WASHINGTON (AP) – Capitol Police knew armed extremists were poised for violence in the iconic building on Jan. 6 and even provided officers with assault rifles to protect lawmakers, the acting chief acknowledged Wednesday. But the wild invasion of the Capitol was much worse than the police expected, leaving them unprepared to repel it.
A day earlier, her predecessor as chief testified that the police expected an angry but more typical protest crowd from Donald Trump supporters. But acting chief Yogananda Pittman said the intelligence gathered prior to the riot prompted the agency to take extraordinary measures, including the special armament of officers, the interception of radio frequencies used by the intruders and the deployment of spies to the Ellipse rally where President Donald Trump sent his supporters. to the Capitol to “fight like hell.”
Pittman’s testimony, filed ahead of a House hearing on Thursday, provides the most detailed account to date of the intelligence and preparations by the U.S. Capitol Police ahead of the uprising when thousands of pro-Trump rioters raided the Capitol with the aim of prevention. that Congress would certify Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
Three days earlier, on Jan. 3, the Capitol Police issued an internal intelligence review warning that militiamen, white supremacists and other extremist groups were likely to participate, that protesters would be armed, and that it was possible they would come to the Capitol to watch it trying to disrupt the mood, Pittman says.
“Based on the assessment, the ministry understood that this demonstration would be different from the previous demonstrations by protesters with similar ideologies in November and December 2020,” said Pittman in her prepared remarks.
But at the same time, she argues that the police did not have enough information to predict the violent uprising that resulted in five deaths, including that of a Capitol Police officer. They prepared for trouble, but not for invasion.
Although the Department’s Special Assessment of Jan. 3 predicted that there would be a significant likelihood of violence on Capitol grounds by extremist groups, no specific credible threat was identified that indicated that thousands of US citizens would descend on the Capitol to kill police officers. with the aim of going to the US Capitol Building to harm members and prevent the Electoral College’s certification of votes, ”Pittman said in her testimony.
Steven Sund, the former police chief who resigned after the riot, testified on Tuesday that the intelligence investigation warned white supremacists, members of the far-right Proud Boys and the left-wing antifa could be in the crowd and could become violent.
“We had considered the possibility of violence, the possibility that some people would be armed, not the possibility of a coordinated military-style attack on the Capitol involving thousands,” Sund said.
The FBI also sent a warning to local law enforcement officials about online reports that a “war” was on the way. But Pittman said it still wasn’t enough to prepare for the crowd that attacked the Capitol.
Officers were vastly outnumbered as thousands of rioters entered the building, some with planks of wood, stun guns, bear spray, and metal pipes as they broke through windows and doors and stormed through the Capitol. Officers were barricaded, pushed to the ground, wedged between doors, beaten, and bloodied as members of Congress were evacuated and convention personnel huddled in offices.
Should the police have been better prepared?
With the amount of information available to the Capitol Police, it is surprising that they have not taken additional steps to strengthen security and protect their officers, said Tom Warrick, a former anti-terrorism officer who served in the Obama administration.
“On January 6, the only strategic location in the entire US capital to be defended was the US Capitol,” said Warrick, now a member of the Atlantic Council. So it was really disappointing that people testified that ‘we didn’t know there was going to be violence’. When you’re targeted, you assume that such things can happen even if you don’t have the information. “
Even without access to secure intelligence, there were warning signs in the public mind for months that rioters would try to do what they were doing, said Bruce Hoffman, a former commissioner on the 9/11 Review Commission and a senior counter-terrorism and homeland security fellow for the Council. on Foreign Relations.
A plot uncovered by federal law enforcement to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was a big red flag, and many of the rioters took to social media following Trump’s calls to “stop the stealing” and speculate about violence. .
“Historically, the default has always been to blame an intelligence error, when there may often be other reasons,” said Hoffman. “I think it was very clear to everyone … that there was going to be a confrontation.”
Pittman also says the department was facing “internal challenges” when it responded to the riot. Officers did not properly seal the Capitol complex, even after an order was given by radio. She also says that officers did not understand when to use lethal force, and that the less-than-lethal weapons officers had were not as successful as they expected.
While Pittman says in her testimony that sergeants and lieutenants were expected to pass intelligence on to the department’s rank and file, many officers have said they received little or no information or training for what they would encounter. Four officers told The Associated Press shortly after the riot that they heard nothing from Sund, Pittman, or other top commanders when the building was breached. Officers were left in many cases to improvise or try to rescue colleagues who were in danger.
Pittman is also facing internal pressure from her constituency, especially after the Capitol Police union issued a vote of no confidence against her last week. She must also lead the department at the start of several investigations into how the police failed to protect the building.
Capitol Police Investigates the Actions of 35 Police Officers on the Day of the Riot; six of those officers have been suspended for payment, a police spokesman said.
Trader reported from Houston. Associated Press authors Ben Fox and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.