said, saying he witnessed rioters apparently using hand signs and waving flags to signal positions, and using what he described as “military formations.” They took high positions and talked over wireless communications.

Authorities would later learn that some former members of the military and off-duty police officers from across the country were in the pro-Trump crowd. Glover called it disturbing that off-duty police “would knowingly and intentionally come to the United States Capitol and engage in this riotous and criminal behavior against their brothers and sisters in uniform, who are upholding their oaths of office.”

Hermann’s report draws on direct testimony from law enforcement officers who risked their lives to keep thousands of insurrectionists from breaching the Capitol. It opens with this harrowing account:

Blinded by smoke and choking on gas and bear spray, stripped of his radio and badge, D.C. police officer Michael Fanone and his battered colleagues fought to push back rioters trying to force their way into an entrance to the U.S. Capitol.

8 days on from the insurrection, it is now public knowledge that dozens of people on a domestic terrorist watch list were part of the attack on the Capitol, also thanks to reporting by the Washington Post.