A bipartisan joint report from the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Rules committees, on the law enforcement reaction to the Jan. 6 Capitol breach and lack of preparedness, includes recommendations to address those issues.
But the report left unanswered questions and incomplete assessments on other matters of concern to activists and politicians on both sides of the aisle, some of which are being investigated by other congressional committees.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer argued those gaps are grounds for creating a 9/11-style commission, which Senate Republicans blocked last month.
“If anything, the joint report by the Homeland Security and Rules committees has strengthened the argument for an independent commission on January the 6th,” Schumer said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
BIPARTISAN SENATE REPORT ON CAPITOL RIOT CLAIMS THREE POLICE OFFICERS DIED
Republicans, though, argue that congressional committees and “the Senate’s work to close these gaps is already well underway,” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor on Tuesday.
Tuesday’s report mostly compiled the findings from public joint committee hearings into one document. Factors surrounding Jan. 6 that it did not directly address include:
Firm accounting of any firearms brought by rioters into the Capitol
Some Republicans, including Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, have taken issue with the Capitol being described as an “armed insurrection.” While rioters were clearly wearing protective gear, turned unconventional items such as flagpoles and water bottles into weapons, and used chemical spray and a stun gun on officers, some like Johnson say that the descriptor indicates the presence of firearms or that firearms were recovered by law enforcement.
The Jan. 6 report did not reveal much new information about firearms specifically brought by rioters into the Capitol building.
The report said that law enforcement agencies were aware of reports of individuals with firearms in the large crowd and that the U.S. Capitol Police discovered a vehicle containing a firearm and Molotov cocktails outside the Democratic National Committee. One officer reported in a statement to the committee that he witnessed rioters armed with guns in the riot crowd. It also noted online posts encouraging people to carry firearms during the protest and confront members of Congress.
Another officer reported seeing “knives, baseball bats, flag poles, banners, CDU shields, body armor, pants, socks, shoes, hats, uniform items, jackets, wallets, cash, phones, flags, and signs littered the ground” while examining the wreckage after the attack.
At least three people have been federally charged with unlawful possession of firearms in connection to the Capitol riot, according to the Department of Justice’s accounting of cases. One man allegedly had a firearm on his person recognized by a Metropolitan Police officer while exciting the Capitol area and crossing a police line on Jan. 6; another allegedly had a firearm in the passenger seat of a parked pickup truck found while officers were responding to bomb threats at the national party committees on Jan. 6; and a third allegedly had firearms in his truck found by police when they made contact with the suspect in Washington, D.C., the day after the riot.
Role of former President Donald Trump
On the Senate floor following the report’s release on Tuesday, Schumer asserted that “the report did not investigate, report on, or hardly make any reference to the actual cause, the actual impetus, for the attack on January the 6th, with the exception of a brief reference to former President Trump’s remarks at the ellipse.”
“Senate Republicans insisted that the report exclude anything having to do with the cause of the insurrection,” Schumer added.
Trump was impeached for “incitement of insurrection” in January, but the Senate failed to reach the two-thirds threshold to convict him.
The report did note Trump’s continued assertions that the election was stolen from him, that he encouraged supporters at the ellipse to go to the Capitol, and that he had promoted a Jan. 6 protest on Twitter.
In addition, it said that a Jan. 3 meeting between acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, and Trump on a separate issue in which Trump asked a passing question about preparedness for Jan. 6.
It did not detail Trump’s immediate reactions to the riot; his conversations with lawmakers, former Vice President Mike Pence, or Defense Department officials during the riot; or mention of the tweets or videos posted telling rioters, “Go home, we love you.” A copy of Trump’s speech on Jan. 6 was included in the report’s appendix.
Information relating to the officer killing of Ashli Babbitt
Babbitt, a 35-year-old California veteran, was shot dead by a police officer as she and other rioters attempted to enter the barricaded Speaker’s Lobby, which provides entry into the House chamber. The officer involved in the incident has not been identified by authorities, and few details beyond online video of the shooting have been made public by authorities.
In a footnote, the Jan. 6 report noted that the Department of Justice in April determined it would not pursue charges against the Capitol Police officer involved in Babbitt’s shooting, citing “insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.”
Babbitt’s family is reportedly planning a civil lawsuit against the Capitol Police seeking $10 million in damages and this month filed a lawsuit against the Metropolitan Police relating to its compliance with a Freedom of Information Act request.
Information on officers who waved in protesters
The report made no mention of police officers who appeared to wave in protesters past breached security fences or take selfies with rioters who entered the Capitol.
In January, several Capitol police officers were suspended and placed under investigation for “violating department regulations and policies.”
Who planted pipe bombs?
Law enforcement is still searching for the suspect who placed pipe bombs around Capitol Hill the night of Jan. 5. Videos released by the FBI show the suspect in a gray hoodie, a mask, and Nike Air Max Speed Turf sneakers.
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Allegations of members of Congress meeting with rioters
In the days after the Jan. 6 riot, Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey alleged that she witnessed other members of Congress giving a “reconnaissance” tour of the U.S. Capitol the day before the attack. She and other lawmakers authored a letter asking authorities to investigate “suspicious behavior” on Jan. 5.
Numerous Republican lawmakers have denied giving such tours.
Ohio Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee Legislative Branch Subcommittee that has also held hearings related to Jan. 6, said in February that the matter of lawmaker “tours” ahead of the riot was referred to the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, D.C.
