FBI warning prompts heightened security around state Capitol
A warning issued by the FBI to law enforcement agencies in all 50 state Capitols is prompting heightened attention to security at the state Capitol and other buildings in Denver. But exactly when this uprising by supporters of President Trump will occur is in flux.
ABC News reported Monday that the FBI memo said that starting this week and running through at least Inauguration Day – January 20 – “armed protests are being planned at all 50 state capitols and at the U.S. Capitol.”
ABC also reported that “the FBI had also received information in recent days on a group calling for ‘storming’ state, local and federal government courthouses and administrative buildings in the event President Donald Trump is removed from office prior to Inauguration Day. The group is also planning to ‘storm’ government offices in every state the day President-elect Joe Biden will be inaugurated, regardless of whether the states certified electoral votes for Biden or Trump.”
In Colorado, law enforcement agencies, including the Colorado State Patrol and the FBI’s Denver office, are keeping an eye on the situation, but whether the National Guard will be called out by Gov. Jared Polis is still unknown.
Polis spokesman Conor Cahill told Colorado Politics that “We are monitoring the security situation and support all of those who plan to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights. Should things turn violent and unlawful like they did during the failed insurrection our country witnessed in Washington, D.C. last week then we will examine every option to ensure people are safe. In Colorado, we reject seditious and violent acts designed to bring down our republic and undermine the Constitution and the rule of law.”
But repeated questions on whether the National Guard is on standby have so far gone unanswered. Polis has not hesitated to activate the National Guard in the past year, to assist with distributing vaccines, running testing sites for COVID-19 and to help with the East Troublesome Fire in October.
Currently, the state Capitol is surrounded by chain-link fencing. A similar type of fencing during the summer was easily breached by protesters who then vandalized the state Capitol with graffiti and broke windows, part of more than $1 million in damages to buildings in the Capitol Complex.
The fencing showed up as a precaution during last week’s pro-Trump protest at the state Capitol. A variety of state buildings, including the Capitol, the Ralph L. Carr Judicial Center and buildings in the Capitol Complex, were boarded up prior to the protest and remain boarded up.
Protection of the state Capitol is the responsibility of the Colorado State Patrol, and they aren’t making their plans public, either. “The Colorado Department of Public Safety is responsible for several aspects of security planning,” according to Blake White, a CDPS spokesman. “We have been monitoring events on the national level and will continue to monitor for possible events in Colorado. We support all those who plan to peaceably assemble in order to exercise their First Amendment rights. Our agency is prepared for this potential activity and emphasizes the importance of a peaceful approach that allows for safe public discourse for all. Due to security reasons, we do not discuss our staffing or our measures in place.”
FBI Denver spokeswoman Courtney Bernal said in a statement to Colorado Politics that “the FBI is supporting our state, local, and federal law enforcement partners with maintaining public safety in the communities we serve. Our efforts are focused on identifying, investigating, and disrupting individuals that are inciting violence and engaging in criminal activity. As we do in the normal course of business, we are gathering information to identify any potential threats and are sharing that information with our partners. The FBI respects the rights of individuals to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights. Our focus is not on peaceful protesters, but on those threatening their safety and the safety of other citizens with violence and destruction of property.”
The Associated Press reported Tuesday that state Rep.-elect Ron Hanks, R-Penrose, had attended Wednesday’s insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in which five people died, including a Capitol Police officer. Hanks told a local radio station last week that he arrived for Trump’s rally at the Ellipse outside the White House early that Wednesday morning of the violence. The president used the occasion to urge supporters to “fight like hell.”
Hanks said he marched with supporters to the U.S. Capitol afterward. “I was a little surprised to see people already on the scaffolding, with the Trump flag, and so forth,” he told Heart of the Rockies Radio.
“From the standpoint of the violence, two of us went around to the back of building, which is where the next meeting was supposed to form up,” he said, “and by that time people had already entered the building.” He did not say whether he actually entered the US Capitol with the rioters.
Hanks has not returned a request for comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


