Ex-FBI official warns Capitol riot was a ‘dress rehearsal’ for what’s to come in 2022

‘Forget the political appearance and optics. Move in. We need legal law enforcement intervention,’ former FBI official says, urging DOJ to take action on voting restrictions

A former FBI official has said that the insurrection on 6 January was just a “dress rehearsal” for what’s to come in 2022 and 2024.

The former Assistant Director for Counterintelligence at the FBI, Frank Figliuzzi, told MSNBC on Monday that a year ago, he would have “called this what intelligence officials call an over the horizon threat — something that’s coming, something we should be aware of and think about as a future threat,” he said about the domestic threats to US democracy.

“But the horizon is here,” he added. “This has been a dress rehearsal for at least a year for radical extremism.”

He said the Capitol riot was a “sneak preview” of what’s to come during the 2022 midterms in November, noting that “QAnon adherents” are already trying to take power on all levels of government.

Mr Figliuzzi said that former president Donald Trump is “putting his people in place”.

“People who are moderate, reasonable Republicans have already announced, ‘I’m out, I’m out of Congress, I’m out of the governor’s office. I’m out.’ Now we see people like [David] Perdue in Georgia who will be involved in the primary,” he said. “Why? President Trump needs his guy in Georgia.”

He said the future of US politics “is going to make the January 6 riot pale in comparison”.

Mr Figliuzzi said the 2024 election will be a major test for American democracy as Mr Trump and his allies are working to erode trust in the US political system and government institutions.

“Now, on a much larger level, we have a percentage of Americans who will not trust election results and the election results themselves will be so chaotic in terms of people who couldn’t vote, people who tried to vote ... all of that is in place now,” the national security analyst said.

“We need DOJ to step it up,” he added. “I have been the voice of reason with regard to those who say they are taking too slow at DOJ, with regard to the insurrection investigation. I am the guy that says, ‘No, 700 defendants is not slow. They are doing a great job.’”

But Mr Figliuzzi added that not enough is being done to protect election laws as Republican states pass voting restrictions. He said he thinks that the Department of Justice should “step in bigtime”.

He said DOJ was playing by “boxing rules” in a “street fight”.

He added that the department should “forget the political appearance and optics. Move in. We need legal law enforcement intervention”.