Agencies face claims they ignored intelligence ahead of storming of US Capitol

Rioters supporting then president Donald Trump try to break through a police barrier at the Capitol in Washington, on January 6 2021 (Julio Cortez/AP)

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security downplayed or ignored “a massive amount of intelligence information” ahead of the January 6 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to the chairman of a Senate panel that on Tuesday is releasing a new report on the intelligence failures ahead of the insurrection.

The report details how the agencies failed to recognize and warn of the potential for violence as some of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters openly planned the siege in messages and forums online.