In a closed-door briefing before the House Committee on Homeland Security, officials from the Department of Homeland Security raised concerns that current conspiracy theories that Donald Trump will be reinstalled as president in August will spark unrest around the country, particularly in Washington, DC, Politico reports.
During the rare members-only briefing, DHS’s top counterterrorism official John Cohen said they have not identified any credible threats at this point, but the department is aware that the conspiracy theory casts further doubt amongst Trump followers that the election was illegitimate. That could lead to particularly cultish Trumpians to engage in violence.
As Politico notes, a Morning Consult/POLITICO survey from earlier this month showed that almost one-third of Republican voters have bought into the conspiracy theory.