12 NEWSWEEK.COM FEBRUARY 12, 2021

he department of homeland

Security looked the other way.

So did the Pentagon. The FBI

collected reports of violence

and criminal activity but took no

action. The U.S. Capitol Police wrote a threat as-

sessment that President Trump’s supporters were

disappointed and desperate, that they might be-

come violent. They were all monitoring social me-

dia. But only the District of Columbia government

and police went on alert; no one else otherwise

prepared. That’s because government and military

officials were afraid.

To understand the January 6th attack on the

U.S. Capitol, Newsweek meticulously reconstruct-

ed what happened that day and interviewed doz-

ens of government and military officials, most of

whom requested anonymity in order to be candid.

They almost unanimously agreed that behind the

stunning inaction is a hidden story of an insurrec-

tion caused by the very fear that Donald Trump,

crazed and unpredictable in his final days in office,

might provoke an insurrection.

Fear of what President Trump might do—order

the armed forces into action to hold on to power,

federalize the National Guard under his control

or even declare martial law—was so palpable and

threatening to many that they became paralyzed.

What is more, in two years of domestic-threat

reports distributed by Homeland Security to state

and local partners, some 5,600 reports that have

been exclusively obtained by Newsweek, never

MAGA MOB FRENZY

(Previous page) Trump

supporters clash with

security forces during the

storming of the Capitol,

as tear gas swirls around

them. Donald Trump (top

left, at a pre-election rally

in Florida last October) has

been accused of inciting

the riot; the far-right group

Proud Boys (right, at a pro-

Trump rally in Washington,

D.C., in December)

encouraged the violence.

T

SPECIAL REPORT

)^5

2 M

/

()

T^

SA

8 /

/

2 (

Bʔ

A)

Pʔ

*(

TT

<

(

9 (

/<

N^

+^2

CK

ST

(I

Nʔ

)^2

5

T+

(^

WA

S+

IN

*T

2 N

P

2 S

Tʔ

*(

TT

<