Memos show FBI was preparing for 2020 political violence and disputed election

By Jerry McConway
updated on February 9, 2026

It is always rather entertaining to see how information leaks its way out of the government years after events happen.

In this case, it is information about how the FBI had been preparing all along for a disputed election and political violence heading into the 2020 election cycle.

It would appear that they knew about everything, so when you couple that with the disaster on January 6, 2021, it is hard to believe our government has our best interests at heart.

After the fact

In December 2020, after the election took place, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray had made a statement about activity that took place heading into the election season.

A statement by the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) cited Iran as a bad actor and likely behind an operation that generated death threats against senior officials.

The statement said the operation “demonstrates an ongoing Iranian intent to create divisions and mistrust in the United States and undermine public confidence in the US electoral process.”

Oddly enough, when all this went before the courts, all the claims made were dismissed by the courts, and the media claimed this was all a conspiracy theory.

The rioting

Rioting, not protesting, is a very effective tool to use to get someone removed from office, and the left took that to the Nth degree during the summer of 2020. We all remember the death of George Floyd and what it led to in this country.

I dare say that at any other time and most certainly under any other president, that rioting likely never would have taken place. African Americans were killed by police during the Biden administration, yet we never saw rioting take place.

There are theories that the riots were financed by money that was funneled to various organizations by George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, but again, the media dismissed this as a conspiracy theory (in a previous report, we even documented how at least one post on the foundations’ blog outlines exact amounts that were spread around).

The violence that ensued, as well as the COVID pandemic, all but assured Trump of losing that election, and that is precisely what happened.

Newly released memos

FBI Director Kash Patel just turned over a trove of department memos to Congress, and it provides a bit more insight on this front, specifically regarding the roles of Iran and China in terms of fomenting violence and trying to disrupt the 2020 election.

The memos reveal that the FBI was doing exercises on how it would handle a contested election, putting those strategies in place during the January 6 riot, reporting included using undercover operatives and mass prosecutions. An August 2020 memo stated, “The FBI assesses domestic violent extremist (DVE) threats related to the 2020 elections likely will increase as the election approaches, despite the current focus of many DVEs on the COVID-19 pandemic and civil unrest.”

The report continued, "'Election-related threats' include but are not limited to those against candidates, campaign events, presidential conventions, party offices, elected officials, voter registration events, and threats or plots related to electoral outcomes.”

The last thing I am is a conspiracy theorist, but I have to admit, this got my attention. What made Director Wray think there would be a contested election? How far was China willing to go to have Trump removed from office? And why was the FBI calling for mass prosecutions to shut down fictional election protests when that strategy had never been used before during protests in this country? I will admit, right now, I have a lot more questions than I have ever had regarding what took place leading up to, during, and in the aftermath of the 2020 election.

About Jerry McConway

Jerry McConway is the Senior Editorial Director at American Digest Media, as well as the featured columnist on Real Talk Digest. He has been covering politics for more than a decade. His no-nonsense writing style makes him enemy number one in DC. His mission is to tell the truth to readers, good or bad, something the mainstream media has failed to do for decades. What sets Jerry apart from his competition is reader loyalty. They don't always agree with him, but they know he tells them the truth. Love him or hate him, you can't ignore him.

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