https://sputniknews.com/us/202101131081755744-fbi-memo-whats-behind-reports-of-planned-armed-protests-ahead-of-bidens-inauguration/

'Nothing FBI Says is Necessarily Truth'

Still, it appears that the situation is not as black and white as it seems, according to Larry C. Johnson, former CIA analyst and ex-State Department Office of Counterterrorism official, who does not rule out "misinformation" with regard to reported protests.

"[Violent protests are] always possible", he says. "There's so much misinformation, disinformation going on right now. The real problem in the United States is - you're no longer sure what you can trust. We're in a situation in the United States now that is very reminiscent of what the Soviet Union was back under the times of Brezhnev - it's that bad. I don't know if the FBI is lying or not. We can't trust the FBI. Nothing they say is necessarily true. That's the unfortunate reality".

While Johnson expects a spike in protests, he does not rule out that they could be run by Antifa disguised as Trump supporters "to try to create an incident to further isolate and try to tamp down protests by the genuine supporters of Trump". At the same time he downplays fears that Biden's inauguration could be marred by some violent incidents: first, there's not going to be an open out-in-the-air inauguration, and second, there's not going to be a lot of people attending the event, according to him.

"There are some very unusual things going on right now", the former official believes. "Because the overreaction by the Big Tech companies [and] by the Democrats is so extreme, because Donald Trump is going to leave office but they're acting like he is going to launch a coup to stay - which is the irony is - the only coup attempt has been against Donald Trump. Unfortunately, America has become a third world country".