The outgoing head of the Capitol police has demanded that the DC National Guard units be placed on standby if his small force is overwhelmed by violent protesters last Wednesday. he was repulsed in an interview Sunday by House and Senate security officials and a top Pentagon commander.
Capitol police chief Steven Sund, who resigned under pressure last week, said he made the request two days before Wednesday’s riot after reviewing intelligence that the protest would be bigger and more violent than what previously provided – and he repeated his request when he saw the rioters attack. his officers.
“If we had the national guard, we could have kept them longer until more officers from our partnerships could show up,” he said. Sund, who has been in the top job for less than a year, told The Washington Post.
Eventually, the police in the Capitol, less than the number, were able to prevent a mob from becoming so large, resulting in a violent invasion of the national legislature, which had not been seen since the 1812 war. Representative Tim Ryan, Ohio Democrat, told reporters Monday two officers were suspended: one who took selfies with rioters, and one who wore a “Make America Great Again” hat and led rioters in the Capitol.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer who was injured at the scene and one who died shortly after the attacks, died in the violence.
Earlier in the day, President Trump called on a crowd that had gathered near the White House to march to the Capitol “to show strength” and warned them, “You will never take back our country with weakness.”
Finally, officials from federal agencies and the local police force in Washington DC intervened late Wednesday and cleaned the complex shortly before nightfall.
In his first interview since the riot, Mr. Sund, a 25-year-old veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, said six calls for backup were rejected or delayed during the riot.
On a call around 14:00, around the time the complex was breached, Mr. Sund and local officials in the district at Lt.Gen. Walter E. Piatt, director of Army personnel, pleaded for help, just to have the general. says he can not recommend the deployment to his boss, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy.
“I do not like the visual image of the National Guard standing in a police line with the Capitol in the background,” General Piatt said. Sund said.
General Piatt backed down in an interview, saying he did not have the authority to send the troops, and that the city and Capitol police needed a plan to deploy the national guard.
“The last thing you want to do is throw forces where you have no idea where they’re going, and it’s suddenly getting worse,” he said.
Mr. Sund also claims that Paul Irving and House Sergeant Paul Irving and Arms Sergeant Michael Stenger both seemed reluctant to stir up the uniformed presence around the Capitol in the days before the riot, suggesting they were also concerned about the optics.
Both mr. Irving as mr. Stenger announced their resignations, under pressure from members of both parties.
None of them would comment on Mr. Sund’s allegations to The Post, and messages left at their offices, were not immediately returned.
Mr. Sund added that he was concerned about the possibility of a repeat of the violence during the inauguration of Pres. Joseph R. Biden Jr. on January 20th.
“My concern is that if they do not establish their physical security, it will happen again,” he said.