FBI Director Christopher Wray and the acting director of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Kenneth Cuccinelli held a 45-minute conference call with law enforcement heads from major cities around the country to warn them of a greater likelihood of violence from right-wing groups, the New York Times reports.
Wray and Cuccinelli were not specific with details of potential threats, but they told the local officials to openly and freely share information with federal law enforcement to make sure no threats are overlooked or neglected.
The federal officials said they were monitoring extremist chatter online and through other surveillance, and they were concerned that local sites would be targeted if federal locations were not available or vulnerable.
“They’re very, very worried about these, what they referred to as domestic violent extremists, embedding themselves in other protests,” Chief Jorge Colina of the Miami Police Department told the Times. “Christopher Wray seemed particularly concerned about what was sort of the disregard these folks have for democratic government. The focus was not to go after people engaged in peaceful protest. There were others embedded in that who were engaged in violence and criminal behavior.”