Inspector general report shows Capitol Police knew 'Congress itself is the target on the 6th'

[babylonsister]

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/4/1/2023924/-Inspector-General-report-makes-clear-what-we-already-knew-Capitol-Police-were-woefully-unprepared

Inspector general report shows Capitol Police knew 'Congress itself is the target on the 6th'
Mark Sumner
Daily Kos Staff
Thursday April 01, 2021 · 12:54 PM EDT


Investigations of what happened in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6 are still ongoing in both the House and Senate. At the same time, hundreds of those involved in the assault on the Capitol have now been charged with crimes ranging from entering a restricted area to conspiracy against the United States.

But while the actions of the insurrectionists are being investigated, so are the actions of the police and other agencies involved in protecting the Capitol and everyone who works there. On Thursday, CBS News released portions of a report made by the inspector general for the Capitol Police. That report, which dates to March 1, doesn’t really have a lot of new information. However, it underlines the most critical points: The Capitol Police consistently downplayed the threat of violence on Jan. 6, appeared to ignore both FBI warnings and violence at previous events, and failed to develop a comprehensive plan for dealing with the day that ended in insurgency.

It’s a portrait of a department that was both inadequate for the task and unprepared. And the lack of concern about the potential for large-scale violence again raises concerns about how the authorities failed to take appropriate action, even when they knew white supremacists and militia groups were going to play a major role in Donald Trump’s “wild” event. Not only did police turn a blind eye to threats in violence in their own city, they completely ignored what had been happening across the nation in the months leading up to the insurrection.

snip//

But, somehow, despite this knowledge, leadership in the Capitol Police failed to create a unified plan for actions on Jan. 6. And even though they were being given exactly the opposite message in their own internal assessments, officers were told that "acts of civil disobedience/arrests" were "improbable."

In the wake of the insurrection, Police Chief Steven Sund resigned. However, since then Sund has said he regrets his resignation and complained that calls for his replacement were premature. But the inspector general report not only makes it clear that Sund failed to prepare his team or seek the necessary resources, it also makes serious allegations about the planning done by acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, and about Pittman’s openness with Congress in discussing that planning.

Following the issue of the report, Pittman continued to insist: "Although we knew the likelihood for violence by extremists, no credible threat indicated that tens of thousands would attack the U.S. Capitol ...” But the nature of that threat should have been—and in fact was—obvious. This was a larger version of the state-level protests that had already demonstrated the willingness of armed white supremacist militias to assault police, push through security lines, smash doors and windows, and invade restricted buildings with the intent of disrupting government. They had already done all those things on a smaller scale. This was the big stage.

The violence on Jan. 6 was not an aberration. It was just the largest in a series of events that had, with Trump’s incitement and encouragement, raged across the nation for a year. To issue statements that violence was “improbable” or to complain that there was “no credible threat” … is incredible.

[spooky3]

1. I wish the writers had more clearly drawn a distinction

between CP leadership, and the rank and file.

[NBachers]

2. Unspoken and soft-peddled is the amount of support for trump & the insurrectionists.