Democracy watchU.S. Capitol Police Overrun by Mob After Declining Help

By Jeff Seldin

Published 8 January 2021

Law enforcement officials in charge of protecting the U.S. Capitol repeatedly declined offers of additional assistance ahead of Wednesday’s protest-turned-riot that forced lawmakers to take shelter, delaying certification of the results of the country’s presidential election. The allegations, from defense and military officials, come a day after large crowds of extremists supporting President Donald Trump pushed past barricades and members of the Capitol Police to rampage through the building.

Law enforcement officials in charge of protecting the U.S. Capitol repeatedly declined offers of additional assistance ahead of Wednesday’s protest-turned-riot that forced lawmakers to take shelter, delaying certification of the results of the country’s presidential election.

The allegations, from defense and military officials, come a day after large crowds of extremists supporting President Donald Trump pushed past barricades and members of the Capitol Police to rampage through the building.

We engaged repeatedly,” Assistant Secretary of Defense Ken Rapuano told reporters Thursday, regarding discussions between the Army National Guard and Capitol Police in the weeks leading up the riot.

“We asked more than once,” he said. “The final return [answer] that we got on Sunday [January] the 3rd was that they would not be asking DoD [the Defense Department] for assistance.”

Video from Wednesday shared on social media and by news organizations shows hundreds of pro-Trump extremists overrunning barriers and police checkpoints as they pushed into the Capitol. Others evaded police altogether, scaling walls and smashing windows to get inside.

“There was tremendous confusion coming out of the Capitol,” said Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, who had been helping to coordinate the response by members of the Army National Guard.

Clearly the Capitol Hill police, their capability was being overrun,” he added. “It was very hard to get to the adequate read of the disposition of their officers, how we could tie in with them.”

As a result, McCarthy said, he and officials with Washington’s Metropolitan Police force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation pushed forward with what he described as a “hasty plan” to retake and secure the Capitol.

About four hours later, he said, the Capitol was secured with the help of about 340 National Guard troops that initially had been assigned to help the city of Washington manage traffic and do crowd control, along with another 1,100 National Guard troops mobilized by acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller to help bring the situation under control.

Other officials voiced anger over the perceived lack of preparation for Wednesday’s events.

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser slammed what she described as “catastrophic security failures” that allowed the mob to enter the Capitol.

“Obviously it was a failure, or you would not have police lines breached and people entering the building by breaking windows and terrorizing the people, the members of Congress,” she said. “There’s going to have to be a real investigation into what happened.”