Schumer presses FBI to be vigilant of further threat of violence

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Sunday expressed concern more political violence could follow the mob attack Wednesday on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., by supporters of President Donald Trump.

Schumer said he pressed Christopher Wray, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in a conversation Saturday to track down those involved in Wednesday's siege on Congress, in which five people died, and to be on the alert for further violence.

"The threat of violent extremist groups remains high and the next few weeks are critical in our democratic process," Schumer said in a statement, noting that President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated Jan. 20. "Given that the same incendiary, dangerous rhetoric online that occurred before January 6, which proved to be a warning of the insurrectionist attack, has only escalated since, I impressed upon Director Wray the vitalness of the FBI to work with other federal and state agencies to remain highly proactive and extremely vigilant to defend our democracy."

FBI representatives did not respond to a request for comment Sunday. In a statement Thursday, Wray said: "We do not tolerate violent agitators and extremists who use the guise of First Amendment-protected activity to incite violence and wreak havoc." He added: "We will hold accountable those who participated in yesterday’s siege of the Capitol."

A spokesman for Schumer on Sunday could not identify any specific threats of future violence of which the senator might be aware. But in an additional statement, Schumer said he is worried that Trump himself "will incite further violence either at the Capitol or other places in our country."

The specter of further violence — and of Trump stoking it — was cited by Twitter officials on Friday in their decision to permanently suspend the president from the social media platform.

"Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the US Capitol and state Capitol buildings on January 17, 2021," Twitter said in a statement.

In light of such risks, other elected officials on Sunday called for a heavy law enforcement presence at Biden's inauguration.

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) told CBS’ "Face the Nation" the U.S. Capitol should be inundated with security in anticipation of the event, which will take place on the very steps Trump supporters stormed last week.

"It is more urgent than ever that we flood the zone around the Capitol with federal resources to ensure the safe transfer of power to President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris in 10 days, when virtually the entire Congress will be assembled again and when these two next elected leaders of our nation will be inaugurated," Coons said.

District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser, in an interview with CBS’ "Face the Nation," said she had reached out to the Department of Homeland Security to take "additional steps" to bolster security ahead of Inauguration Day.

"Given the events of last week," Bowser said, "this inauguration preparation has to be different than any other."