Elite commando teams with the authority to shoot-to-kill were deployed in Washington, DC on January 6th last year to protect ex-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress gathering to certify the 2020 election results, a new report claimed on Monday.
A year ago today, senior leaders of multiple federal special forces teams met to discuss contingency plans and possible threats ahead of the Joint Session of Congress where President Joe Biden's electoral victory was sealed, Newsweek reported.
Ex-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who ran Donald Trump's Justice Department at the time of the Capitol riot, reportedly acted alone in deciding to activate the elite units.
Neither the contingency plans nor their resulting actions that day were public knowledge before Monday.
Under a plan previously approved by Trump, law enforcement agents that make up 'catastrophic response units' were given sweeping authorities to do whatever necessary in officials' defense, even if it meant taking a life.
Agents from the FBI's Baltimore, Maryland Field Office, the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team, an FBI nuclear explosives rapid response team known as 'Render Safe,' as well as Special Response Teams from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and the US Marshals Service Special Operations Group made up the units.
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