Washington – The inspector general of the US Capitol Police issued a scathing preliminary report on police “shortcomings” leading up to the January 6 riot that left five people dead and nearly 140 officers injured.
A source familiar with the report told Citizen Free Press that Inspector General (IG) Michael Bolton discovered that the Capitol Police Department (USCP) did not send out intelligence information it had since December 30 that suggested that the January 6 protesters may have been “inclined to turn violent.” The report added that the Department did not prepare a detailed plan leading all aspects of the Capitol police force.
“The USCP did not prepare a comprehensive plan for the entire Department for the demonstrations scheduled for January 6, 2021,” Bolton wrote, according to the source familiar with the report, which is one of several emergency reports on the insurrection.
CBS News was the first to report the details of the watchdog’s findings.
Police were crushed by the mob in the Capitol 3:06Bolton also criticized the department for not releasing other security information, such as the now widely publicized FBI Norfolk memo, which warned of possible violence and “war” on Capitol Hill, which was released on January 5. According to the report, an intelligence agent from the Capitol Police sent the email internally.
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and Acting Police Chief Yogananda Pittman testified that the memo never reached the highest ranks of the Department.
Bolton’s report noted that even the intelligence the Capitol Police used to prepare was riddled with conflicting conclusions, an observation Chief of Security and Protocol Timothy Blodgett pointed out at a recent hearing on failures of Capitol security officials. .
Some of the intelligence shared within the USCP concluded that the chances of civil disobedience and arrests related to the January 6 protest were unlikely, despite another assessment noting that anger and frustration among protesters could lead to violence. directed against Congress.
These initial reports are preliminary, but they are the most substantive and authoritative review of the events of January 6 to date, a Congressional source familiar with the documents told Citizen Free Press on Wednesday. These include a number of findings and recommendations, but are not the inspector general’s final report on the matter, the source added.
The chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee Tim Ryan said in a statement Wednesday that he had reviewed the report and was considering having his committee hold a hearing. «I appreciate that the IG [Michael] Bolton has produced this valuable and extensive report, “said the Ohio Democrat.
Previous testimony about the attack on the Capitol
In a congressional hearing on February 25, Pittman told lawmakers that the agency never obtained information about a credible threat.
“Since the 6th, it has been suggested that the Department was unaware or ignorant of the critical intelligence that indicated that an attack of the magnitude that we experienced on January 6 would occur,” Pittman said. “The Department was not unaware of intelligence indicating an attack of the size and scale we found on the 6th. There was no such intelligence.”
Pittman acknowledged that the Police Department knew the possibility of violence existed and increased staffing. However, in an exchange with Virginia Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton, Pittman admitted that the staffing for January 6 did not match the typical staffing for a high-profile event like the State of the Union address. . During the question and answer session, Pittman said the state of the union would ask for a “practical and comprehensive” response from about 1,800 officers.
He admitted that the Department had only 1,200 officers at noon on Jan. 6, and only 1,400 at 4 p.m., hours after the rally turned into an all-out riot on Capitol Hill.
Pittman said the department anticipated possible violence by increasing its response to civil unrest by about 120 police officers and expanded protection details to six officers, up from four.
Possible dialogue between congressmen and insurgents 2:41
The police force responds
In a statement to Citizen Free Press, the USCP acknowledged that it “had internal challenges, including communication problems and inadequate training, which it is correcting,” but reiterated its position that there was nothing more it could have done to prevent insurgents from storming the Capitol. .
“Despite its challenges, the Department firmly believes that, short of the use of excessive lethal force, nothing in its arsenal on January 6 would have stopped the violent insurgents who descended on the United States Capitol. Looking ahead, in addition to improving the physical infrastructure, the Department believes that external support will be necessary for certain events, “the statement said.
The USCP also defended its preparations before the January 6 riots, noting that significant improvements were made to the security posture based on information that was available in the previous days.
“The Department’s preparations were based on information it gathered from its law enforcement partners within the intelligence community, none of whom indicated that a massive insurrection of this scale would take place. Even the intelligence information from the FBI office in Norfolk identified itself as raw and should not be acted upon, ”the statement said.