Acting Chief of the US Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, admitted to Congress on Tuesday that there were “failures” in the security of the complex, where followers of former President Donald Trump violently broke into the complex on January 6. He apologized for what happened.
Pittman, who was not in charge of that force at the time of the attack, admitted that they knew two days before the attack that the mobilization called for by Trump’s followers “would not be like the previous protests.”
“We knew militia groups and white supremacist organizations would be in attendance. We also knew some of these participants were planning to bring firearms and other weapons to the event,” he said in his address to the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees the event. financing. of this agency and has opened an investigation into what happened.
“We knew – added the police chief who replaced Steven Sund, forced to resign due to the failure of the landmark building’s security – that there was great potential for violence and that Congress was targeted.”
On that day, when what the official labeled a “terrorist attack,” five people died, including a Capitol police officer.
Pittman reported that the department under his charge was preparing but not doing enough and that despite his predecessor asking the Capitol Police Board – made up of three members, two of whom resigned – to declare a state of emergency and support To ask the National Guard was authorized, it was not given the green light.
Instead, Pittman said, the administration encouraged Sund to contact the National Guard to find out how many uniforms could be sent to the Capitol at short notice and did not get permission until more than an hour after the crowd announced it. building to mobilize troops.
“I am here to offer my sincere apologies,” said the official, noting that “the actions of the insurgents and the (police) department’s inability to immediately secure the Capitol encouraged the insurgents and disgusted millions of Americans. fulfilled. “
He said, among other things, that that day, “almost at the exact moment” of Trump supporters’ entrance to the Legislative Building, a homemade bomb was discovered in the Republican National Committee and shortly afterwards a vehicle containing explosive chemicals and a weapon, as well as a homemade explosive device in the Democratic National Committee, forcing them to “divert” resources.
He also indicated that the Capitol Police Department had mobilized 1,200 of its employees who were unable to cope with “the tens of thousands of insurgents (many armed)” who attacked the site.
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol when lawmakers declared the election victory of Democrat Joe Biden, who assumed the presidency on Jan. 20 in a high-security ceremony.
Last Monday, the House of Representatives presented a “impeachment” charge against former President Trump before the Senate, triggering a new impeachment against the Republican leader, this time for instigating the attack on Congress.