The chief spoke of the deadly toll of the assault on the United States Capitol.
Top Washington, DC police said the assault on the U.S. Capitol exposed “weaknesses in the security of the country’s safest city” during a closed-door briefing on Tuesday.
“I was surprised by the lukewarm response from the Army Department, which was reluctant to send the DC National Guard to the Capitol,” House Appropriations Committee chief Robert Contee said in written terms obtained. by ABC News. “While I certainly understand the importance of planning and public perception (factors cited by call staff), these issues become secondary when you observe how they are physically assaulted by your employees, outnumbered by a crowd.”
“I was able to quickly deploy my force and give them guidelines while they were in the field, and I was sincerely surprised that the National Guard could not or would not do the same,” he added.
Contee spoke of the deadly amount of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, noting that five people, including Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, died as a result of the siege. He also revealed that an MPD officer, whom he identified as Jeffery Smith, later committed suicide. He is one of two officers who responded to death by suicide after the attack; the other was Capitol police officer Howard Liebengood, according to Contee.
Among the more than 1,000 MPD agents who responded, 65 were injured during the riot, Contee also noted.
“Other damage from this traumatic day will be widely felt, but will possibly not be recognized,” Contee’s testimony stated. “Law enforcement training does not anticipate or prepare for hours of melee combat. Even brief physical fights are physically and emotionally exhausting.”
The acting head of the U.S. Capitol police apologized to lawmakers during Tuesday’s briefing for not being more prepared for the attack.
“Make it clear: the Department should have been better prepared for this attack,” acting chief Yogananda Pittman told the House Appropriations Committee in opening statements obtained by ABC News. “We knew there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.”
“I am here to offer the most sincere apologies on behalf of the Department,” he said in the comments.
Pittman confirmed that the court overseeing the department, the Capitol Police Board, rejected a request by then-Capitol police chief Steven Sund two days before the riot for National Guard troops.
The Washington Post previously reported that Congressional security officials rejected the Capitol Police request because they anticipated that House and Senate leaders would not want troops on the Capitol.
Capitol police activated more officers to work Jan. 6 in anticipation of violence (including a SWAT team and civil unrest units), but “we didn’t do enough,” Pittman said.
Sund also asked for permission to carry the National Guard on Jan. 6, but did not receive permission from the board “for more than an hour,” Pittman told the House committee.
Pittman also described the attack on the Capitol as a “terrorist attack by tens of thousands of insurgents determined to stop the certification of Electoral College votes, as the Department did not meet its own standards, as well as yours. “.
“I think some of the challenges that the Department faced on the day of the attack could have been overcome with additional preparation,” he writes.
Pittman also said that once the Capitol was breached, its focus was on member safety and leadership.
A well-known source confirmed that the chiefs and chief aides were silent on 6 January. Neither took control of the radio, the source said, and when officers sought leadership, there was none.
Capitol Police Union President Gus Papathanasiou told ABC News that there is currently no vote of confidence underway against the acting head and top department leadership.
“Officials have been calling for a vote of confidence since Jan. 6,” Papathanasiou said. “We haven’t started a censorship vote right now. That doesn’t mean we can’t think about it. There’s a big difference.”