Police chief warns radicals might 'blow up' US Capitol during State of the Union Address

Extremists might go to the extent of "blowing up" the Capitol during the State of the Union Address of President Joe Biden. Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, upon receiving intelligence information suggesting that extremists could be planning such an attack, issued the dire warning on Thursday.

The U.S. Capitol Police also bared their plan to maintain a greater level of security around the complex, at least until the end of President Biden's first official Congressional address. In a statement to members of Congress, Pittman revealed they possess information stating that militia groups present during the bloody protest on January 6 expressed their desire to blow up the Capitol and kill those with direct links to the State of the Union.

The acting chief also said that there is no official announcement yet as to the schedule of Biden's first official address to the joint session of Congress. "So based on that information, we think that it's prudent that Capitol Police maintain its enhanced and robust security posture until we address those vulnerabilities going forward," Pittman said.

NBC News reported that Chief Pittman made these revelations during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing, which discussed the need to continue heightened security measures around the complex after the bloody January 6 protest at the Capitol. These include fencing and the presence of the National Guard.

She emphasized that the protesters who stormed the Capitol "weren't only interested in attacking members of Congress and officers. They wanted to send a symbolic message to the nation as to who was in charge of that legislative process," Pittman said.

Many believe Biden will deliver an address to the joint session of the US Congress, similar to a State of the Union speech, after the legislative department passes his proposed COVID-19 relief package. The acting Capitol Police chief told the subcommittee members that although her department knew that armed radicals could commit acts of violence during the January 6 protest, intelligence information gathered before the assault did not indicate any credible threat as to the size and scale of the demonstration.

She said her department prepared for the event based on data collected by law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and other intelligence agencies. "It has been suggested that the department was either ignorant of or ignored critical intelligence that indicated that an attack of the magnitude that we experienced on January 6 would occur," the acting chief said.

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Pittman reiterated that her department was not ignorant of intelligence showing an attack of the size and scale they faced on January 6. "There was no such intelligence. Although we knew the likelihood for violence by extremists, no credible threat indicated that tens of thousands would attack the U.S. Capitol, nor did the intelligence received from the FBI or any other law enforcement partner indicate such a threat," she told subcommittee members during the hearing.

ABC 7 News reported that the U.S. Senate is also holding its own public hearing about the security failures during the bloody Capitol assault.