Democrats stunned by pre-insurgency Capitol security briefing: ‘It was only out of sheer stupid luck’, more were not killed

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House Appropriations Committee chair Rosa DeLauro, a Democrat from Connecticut, said on a phone call with CNN that members were “shaking their heads in disbelief” throughout the briefing on the security breach before January 6. Police chief Yogananda Pittman admitted his department knew there was a “high potential for violence” targeting Congress, but failed to take appropriate action to prevent it.

DeLauro said the revelation left her stunned and several federal law enforcement agencies failed by not acting on the information they had.

“They had the information. They didn’t act on it. And one question I have, and I think we need to get to the bottom of, is who made the decision not to act?” DeLauro told CNN.

“People said today that there was a lot of evidence, that the intelligence agencies had a lot of evidence, that an angry mob was going to descend on Washington with a congressional meeting to certify the election as the target.” , added DeLauro.

After attending the hearing, Representative Matt Cartwright, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, told CNN: “It is only by sheer luck that elected officials, staff members and more police officers on Capitol Hill failed to been killed. “

Cartwright said his theory as to why there wasn’t enough action to prepare was “that people were more concerned with optics than safety.”

Cartwright said he directly asked those briefing the committee if concerns about the appearance of security preparations were a reason not to act.

“I had no refusals, and I had a few confirmations,” he told CNN, declining to say who specifically confirmed the optics was a reason for inaction.

U.S. Capitol officers debate no-confidence vote for leaders in charge during Capitol riots
The briefing took place as U.S. Capitol Police officers debated whether to hold a vote of no confidence targeting department heads who were working on the day of the insurgency, including Pittman. A source told CNN that Pittman was the chief of operations on the day of the siege on Capitol Hill and “never took control of the radio or ordered the officers to do in any way.” Agents told CNN they felt abandoned and betrayed by the department’s leadership.

According to prepared remarks, Pittman told lawmakers that Capitol Police knew two days before the insurgency that militias and white supremacist groups would be on Capitol Hill on January 6, and some of those people planned to be armed.

Pittman described four things that made the department ill-equipped to respond to the attack: a lack of manpower, not having the right equipment on hand or easily accessible, a lack of consistency in monitoring the process. sealing the building and radio communication and the public address system being difficult to hear during the attack.

CNN attempted to speak to some of the Republican lawmakers who attended the meeting.

Republican Kay Granger of Texas, the senior Republican on the committee, described the briefing as a “critical first step” and joined with fellow Democrats in denouncing failure to act on intelligence that could have prevented the attack.

“While many questions remain, it is clear that the failure was not due to a lack of intelligence, but rather the inability to act properly on the basis of this information. This is unacceptable and leaves our police forces on the ground ill-prepared for danger. These heroes not only deserve our gratitude for their success in keeping members and staff safe, but they deserve answers and a commitment to do better, ”Granger said in a statement.

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Rep. David Valadao, a Republican from California, said in a statement to CNN: “Today’s security briefing with the House Appropriations Committee on the events of January 6 was very informative, and I hope that the committee will continue to organize them. “

DeLauro said members were not given a clear answer when they repeatedly asked who was responsible for the lack of preparation and response.

“No one would answer the question,” DeLauro told CNN, suggesting that it might be worth having one person responsible to avoid the kind of miscommunication that occurred on the day of the attack.

The Connecticut Democrat said there was no specific line of questioning around the tours organized before Jan.6 during the briefing, aside from a mention by the FBI that all questions relating to the genesis of the insurgency are under investigation. She closed her remarks at the briefing by saying that touring is something that needs to be looked at, and something that she said was under investigation.

Cartwright shared that there was a “good discussion” about how to “control more carefully” the security forces, especially those charged with defending the Capitol.

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