FBI Surveilled Off-Duty U.S. Capitol Police Before Inauguration

The lead up to the Jan. 20  inauguration was more intense than any event before. Here’s a pretty good example of just how intense it was.

By Spencer Hsu, Mary Beth Sheridan and Carrie Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — In the days leading up to President Obama’s inauguration, U.S. law enforcement agencies huddled regularly in an effort to minimize any possible security risk to an event that promised record crowds for the country’s first black president.

But one agenda item led authorities to a target close to home: the ranks of the U.S. Capitol Police.

An FBI investigation that included taped surveillance had placed two off-duty veteran Capitol Police officers in the company of individuals whose racial views and capacity for violence were under scrutiny.

Although the recorded discussion did not center on Obama, federal law enforcement officials wanted to ensure that the officers were not on duty covering the Capitol, where the president took the oath of office, according to two sources involved in the matter.

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