A man at the U.S. Capitol was arrested and several states received bomb threats that were deemed non-credible, according to authorities.
Police arrested a man Tuesday trying to enter the U.S. Capitol with a torch and flare gun.
U.S. Capitol Police say the man was stopped during a security screening at the Capitol Visitor Center. Authorities say he smelled of fuel and was carrying the flare gun and torch.
Officials have canceled public tours of the Capitol for the remainder of the day.
Police say they are still investigating.
The arrest comes as authorities are on heightened alert for security issues around the nation’s capital and have increased patrols in areas downtown and near the White House around Election Day. Nearly four years ago, a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Also on Tuesday, several states reported bomb threats that turned out to be non-credible, according to the FBI.
The FBI says the bomb threats came from Russian email domains.
The FBI did not identify the states in question, but Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said earlier Tuesday that the state’s election process had snuffed out some bomb threats that he said came from Russia.
Officials in Fulton County, Georgia, said they received “multiple calls” and the threats forced a brief closure of two polling places.
Cait Conley, a senior adviser to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, told reporters on a call Tuesday there were no national-level security incidents that were threatening to disrupt the election on a wide scale.
Officials continue to warn of what they say is an unprecedented level of foreign influence and disinformation that they expect will persist beyond Election Day.
