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WASHINGTON — FBI intelligence analysts gathered information about possible violence involving the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6., but the FBI never distributed a formal intelligence bulletin, in part because of concerns that doing so might have run afoul of free speech protections, a current and two former senior FBI officials familiar with the matter told NBC News.

While the FBI did share some threat intelligence with law enforcement agencies, the lack of a comprehensive Joint Intelligence Bulletin compiled by the FBI's Intelligence Branch — which would have made assessments about possible threats and would have been shared with relevant law enforcement agencies — left the Capitol Police and other agencies lacking the full picture of what the FBI had learned from human sources and social media postings about what extremists were saying about plans to assault the Capitol.

While threatening violence isn't protected speech under the First Amendment, the line between protected speech and threats can be hard to discern. Because Al Qaeda and ISIS are designated terrorist organizations under the law, the FBI feels more free to disseminate intelligence about Americans linked to them in any way. There are no designations for domestic terrorist groups.

A senior FBI official confirmed that the FBI did have indications that extremists were calling for violent action at the Capitol on Jan. 6 but felt constrained from sharing some of the information because of First Amendment concerns.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...letin-n1253951