Suspects in foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift shows aimed to kill 'tens of thousands:' CIA official
The suspects in the foiled plot to attack Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna earlier this month sought to kill "tens of thousands" of fans before the CIA discovered intelligence that disrupted the planning and led to arrests, the agency's deputy director said.
"They were plotting to kill a huge number -- tens of thousands of people at this concert, including I am sure many Americans -- and were quite advanced in this," Cohen said Wednesday. "The Austrians were able to make those arrests because the agency and our partners in the intelligence community provided them information about what this ISIS-connected group was planning to do."
''Swift broke her silence about the cancellations last week after her London shows had concluded.
"Having our Vienna shows cancelled was devastating," she wrote in a statement posted to Instagram. "The reason for the cancellations filled me with a new sense of fear, and a tremendous amount of guilt because so many people had planned on coming to those shows."
She thanked authorities -- "thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives," she wrote -- and said she waited to speak until the European leg of her Eras Tour concluded to prioritize safety.
"Let me be very clear: I am not going to speak about something publicly if I think doing so might provoke those who would want to harm the fans who come to my shows," she wrote''