A terrifying new detail has emerged in the shocking terror plot that was foiled in the final hours before a Taylor Swift concert.
The deputy director of the CIA has confirmed that the frightening terrorist plot at Taylor Swift’s shows in Vienna earlier this month had intended on 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ing “a huge number” of people, most of whom were young attendees.
David S. Cohen revealed at the Intelligence and National Security Summit, as seen in a video on CSPAN, that the information Austrian authorities used to stop the terror plot from occurring was given to the CIA.
“They were plotting to 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 a huge number, tens of thousands of people at this concert,” Cohen said according to Fox News.
“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.”
Three huge shows at Vienna’s Happel Stadium planned for August 8, 9 and 10 were cancelled at the last minute after authorities uncovered a terrorism plot that could’ve seen scores of fans 𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁ed and injured. Several suspects were arrested after the al-Qaeda-inspired plot was uncovered, which police said had one aim: to “𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁 as many people as possible outside the concert venue”.
In a statement a week later, Swift thanked the authorities who foiled the plot “because thanks to them, we were grieving concerts and not lives. I was heartened by the love and unity I saw in the fans who banded together. I decided that all of my energy had to go toward helping to protect the nearly half a million people I had coming to see the shows in London.”
Swift also had a pointed message for those who had criticised her for not speaking out sooner about the cancellation of the shows, arguing that it was safer for her to stay silent so as not to inflame the situation.
“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.
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“In cases like this one, ‘silence’ is actually showing restraint, and waiting to express yourself at a time when it’s right to.
“My priority was finishing our European tour safely, and it is with great relief that I can say we did that.”
While the cancelled Vienna dates averted a potential disaster, the European leg of Swift’s Eras tour was marred by another real-life tragedy: On July 29, an attacker targeting 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥ren at a Taylor Swift dance class left three dead and injured 10 more in Southport, UK.
