美国国会大厦警方官员周三表示，他们“获得情报显示，一个已确定的民兵组织可能在3月4日(周四)密谋破坏国会大厦”，这一天极右翼阴谋论者相信前总统唐纳德·特朗普会重新掌权。
国会警察官员在推特上发布的一份声明中说，这份情报正被“认真对待”，联邦调查局的一份公告称，这份情报可能涉及检察官称之为极端分子的“百分之三”组织。
“我们的部门正在与我们的地方、州和联邦合作伙伴合作，阻止对国会大厦的任何威胁。我们认真对待情报。由于这一信息的敏感性，我们目前无法提供更多细节，”声明称。
国会大厦仍然被临时围栏包围着，围栏顶端是铁丝网，大约5000名国民警卫队士兵仍然留在现场和城市周围。
消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，出于安全考虑，众议院周三晚上改变了日程，因此众议院周四将不再开会。
民主党人计划在周四对2021年乔治·弗洛伊德治安正义法案进行投票，这是一项大规模的治安改革法案，但现在投票将在周三晚上进行。
众议院武装军士还鼓励工作人员在周六之前进行远程工作。
预计参议院仍将于周四开始就1.9万亿美元的冠状病毒救助计划进行辩论和投票，尚未宣布对其时间表的任何改变。
奇普·索莫德维拉/盖蒂影像公司
2021年2月19日，华盛顿特区联邦执法机构总部附近停放的一辆公共汽车旁，出现了美国国会警察的印章。
国会大厦代理警察局长约加南达·皮特曼(Yogananda Pittman)周三对众议院议员表示，鉴于未来几天议员和国会大厦面临的新威胁，国会大厦周围的安全得到了“加强”。
“我们准备做出适当的回应，”皮特曼说，但她拒绝透露威胁的细节，称她将在当天晚些时候私下向立法者通报情况。
消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，美国国会大厦警方周二发布的内部公告包含了关于民兵可能在3月4日或前后袭击国会大厦的阴谋的信息。
公告中的信息来源于2月底的一份联邦调查局(FBI)情报报告，该报告描述了一个被指控的“百分之三民兵组织”阴谋使用转移注意力的策略，如引爆炸弹”，以在该组织试图接管美国国会大厦之前将执法人员从国会大厦引开。
公告中信息的可信度仍不清楚。
该公告描述了“三个百分点”组织声称的目标，即让全国各地的5万名成员在3月4日或前后至3月6日前往华盛顿特区，参与一项在国会大厦或附近超越执法人员和国民警卫队的计划，消息人士说。
联邦检察官在法庭上将三分之一的人描述为“民兵极端主义”团体，“基于这样一个神话，即在美国独立战争期间，只有3%的美国殖民者拿起武器反对英国人”，而在美国独立战争期间，就侵犯公民自由而言，一些成员“认为当今的美国政府类似于英国政府”。
虽然有许多独立的团体在他们的名字中使用“三个百分点”，但检察官说，这个术语“代表了一种普遍的信念，即一支有正义事业的小部队如果有武器和准备，就可以推翻一个专制政府。”
联邦调查局发言人没有立即对情报信息发表评论。
布伦丹·斯米卢斯基/法新社通过盖蒂图像
2021年3月2日，华盛顿特区国会山，国民警卫队成员出现在美国国会大厦的东前方。
一名执法人员表示，初步情报不支持本周有5万人来到华盛顿特区。
消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，围绕3月4日的情报聊天已经流传了几周。这一天对卡农阴谋论的追随者来说具有重要意义，他们认为这是特朗普重新掌权的一天。3月4日也是宪法中总统就职的最初日期，在1933年批准第20修正案之前，该修正案将总统就职日期改为1月20日。
最近几周，美国执法和情报机构如何错过1月6日的暴力叛乱一直是国会多项调查的焦点。
美国联邦调查局局长克里斯·雷(Chris Wray)周二在证词中告诉立法者，美国联邦调查局(FBI)在弗吉尼亚州诺福克(Norfolk)收集的一份情报是如何与执法合作伙伴共享的，该情报警告称，1月6日国会大厦可能发生暴力事件，包括1月5日晚上美国国会大厦警方(U.S. Capitol Police)。
威胁的一个可能来源是QAnon，这是一组反证和不可信的互联网阴谋论的总称，这些阴谋论声称世界是由崇拜撒旦的食人恋童癖者的秘密阴谋集团管理的。边缘运动的追随者认为2020年美国总统大选选举是从特朗普那里偷来的，特朗普和他的盟友一起推动了毫无根据的选民欺诈指控。
卡农的追随者还认为，特朗普实际上不会在就职日离职，而是会宣布戒严，宣布大规模逮捕民主党人，并阻止乔·拜登成为总统。当这种情况没有发生时，日期从1月20日推迟到3月4日。
2019年8月，联邦调查局首次将卡农及其支持者的流动在线社区称为“危险的极端组织”。一些人被认为是QAnon的追随者被指控因为他们涉嫌参与了1月6日的致命叛乱，当时支持特朗普的支持者冲进了华盛顿特区的美国国会大厦
周一，美国国土安全部(U . S . Department of Homeland Security)的情报与分析办公室(Office of Intelligence and Analysis)向执法机构发布了一份由美国广播公司(ABC News)获得的机密评估，称2020年国内暴力极端主义的威胁——主要是由“暴力反政府或反当局言论、长期内乱和阴谋论”驱动的——是一种趋势，这种趋势可能会在2021年继续下去，“可能会升级到包括针对关键基础设施的攻击”。
Capitol Police officials say intel on possible March 4 plot being taken 'seriously'
U.S. Capitol Police officials said Wednesday they have "obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group on Thursday, March 4" -- the date thatfar-right conspiracy theoristsbelieve former PresidentDonald Trumpwill return to power.
The intelligence, which an FBI bulletin said could involve the "Three Percenters" group that prosecutors call extremist, is being taken "seriously," the Capitol Police officials said in a statement posted on Twitter.
"Our Department is working with our local, state, and federal partners to stop any threats to the Capitol. We are taking the intelligence seriously. Due to the sensitive nature of this information, we cannot provide additional details at this time," the statement said.
The Capitol complex remains surrounded with temporary fencing topped with razor wire and some 5,000 National Guard troops remain on site and around the city.
The House changed its schedule Wednesday night so that the chamber will no longer be in session on Thursday, given the security concerns, sources told ABC News.
Democrats had planned a Thursday vote on the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021, a massive policing reform bill, but now that vote will take place Wednesday night.
The House Sergeant-at-Arms also encouraged staffers to telework through Saturday.
The Senate is still expected to begin debate and votes on the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan on Thursday and hasn't announced any changes to its schedule.
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told House lawmakers Wednesday that security around the Capitol complex has been "enhanced" given new concerns about threats to lawmakers and the physical complex over the next few days.
"We are prepared to respond appropriately," Pittman said, but she declined to get into specifics about the threats, saying she would brief lawmakers in private later in the day.
An internal U.S. Capitol Police bulletin distributed Tuesday contains information about a possible militia plot to storm the Capitol on or around March 4, sources told ABC News.
The information in the bulletin is sourced to an FBI intelligence report from late February that describes the an alleged plot by the "Three Percenters militia group to use diversionary tactics such as detonating a bomb" to draw law enforcement away from the Capitol prior to an attempt by the group to take over the U.S. Capitol, according to a law enforcement source.
The credibility of the information in the bulletin remains unclear.
The bulletin describes the Three Percenters' alleged goal of having 50,000 members from around the country travel to D.C. on or around March 4 through March 6 and participate in a plan to overrun law enforcement and the National Guard troops at or near the Capitol Complex, the source said.
Federal prosecutors have described Three Percenters in court as a "militia extremist" group "based on the myth that only three percent of American colonists took up arms against the British during the American Revolution," and that some members "regard the present-day US Government as analogous to the British" during the American Revolution in terms of infringements on civil liberties.
While there are many independent groups that use “Three Percenters” in their name, prosecutors say the term is "representative of a common belief in the notion that a small force with a just cause can overthrow a tyrannical government if armed and prepared."
An FBI spokesperson did not immediately comment on the intelligence information.
One law enforcement source said that initial intelligence does not support a crowd of 50,000 is coming to Washington, D.C., this week.
Sources told ABC News that intelligence chatter surrounding the date of March 4 has been circulating for weeks. The date has significance for adherents to the QAnon conspiracy theory who believe it is the day Trump will return to power. March 4 is also the original date for a presidential inauguration in the Constitution, prior to the ratification of the 20th Amendment in 1933 that changed it to Jan. 20.
How U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies missed the violent insurrection on Jan. 6 has been the focus of multiple congressional inquiries in recent weeks.
FBI Director Chris Wray, in testimony Tuesday, told lawmakers how an intelligence information gathered by the FBI in Norfolk, Virginia, warning of possible violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6 was shared with law enforcement partners, including the U.S. Capitol Police on the evening of Jan. 5.
A possible source of the threats is QAnon, the umbrella term for a set of disproven and discredited internet conspiracy theories that allege the world is run by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles. Followers of the fringe movement believe that the 2020 U.S. presidentialelectionwas stolen from Trump, who has pushed baseless claims of voter fraud along with his allies.
QAnon followers also believed that Trump would not actually leave office on Inauguration Day but rather would declare martial law, announce mass arrests of Democrats and stop Joe Biden from becoming president. When that didn't happen, the date was moved from Jan. 20 to March 4.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation first labeled QAnon and its fluid online community of supporters as a "dangerous extremist group" in August 2019. A number of individuals believed to be QAnon followershave been chargedfor their alleged involvement in the deadly insurrection on Jan. 6, when pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis issued a confidential assessment to law enforcement agencies, which was obtained by ABC News, saying that the threat of domestic violent extremism in 2020 -- largely driven by "violent anti-government or anti-authority narratives, periods of prolonged civil unrest and conspiracy theories" -- is a trend that will likely continue in 2021 and "could escalate to include targeting of critical infrastructure."
