Video: Sen. Mark Warner Says Senior FBI Officials Repeatedly Reassured Him That They Were Prepared For Yesterday’s Threat – “They Were Flat Wrong”

Sen. Mark Warner spoke earlier this afternoon with reporters (see video, below), saying it would be “one of the most sobering conversations” he’s had in his “time in public office.” Sen. Warner said he’d just spent 20-30 minutes walking through the halls of the Capitol, “where windows are broken, debris is on the floor, thugs by the 100s or 1000s came in yesterday and desecrated the floor or the House…and the Senate…60 law enforcement officials were injured…4 deaths.” Sen. Warner said “there are a whole host of questions,” such as why the FBI and others weren’t prepared – even though they’d reassured him repeatedly that they would be – leading up to yesterday. According to Sen. Warner, “they were flat wrong…yesterday was an embarrassment in terms of the response.” The question is, “why were we not better prepared?” Sen. Warner said it was “outrageous” and “absolutely requires us to have a thorough and full investigation.” Sen. Warner also wondered what the response would have been if this had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters as opposed to “this Trump mob.” See below the video for a few more highlights…

• Sen. Warner talked about social media companies failing to be responsible, “their willingness to put their short-term profit ahead of any responsibility or obligation or civic duty.” Sen. Warner argued that “this mob – led by disinformation often times emanating from Donald Trump – was gathered, fomented and organized on social media platforms.” He mocked Facebook’s “after-action action” of banning Trump as “too little too late.”
• Sen. Warner continued: “My message to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter – the blood and destruction that took place in our Capitol yesterday, at least part of that responsibility is on your hands, and I’m committed from my position as now Chairman of the Intelligence Committee to go after these firms with a new set of policies to make sure that this kind of fomenting of violence will not continue.” He said we need to “come down hard on the social media companies who turned a blind eye to the preaching of hate and white supremacy…”
• Sen. Warner said “thank god,” last night “all but a handful of Trump enablers decided to side with the Constitution rather than short-term political gain or their own personal fundraising needs.”
• Sen. Warner reiterated the point he made last night, that any official or candidate should use restraint and caution when questioning results of our elections, because when you do so, you often carry out the goals of our foreign adversaries. Sen. Warner pointed out that Syria’s dictator is now “attacking American democracy as being hypocritical.”
• Sen. Warner said he’s “angry” and “sad.” He asked any of the viewers who still “support Donald Trump and his lies” to come and “walk through the halls of the Capitol with me and see the destruction…by people who had been whipped into a frenzy [by Trump].”
• Sen. Warner said we’d get through this, but the images from yesterday “won’t soon fade.”
• Sen. Warner reiterated that “these were domestic terrorists …thugs incited by Donald Trump…There was no robust plan, there was no orderly movement of Senators and staff, there was not the kind of preparation that I’d literally promised literally the night before by a senior official at the FBI.” And, he added, people “who didn’t do their job need to be removed.”
• Sen. Warner said the 25th amendment “absolutely should be on the table.” He said he’s been in contact with Trump Cabinet members who he has relationships with and urging them to consider how they want to be recorded in history. He said it’s “incumbent upon them to act or at least resign and not be part of this travesty that’s playing out in front of our eyes.”
• Sen. Warner ripped the “absolute outrageousness” of Trump’s actions to encourage “this horde of thugs to attack the Capitol when he knew his own Vice President was there doing his duty.”
• Sen. Warner said that anyone who didn’t anticipate what could have happened yesterday “shouldn’t be in the intelligence or law enforcement business.”
• Sen. Warner said the reason so many people think there was something wrong with the election is “because the President of the United States and his enablers lie to them on a regular basis.”
• Sen. Warner spoke VERY angrily about more people being arrested from the disability community engaged in peaceful protests than the “1,000 thugs who desecrated the Capitol yesterday.” He said that is “outrageous,” and if those “thugs” are not arrested, then “respect for rule of law in this country will be undermined permanently.” He added that “only a dozen or so” have been arrested so far.