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FBI, DOJ Prepping For Potential Election Day Violence: Report

The Justice Department plans to station officials at FBI headquarters to plan a federal response to potential Election Day violence, The Washington Post reported.

Though federal officials monitor the election every year, anonymous officials who spoke to Post said there’s been a more concerted focus on potentially violent demonstrations.

“There have been concerns raised about the possibility of civil unrest, and those are concerns raised on both sides, for different reasons, and because of that, we’re paying particularly close attention to that possibility,” one official told the publication. “I think that we would be remiss if we didn’t take the monitoring of election security and integrity particularly seriously.”

During Thursday’s presidential debate, President Donald Trump called on his own supporters to monitor polling locations and “watch very closely” for cheating.

“I am urging them to do it,” he added.

Trump “wasn’t talking about poll watching,” Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford tweeted after the debate. “He was talking about voter intimidation. FYI ― voter intimidation is illegal in Nevada. Believe me when I say it: You do it, and you will be prosecuted.”

During the debate, Trump also called on a violent hate group to “stand by.”

The FBI told The Washington Post in a statement that this year’s preparations for Election Day “take into account the current climate of the country.”

Read the full report at The Washington Post.

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