FBI chief testifies about Capitol attack

Director Chris Wray said the January riot at the U.S. Capitol was “criminal behavior, plain and simple. And it’s behavior that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism.” Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, he also argued against claims by U.S. Capitol Police officials that the FBI did not warn them about threats to the building.

What did the FBI know before the riot? Senators grilled Wray about a Jan. 5 report from a field office that warned of online posts foreshadowing a “war” in Washington the following day when Congress met to certify the results of the presidential election. Capitol Police leaders say they never saw that report. But Wray said the FBI shared it even though the information was raw and unverified. He also said domestic threats have been growing for years and the FBI has been sounding alarms about them.

Dig deeper: Read Emily Belz’s report about a potential rise in domestic terrorism in the United States.