One day after thousands of President Trump’s supporters besieged the U.S. Capitol, questions were still being asked about how a federal building in the most policed city in America could have been overtaken so easily.
The U.S. Capitol Police broke its silence nearly a full day after the attack began, saying Thursday that its officers acted “valiantly,” but lawmakers, congressional staff, and media who were trapped inside federal buildings on Capitol Hill were still confused over how the building was breached and wanted to know who was ultimately responsible for letting it happen.
No less than 18 federal, state, and local law enforcement organizations descended on Capitol Hill in the hours after the attack, according to Capitol law enforcement, which would not reveal if it followed or employed a protocol for calling in backup. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, U.S. Capitol Police, and Metropolitan Police Department also did not answer questions about the conditions that must precede their being called in to assist.
The DOJ told the Washington Examiner that it sent hundreds of federal law enforcement officers and agents from the FBI; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives; and the U.S. Marshals Service. An FBI spokesperson said the agency deployed agents to assist Capitol Police “as requested in protection of federal property and public safety.” The DOJ said it was “working in close coordination” with Capitol Police and federal partners but would not specify if its response preceded requests for help to the DHS or came after.
The DHS’s Secret Service, Federal Protective Service, and Customs and Border Protection agencies each told the Washington Examiner that its personnel were requested but also did not reveal who called them in or at what point in an emergency the department would be asked for assistance.
A former senior federal law enforcement official said that requests from outside the department would go to its front office, which would then be sent to relevant agencies. In Wednesday’s case, it would have gone to FPS because the agency is responsible for securing 9,500 federal buildings nationwide and is best suited for the task. The Secret Service was also sent in because its duties include protecting special figures, including Vice President Mike Pence, who was on site at the Capitol during the attack. FPS requested help from other agencies. CBP responded to FPS, offering less than 50 of its Washington-based border personnel.
“There are procedures in place for what’s called continuity of government — to secure the members of the House and the Senate should there be an attack,” former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano told CNN late Wednesday. “It was very foreseeable that there was going to be tremendous protest activity in Washington today incited by the president himself, and one has to question what kind of pre-event planning went on.
“I’m just comparing it to how law enforcement handled the event at Lafayette Park when the president dispersed peaceful protesters.”
Last June, federal agents from the DOJ and DHS were preemptively deployed across the city to guard national monuments and memorials, federal buildings, and the White House as thousands protested with Black Lives Matter. Federal forces used tear gas to disperse peaceful demonstrators so that Trump could walk through a nearby park for a photo opp at St. John’s Episcopal Church.
In Wednesday’s case, protesters marched from the White House grounds about a mile to the Capitol. Protesters pushed down and broke apart metal barricades on the west side of the Capitol grounds shortly after 1 p.m., and over the next hour, worked their way onto the inauguration scaffolding stand attached to the Capitol. In other cases, Capitol Police opened a fence and seemingly waved people closer to the building. Other police ran from protesters, while others appeared to pose for photos with rioters.
People climbed the facade of the building and forced police from their perch on the steps of the five-story building. Once police lost control of the stairs, the rioters gained access to the doors and windows, breaking each to get inside. More than 50 Capitol and Metropolitan police were injured in total.
Others went around to the east side of the Capitol, technically the front side where lawmakers enter when walking over from their offices. Protesters again pushed police up and off the stairs, brushing past them.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said Thursday he wanted to give officers the “benefit of the doubt” that they did as much as they could but were overwhelmed. Capitol Police has 2,300 officers, though it did not reveal how many officers were working Wednesday afternoon when Congress was scheduled to certify the election results as Trump held a rally a mile away.
“Sometimes when you don’t have enough personnel, you can’t stand and fight a large crowd like that,” Gainer told NBC’s Today.
Hundreds of people flooded into the 175,000-square-foot building, wandering into the House and Senate chambers, even attempting to loot items. Legislative staff and media trapped inside took video that showed bewildered rioters wandering from room to room as if on a guideless tour.
Former Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said local police were sent in at the request of Capitol Police. Maryland and Virginia governors, a Democrat and Republican, activated the National Guard. Although Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser requested on Tuesday that the D.C. Guard be sent in, she legally was unable to activate the military force. Only after neighboring states activated their personnel did Pence push acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller to send in the full guard.
The failure to plan and respond infuriated lawmakers. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday called for Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to be fired and announced that House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving was resigning.
“If I was up there, I deserve to be fired for letting that happen,” Gainer told CNBC host Shepard Smith.
“The violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was unlike any I have ever experienced in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, D.C.,” Sund said in a statement prior to Pelosi’s comment. “The USCP had a robust plan established to address anticipated First Amendment activities. But make no mistake – these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they were criminal riotous behavior.”
Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy announced Thursday that 800 security personnel would be deployed to the Capitol grounds for the next 30 days, well beyond the inauguration.
