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The massive police presence stood guard around the perimeter of the capitol building. some of the officers were in riot gear, others on bicycles, all part of the robust security presence on hand to counter any potential violence. law enforcement's plan was to keep counterprotesters away from the main demonstration. you see this group of bike police officers? there are probably about 15 or 20 of them. and they are escorting a counterprotester, a man who was dressed all in black, with some sort of sign referring to black lives matter ♪ what so proudly ♪ >> reporter: the "justice for j6" rall...

Counterprotesters. and when you couple that news with governor gavin newsom's resounding victory in the california recall election, it would appear that it was a good week for the defeat -- for defeating the lingering effects of trumpism. but think again. extremists are still at large, hell bent on hijacking our democracy. yesterday, capitol police arrested four protesters, one reportedly with a knife and this comes just days after a california man was arrested outside the democratic national committee headquarters. he was found with multiple knives, a bayonet, and even a machete. to further t...

Leave anything to chance >> i think the answer to that is all of the above. i think we would be foolish not to take seriously the intelligence that we have at our disposal. >> reporter: that intelligence leading police to be wary of possible violence, especially between protesters and counterprotesters elsewhere in washington around capitol hill, the possibility of violence just the latest strain on a community hit by an insurrection, the killing of a police officer in april, and a day-long bomb threat and standoff last month. >> i don't know why the capitol has become such a magnet for these ...

At howard university, also cynthia howard at american university and author of the book "hate in the homeland the new global far right." ladies, professors, it's good to see you both. thank you for joining me. cynthia, i'll go to you first here. the rally organizers were expecting hundreds of people. i believe they got a permit for 700. certainly a lot more of them showed up. is there any reason in your mind fewer people attended this rally? >> good question, alex. we saw the same thing with the unite 2 rally in 2018 where really protesters were outnumbered by even journalists much less counte...

National guard to serve as somewhat of a quick reaction force. that's critical, john, because that was something that was desperately needed on january 6th. we know it didn't happen. we know the availability of a quick reaction force was something suggested in a sweeping review of the security failures that day. so certainly taking an early lesson learned and teurning it into a material action. in addition to the 100 members of the national guard, capitol police say that law enforcement partners in the area will also be available to assist. as you mentioned, we have this capitol fence up aroun...