Top Lawmakers Not Told of Police Request for Backup Before Riot, Aide and Others Say
Source: NYTimes
WASHINGTON — In the days leading up to the mob attack on the Capitol, congressional security officials never let House and Senate leaders know that the Capitol Police had warned they might need National Guard backup, according to a congressional aide and other people familiar with the matter.
The police request, made to the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms, was prompted by intelligence that showed Trump supporters planned to target the Capitol itself as Congress certified the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, according to a congressional official. The Capitol Police asked the sergeants-at-arms to request that the National Guard be placed on standby.
But the sergeants-at-arms, Michael C. Stenger of the Senate and Paul Irving of the House, rejected the request without raising the issue with either the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, or Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to the aide and another person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Stenger and Mr. Irving, who have resigned amid the fallout from the violence, would most likely have had to ask the leaders whether to approve the requests for such a serious measure, according to former sergeants-at-arms.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/15/us/politics/capitol-riot-national-guard-request.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
This is why the sergeants-at-arms were fired. The only question left is if they were completely incompetent or part of a plot.
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