According to the department, thirty-five Capitol Police officers – including six who have been banned from payment – are under investigation for their actions during January’s deadly siege.
Acting chief Yogananda Pittman has indicated that any officer whose actions were deemed unacceptable on Jan. 6 will be punished, a spokesman for the department said in a statement to WTTG on Thursday.
“Our Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the actions of 35 police officers from that day forward. We have currently suspended six of those paid officers, ”the statement said.
Some Capitol Police officers were caught on video watching the rioters enter Capitol Hill without taking any action.
A video posted to YouTube shows Capitol Police Lieutenant Tarik Khalid Johnson wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat while talking to various supporters of former President Trump.
Johnson – who has since been banned from the department – put on the hat to gain the protesters’ trust so they could get him through the crowd into the building so he could rescue his fellow officers, the Wall Street Journal reported.
At one point in the video, Johnson, 45, hands his megaphone to one of the protesters and says, “I’ll follow you.”
The Justice Department has charged more than 250 people with storming the Capitol in a brutal attack that left five dead, including veteran Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick.
As a result, Trump was impeached a second time for instigating the uprising in the Capitol, but the Senate failed to convict him.