Law enforcement agencies across the country are actively monitoring online threats and rhetoric that have emerged following the FBI raid on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday , sources tell ABC News.
Agencies are also preparing for possible acts of violence they fear could occur during or near pro-Trump demonstrations called for by some supporters, law enforcement sources said.
On Monday morning, authorities searched Trump’s Florida estate in what sources told ABC News was part of an investigation into documents Trump improperly took to Mar-a-Lago when he left the White House , some of which according to the National Archives were marked as classified.
“In recent months, law enforcement officials across the country have become increasingly concerned about calls for violence against law enforcement and other government officials by violent extremists,” said John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security official who is now ABC News. collaborator “The search warrant at Mar-a-Lago has only served to increase these calls, heightening the concerns of law enforcement.”
After the attack, Trump supporters called for protests at FBI offices in Riverside, Calif., and Washington, D.C., according to online messages collected by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that monitors the ‘extremism and hate speech.
The ISD reported that a Trump supporter was “asking fellow veterans and Americans from all walks of life to join him” in Washington “to protest the out-of-control FBI and its actions against the president Trump,” while another supporter’s post implored followers. in “Protesting FBI Tyranny.”
Cohen says authorities have grown increasingly concerned as public figures have echoed such comments.
Supporters of former US President Donald Trump gather near his Mar-A-Lago residence in Palm Beach, Florida on August 9, 2022.
Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images
“We are now faced with a situation where public officials and the media are imitating the language used by violent extremists, and this has served to add more volatility to the situation,” he said.
Evan worse, said Cohen, “there has been a number of conspiracy theories about what the FBI was doing at Mar-a-Lago. And when public figures, especially those who have previously served in the enforcement of the law, they spread wild conspiracy theories. which they know to be false, is not only irresponsible but dangerous.”
On the other hand, Cohen said, authorities have gotten better at monitoring threats and acting on them.
“Following the events at the Capitol on January 6, law enforcement has improved their ability to analyze the online activities of violent extremists, taking threats made online more seriously and incorporating this understanding into their planning security,” he said.
