State Capitols Fortify Against Armed Threats Before Inauguration

(Bloomberg) -- If any state knows the seriousness of the threats posed by domestic terrorists, it’s Michigan.

State lawmakers faced an armed invasion of the capitol in Lansing in May and a foiled plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer in October. As President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration approaches -- and with it the threat of more right-wing violence -- Michigan is fencing off the building. It’s putting state police on alert, and the National Guard will be in the city and ready, said John Truscott, vice chairman of the State Capitol Commission.

“I was there in the mid-1990s when we had to put up fences for a KKK march,” Truscott said in an interview Thursday night. “That was bad, but this is something we’ve never seen before.”

The state is among six that face serious threats of large-scale armed protests on Sunday and Wednesday as supporters of President Donald Trump plan “Storm the Capitol” marches, according to an FBI official. But across the U.S., every state is preparing -- and many are sending troops to protect Washington as well.

Some armed groups have called on members to overwhelm law enforcement. The FBI official said the risk is particularly high in California, Colorado, Nebraska, Utah, Washington state and Michigan. Its politics have been bitterly riven over pandemic lockdowns and Trump’s false claims of election chicanery that incited last week’s riot in Washington.

“I am a firm believer in the First Amendment right to protest at our state Capitol but let me be clear: this does not mean that anyone has a right to incite violence or destruction,” Lansing Mayor Andy Schor wrote in a letter to Whitmer requesting National Guard support. “Given recent events in Washington, D.C., we must prepare for the worst.”

Truscott said the State Police and National Guard will have a large presence, and they are confident they can handle anything.

“The amount of security will be overwhelming,” he said. “I can’t imagine that there are enough Proud Boy types to confront the kind of presence that will be there.”

Law-enforcement officials plan to brief citizens on security preparations Friday.

Armoring Up

U.S. Representative Peter Meijer, a Michigan Republican who voted in favor of impeaching Trump this week, is taking every precaution.

“Many of us are altering our routines. I’m working to get body armor,” he told MSNBC. “It’s sad that we have to get to that point, but our expectation is that someone may try to kill us.”

Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters in Michigan, though, say they plan to lie low. Penny Crider, a former Republican candidate for the state House of Representatives, said she will avoid the Capitol even though she firmly -- though wrongly -- believes Trump won the election.

“The people I associate with, I highly doubt they’ll be there,” Crider said. “It’s not something we Republicans are putting on.”

Match to Tinder

The greater risk may come from people unaffiliated with official organizations.

A bulletin issued Wednesday by the FBI and other agencies warned that extremists may exploit the aftermath of the Capitol breach by conducting attacks to destabilize and force a larger conflict in the U.S., according to a person familiar with it. The report to law enforcement agencies across the country also warned that the Jan. 6 siege of the Capitol will be a “significant driver of violence,” the person said.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, said he has routinely faced threats, including a militia group hanging him in effigy on the grounds of the governor’s mansion. Beshear has called up the Kentucky National Guard to protect state property this weekend and sent more than 200 members to Washington.

“The people in D.C. were more than a mob. They were domestic terrorists,” Beshear said during a Thursday news conference in Frankfort. “We know that if people try to show up here, they are not a rally, they are bent on overthrowing our government.”

Major General Benjamin Corell, head of the Iowa National Guard, said state law enforcement likely can handle any civil unrest, but his force can provide support. ”We are prepared,” he said.

Lending Help

He said about 250 troops will go to Washington, though so many are coming from around the U.S. that airlift capacity is almost tapped. For the past year, Guard units have been integral to the pandemic response, and now more than half of the states are also relying on members to assist with Covid-19 vaccine distribution. Leaders said, however, that adding the security duty won’t break them.

“It’s not a problem for our vaccination operations, and it’s not a problem for our other missions,” Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Shiroma, a California National Guard spokesman, said in an interview.

Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, authorized activating 1,000 Guard troops to protect critical infrastructure, including the capitol. The Highway Patrol canceled a planned protest Sunday by a group called Let Freedom Ring. It sought to have 3,000 people gather “to peacefully protest our compromised election.”

In New York City, Deputy Police Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller said the NYPD would send 200 officers to Washington to help with security during the inauguration. They will get crowd-control training and be sworn in with special federal law enforcement powers.

‘Mob Rule’

Analysts from the intelligence bureau will be cooperating with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to search for threats of violence or disruption nationally, Miller said.

“We’ve never done that before, but based on the events of Jan. 6 and the threat to democracy itself, New York City has decided to step up,” Miller said. “You have a group of people who think their views are more important than the majority, more important than democracy and that violence and mob rule can replace process.”

Police have no evidence of a specific threat to New York City, Miller said. Nevertheless, City Hall will get a beefed-up security force.

With so many warnings, states are bracing for the worst, said Kentucky’s Beshear.

“We are prepared,” he said. “We will have the man- and womanpower, and we will not make the mistakes that were made in D.C.”