U.S. capitals see few protesters after FBI warning
Law enforcement officials across the country prepared for potentially violent protests by Trump supporters on Sunday, ahead of President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration later this week.
Security officials identified Sunday as the first possible major flashpoint, as that is when the anti-government "boogaloo" movement made plans to hold rallies in all 50 states.
Capitals in battleground states, where Trump has directed his baseless claims of voter fraud, were on especially high alert - including Michigan, where a small group of armed protesters gathered outside the state's capitol in Lansing.
"Boogaloo boy" Duncan Lemp said he believed November's election was fraudulent, but he had not come on Sunday to start a fight.
LEMP: "The idea of today, we've been planning this rally since long before the 6th, long before the 6th. The 6th changed everything for us. It made us really worried about coming out here. Obviously you see the fences. They were really worried--the FBI stopped by my work three days ago to talk to me about coming out here. And it changed a lot. We were coming out here for unity, trying to get Antifa, Proud Boys, BLM, the militias all together just to have a conversation. We don't have to come out and fight every time we come out. We can just talk."
Twenty-two-year-old Timothy Teagan is also a member of the "boogaloo" movement.
TEAGAN: "I believe we haven't had a fair election in a very long time. It's not just this one. It was the last election and the election before that. We haven't had a fair election since we've allowed lobbyists' funding into our politics. We haven't had a fair election since corporations have decided to make the rules for us, rather than the politicians representing the people."
More than a dozen states have activated National Guard troops to help secure their capitol buildings following an FBI warning of the potential for future violence leading up to the inauguration on Wednesday, with some right-wing extremists emboldened by the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Jan. 6.
But some militia members said they would not attend a long-planned pro-gun demonstration in Virginia on Monday, and other militias and extremist groups have told followers to stay home this weekend, citing the increased security or the risk that the planned events were law enforcement traps.
The leader of the Pennsylvania Lightfoot Militia, said his group had no plans this weekend to be in Harrisburg, where the Capitol has been fortified with barricades and will be protected by hundreds of members of its National Guard.
