EX-FBI boss James Comey has warned Joe Biden's inauguration is under threat from "armed, disturbed" people following the riot at the Capitol.
Controversial spy chief Comey – who was fired by Donald Trumpin 2017 – has said the threat has to be taken "very, very seriously" after five people died in the mob attack on January 6.
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FBI intelligence has warned there remains an ongoing threat of violence ahead of Biden's swearing in on January 20 as Washington DC has been placed on lockdown.
President Donald Trump has been accused of inciting the violence after spreading widespread false claims of electoral fraud.
The allegations landed him his second impeachment last week as 10 Republicans turned on him – making the vote the most bipartisan in history – despite his new calls for peace.
Comey told Sky News: "I'm worried because there are armed, disturbed people who are in this state of mind where they believe their country is being taken from them.
"So it's a threat law enforcement in the States has to take very seriously.
"At the same time, I know that we have the capability, investigative and the tactical capability on scene, to protect these locations and so I am optimistic that the threat will be neutralized, but it has to be taken very, very seriously."
National Guard troops have been deployed to Washington DC in unprecedented numbers with the scenes being likened to a war zone.
The FBI has warned of the possibility of "armed protests" in all 50 states for Biden's inauguration – with ten deciding to also deploy the National Guard.
Several are also shutting down their Capitols as they brace for attacks for more rabid pro-Trump mobs – many of who have become convinced the Democrats "stole" the election.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in DC on January 6 – with fears many were armed and planning to take hostages – as Congress certified electoral college votes.
It was just a failure and we need to know why at all levels so that we don't let it happen again
Lawmakers – including Vice President Mike Pence – had to be taken to a secret location as rioters managed to breach the Senate chamber and rampage through the Capitol's offices.
Police found themselves both outnumbered and outgunned, with some five dozen officers being injured in the violence.
The Department of Justice has opened 275 cases as arrests mount across the US.
Comey said he was "sickened" by the violence and furious at the failure to defend the Capitol, which is considered the seat of US democracy.
He said: "I was angered by the apparent failure to defend a hill, it [the Capitol] sits on a hill with 2,000 officers assigned to it on a daily basis, the failure to defend the hill.
"It just mystifies and angers me.
"It is going to be important for our country to understand that failure."
Comey added: "9/11 we were told was a failure of imagination, we didn't anticipate the way the terrorists might come at us; this didn't require imagination.
"This was all over the internet and the group literally walked slowly down Pennsylvania Avenue towards the Capitol so it was just a failure and we need to know why at all levels so that we don't let it happen again."
The former FBI boss is a vocal critic of Trump and was sacked by the President while the agency was investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump allies have accused him of botching the investigation, and yesterday Senator Lindsey Graham branded his probe as one of the "most corrupt in history".
Comey’s FBI blasted by Graham
LINDSEY Graham slammed the FBI’s probe into alleged links between Donald Trump and Russia as one of the “most corrupt
Senator Graham, chair of the Judiciary Committee, released hundreds of pages of transcripts from the inquiry into the investigation which was dubbed "Crossfire Hurricane" by the FBI.
The FBI's initial investigation looked into whether members of Trump's 2016 campaign colluded with the Russians to influence the election.
The probe was later turned over to Special Counsel Robert Mueller, whose report did not find proof of the conspiracy but did not exonerate Trump.
Mueller's probe found that Russia had attempted to interfere with the election to benefit Trump but could not determine whether there was collusion with the campaign.
Graham, a South Carolina Republican, released the transcripts of interviews conducted with FBI and Justice department officials by the committee between March 3 and October 29, 2020.
In a statement, Graham said: "I believe that Crossfire Hurricane was one of the most incompetent and corrupt investigations in the history of the FBI and DOJ."
Graham slammed the leadership of the FBI under James Comey and Andrew McCabe, saying it was either "grossly incompetent" or they "knowingly allowed tremendous misdeeds".
FBI Director Christopher Wray has said that the bureau has made more than 100 arrests so far, and that more than 200 suspects have been identified.
Questions are being asked about the police response and Democrats are calling for accountability from Republicans who help spread the falsehoods that led to the violence.
The scenes shocked both the US and the world as many leader condemned the scenes, while America's rivals Russia, China and Iran celebrated the chaos.
And as Trump was impeached, the former TV star is reportedly furiously seeking for a way to punish the ten Republicans who turned on him.
Trump summoned his aides to brief him on the ten rebels as he demanded to know "whether he had ever done anything for them".
The President is not expected to attend the inauguration and will instead leave Washington on the morning of January 20.
After losing control of the House, the Senate and the White House, the Republicans are facing the task of rebuilding going into the 2022 mid-terms and the 2024 election.
It is likely there will be a split between the more traditional groups and pro-Trump loyalists – with the 45th President's future in the party likely to be determined in the coming weeks.
At least 17 Republicans senators would have to turn against Trump to convict him in an impeachment trial, and its been suggested as many as 20 are open to the idea.
The Senate could also bar Trump from ever holding public office again, which may temper his influence within the GOP.
Trump's speech at the "Save America" rally on January 6 is believed by many to have been a catalyst for the violence as he urged his supporters to march on the Capitol.
It is feared the riot could have been much worse if lawmakers had not been evacuated, with shocking scenes such as a gallows being erected nearby and chants of "hang Mike Pence".
Pence has become the subject of Trump supporters' ire as he failed to intervene on behalf of the president to secure him a second term.
FBI officials are probing whether there may have been an "inside job" element of the riot as MAGA rioters navigated the maze of corridors with ease.
NBC reports the feds are probing payments of $500,000 in bitcoin apparently by a French national to key figures and groups in the alt-right
Democrat speaker Nancy Pelosi as warned members of Congress may face prosecution if they are found to have "aided and abetted" the mob.
Her comments came after Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat congresswoman of New Jersey, claimed she saw colleagues leading groups on “recon” tours of the Capitol.
Trump has called for peace – despite refusing to concede or admit the election wasn't rigged – as he blasted the violence.
"I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week," he said.
Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement."
Trump has since been banned from Twitter and many other social media platforms as outrage grows over allegations he incited the mob.
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