Capitol Police Warn of Risk of Post-Election Violence Jan. 6 and Inauguration Threats

ACapitolPoliceintelligence assessment obtained by ABC News warns of an increased threat to government officials and election-related websites in the wake of the 2024 presidential election.

The report highlights the “likelihood of violence and civil unrest” surrounding the 2025 electoral vote certification process and presidential inauguration.

Released earlier this month, the report shows that while there were fewer threats against members of Congress in 2024 than in 2020, threats increased significantly after Choice Four years ago, a trend that the Police Chapter anticipates will repeat itself in 2024.

The report adds that heightened rhetoric on social media “may suggest an environment conducive to politically motivated violence in the wake of the US presidential election.”

The Police Chapter expects demonstrations targeting the election certification process and says an activist group “with a history of large-scale demonstrations involving illegal activity plans to protest the Inauguration regardless of the outcome.”

They also expect protests related to Israel’s ongoing war, noting that the groups are “almost certain to target the Inauguration.”

Their decision to target the inauguration is regardless of the outcome of the election. A group has already applied for an Inauguration Day pass in the security perimeter, but the request will be denied.

However, protests are now being planned for January 6, the day the electoral vote is certified.

CapitolPolice reported an increase in social media posts claiming the election would be “stolen.”

They noted that efforts by foreign influence to spread conspiracies to undermine, manipulate and alter confidence in the electoral process “could exacerbate existing political tensions”.

Russia remains the main foreign threat, although Iran has also sought to exacerbate tensions over the conflict in Israel, according to the assessment.

The report points out that threat actors view vote certification and the inauguration as “their last opportunities to influence election results through violence.”

The CapitolPoliceintelligence assessment warns that some threats “remain unknown,” particularly that of “lone-actor violence.”

“The motives of some recent aggressors are not entirely coherent or remain unknown, highlighting the difficulty of predicting the violence of a lone actor,” the report notes.