The US authorities evacuated the western side of the Congress building in Washington due to an external security threat, amid a great security alert two days before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
Alarms were sounded in the Capitol building, urging those inside not to leave due to this threat, and asking them not to approach any of the building's entrances and exits.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent quoted the security authorities as saying that the fire that broke out near the Congress building did not pose a security risk, and American media indicated that the fire occurred in a tent for the homeless near the building.
The Washington fire brigade said it had responded to an outside fire near the Capitol, and it was extinguished, and there were no injuries.
For his part, former commander of Congressional Police Stephen Sand said that the supporters of US President Donald Trump who stormed the Congress building were well equipped and coordinated and armed with protective vests, helmets and explosives.
Responsible involvement
Sand, who has resigned, added that the least that could be said about that was that it was a coordinated and violent attack against Congress.
On the other hand, Democratic Representative Ted Liu said all President Trump had to do to prevent further political violence was to say the election was not stolen.
In a parallel context, US media reported that the FBI had arrested a New Mexico official near the Congress building in Washington, DC, in connection with the storming of the building.
She added that the official - a New Mexico County commissioner named Coy Griffin - had pledged to return to Washington, fully armed, to protest the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
According to an FBI document, Griffin warned in a Facebook recording that blood would flow around Congress if the participants in the storming returned to Washington, DC.
The Justice Department said Griffin founded a group called Cowboys for Trump.
Washington, DC police also announced that they arrested a young man from Virginia near a checkpoint for possession of a weapon and live ammunition without a license.
Pelosi Computer
Parallel to that, Politico magazine said that the FBI is investigating evidence it had regarding a woman who participated in the January 6 congressional storming and stole a laptop computer from the office of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and suspects that she was intending Sell it to the Russians.
According to the magazine, this information was contained in a written statement to law enforcement authorities in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on Sunday evening describing the criminal case against a woman named Riley Williams who was seen in several clips in front of Nancy Pelosi's office during the storming of the Congress building.
According to the affidavit, a witness who spoke to the federal authorities gave information saying that Williams was intending to send the computer that she had stolen from Pelosi's office to a friend in Russia with the intention of selling it to the foreign Russian intelligence agency.
The FBI is still searching for the hidden Williams, while her mother confirmed that her daughter had packed her belongings and left the house, without specifying her destination.