Acting US Capitol Police chief explains 'operational challenges' from January 6 riot
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What you need to know
The House Appropriations committee, which has direct oversight of the US Capitol Police, held a hearing today about the attack on the Capitol.
The acting US Capitol Police and acting House Sergeant at Arms were grilled over security failures and lack of leadership during Jan. 6.
At least 250 people have been charged in connection to the attack that left five people dead. Here’s a look at how the riot unfolded.
Our live coverage has ended. See key moments of the hearing in the posts below.
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These are the new measures Capitol Police officials are implementing to help prevent another attack
From CNN's Christina Carrega
The House hearing has wrapped. Two key Capitol security officials were grilled in the House Appropriations committee about the security failures that occurred during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, and the new measures being implemented to prevent another attack.
Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman told lawmakers that the emergency notification system that the US Capitol police officers used during the Jan. 6 insurrection underwent “a number of changes.”
Pittman said that they are working to improve the accuracy and response time with sending out “pre-prepared messages” and working with law enforcement and community partners to make sure the community is aware of notifications and improvements from the US Capitol Police’s command center.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, a Republican from Washington, said that communication system had delays of up to 15 minutes. Newhouse said that his “conjecture is that if there’s a 15-minute delay in emergency notifications then really there’s not an emergency notification.”
Earlier in today’s hearing, Pittman said the Capitol complex has been “hardened,” and the department is “beefing up its flow of information and now holds daily calls with its intelligence partners.”
She admitted that the Capitol lockdown “was not properly executed,” and some officers were “unsure of when to use lethal force.”
“We are ensuring that our incident command system protocols are adhered to going forward and reimplementing training in those respective areas,” Pittman said.
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Officials tracking threats by militia groups involved in riot "with direct nexus" to State of the Union
From CNN's Zachary Cohen
A sign reading 'Police Line Do Not Cross' hangs from the fenced perimeter surrounding the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 10.
Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images
Asked about the timeline for removing fencing and other extra security precautions around the US Capitol, acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said Thursday that law enforcement officials are aware of new threats against Congress “with a direct nexus to the State of the Union” involving members of militia groups involved in the Jan. 6 riots.
“We know that the insurrectionists that attacked the Capitol weren’t only interested in attacking members of congress and officers. They wanted to send a symbolic message to the nation as to who is in charge of that legislative process,” she added.
CNN has previously reported that US Capitol Police told lawmakers that the razor wire fencing around the Capitol should remain in place until at least September due to lingering security concerns related to threats against members of Congress.
But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have become increasingly vocal about removing the fencing and sending National Guard troops who remain in Washington back to their home states.
Last month, Pittman proposed permanent fencing around the Capitol but that idea was met with swift resistance from lawmakers, including DC Mayor Muriel Bowser who quickly responded by saying the city will not “accept extra troops or permanent fencing as a long-term fixture in DC.”
“We have no intention of keeping the National Guard soldiers or that fencing any longer than what Is actually needed. We’re actively working with a scaled down approach so that we can make sure that we address three primary variables. One is the known threat to the environment, two is the infrastructure vulnerabilities and then that third variable being the limitations the US Capitol’s police knows that it has as it relates to human capital and technology resources,” Pittman said Thursday.
Later in the hearing, Pittman said the fencing around the Capitol is not permanent.
Lawmakers have repeatedly pressed law enforcement and defense officials to explain whether there is a credible threat that justifies keeping those security precautions in place.
CNN previously reported that law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security are not currently tracking any “credible or specific threats,” but are constantly monitoring online chatter about potential violence in Washington DC and against members of Congress.
“The most significant terrorism-related threat currently facing the nation comes from lone offenders and small groups of individuals inspired by domestic extremist ideological beliefs, including those based on false narratives spread over social media and other online platforms,” a DHS spokesperson told CNN earlier this month.
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Acting Capitol Police chief shares lessons learned from the riot and what they would have done differently
From CNN's Christina Carrega
Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman says “numerous lessons were learned” since the Jan. 6 insurrection and in hindsight they should have planned better.
Rep. Tim Ryan asked Pittman that considering the Jan. 3 internal intelligence memo that stated the threat against the US Capitol, why did the US Capitol police “prepare for the worst case scenario?”
At first, Pittman defended their preparation. “We changed the security perimeter plan and all of those things that I mentioned as it relates to how we beefed up what we had,” Pittman said.
She then agreed with Ryan’s point. “Hindsight is 20/20,” Pittman said. “There are numerous lessons to be learned. If we were planning for a level six, I believe that Chief Sund, if he could get that day back would have planned for a level ten security posture. We would of have assets and resources on the ground prior to. We would have changed.”
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10,000 rioters entered Capitol grounds during attack and 800 breached building, official says
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
Supporters of US President Donald Trump protest inside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6.
Brent Stirton/Getty Images
More than 10,000 pro-Trump rioters entered Capitol grounds and about 800 breached the building during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the acting chief of the US Capitol Police told lawmakers on Thursday.
The estimates from acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman were the most specific numbers offered publicly by the police force, which has provided very little information to the public since the attack seven weeks ago.
“We don’t have an exact number,” Pittman said, but the estimates indicate that “there were excess of 10,000 demonstrators that traversed the (Capitol) campus on Jan. 6.”
She added, “we estimate that it was approximately 800 demonstrators” that breached the building.
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 250 people in connection with the attack – a small slice of the massive mob of Trump supporters that stormed the building and disrupted the Electoral College proceedings.
At least one lawmaker criticized Pittman and the USCP for their lack of transparency.
“The United States Capitol Police is notoriously opaque,” said Rep. Jennifer Wexton, a Virginia Democrat. “You guys have had zero public press conferences in your department in the nearly two months since the attack.”
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Acting Capitol Police chief denies race played a role in failed prep for Jan. 6 protests
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
House Appropriations
The acting Chief of the US Capitol Police told lawmakers on Thursday that there is “no evidence” that race played a role in the department’s failure to bolster security before the Jan. 6 attack.
The mob of Trump supporters that attacked the Capitol that day was overwhelmingly White, according to videos. There were also several flags, signs and symbols of racist, White supremacist and extremist groups that were displayed along with Trump 2020 banners and American flags at the US Capitol.
Many lawmakers and law enforcement experts have said police may have taken the threats more seriously, and responded more aggressively, if the crowd was full of Black rioters.
President Biden said one day after the attack that he believed racial disparities were at play.
“You can’t tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesters… they wouldn’t have been treated very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” he said last month.
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Response to Capitol riot was a “multi-tiered failure,” acting US Capitol Police chief says
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said the response to the Jan. 6 riot was a failure on multiple fronts.
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Washington, asked Pittman why leaders did not “maintain or regain control” of the communications system, because “you had a bird’s-eye view advantage.”
Pittman said that commanders should have been directly responsible for officers on the ground, but they were “overwhelmed” and needed to assist those officers.
Herrera Beutler said she was “frustrated” with Pittman’s responses.
Pittman was sworn in as acting chief on Jan. 8, and she received a vote of no confidence from members of the Capitol Police earlier this month.
“Since then, my team and I have been working around the clock — and the entire department has been working around the clock — and I think that we’ve made some very important changes as well as improvements,” including streamlining communications and increasing wellness resources to officers, Pittman said.
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Democrat slams Capitol Police Board for riot security delays: "It doesn't appear to do a hell of a lot"
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
A senior House Democrat said Thursday the board that oversees the US Capitol Police is “obsolete” and isn’t keeping members safe, blaming the board’s bureaucracy for the slow response during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The three-member board is comprised of the chief of the Capitol Police, the House sergeant at arms and the Senate sergeant at arms. Their lack-of coordination during the attack has been a major focus of congressional oversight hearings this week, and members of the board have contradicted each other about the timeline that day.
Her comments came two days after a Senate hearing where the three officials who were on the Capitol Police Board during the attack said that the bureaucracy creates a situation where no single person has ultimate responsibility to secure the complex.
These three officials all resigned their positions after the insurrection.
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US Capitol Police did not adhere to emergency protocol during attack, acting chief says
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
The acting chief of the US Capitol Police told lawmakers Thursday that the department didn’t follow protocols during the Jan. 6 insurrection for how to deal with an emergency situation, largely because officers were overwhelmed.
She made the comment in response to questions about communication breakdowns that hampered the response while pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.
She said the failures stemmed from the fact that police lines were so overrun that commanders who oversee the emergency response were instead physically fending off rioters.
“When there’s a breakdown you look for those commanders with boots on the ground to provide that instruction,” Pittman said. “That did not happen, primarily because those operational commanders at the time were so overwhelmed, they started to participate and assist the officers… versus providing that guidance and direction”
Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, a Republican from Washington state, said she was with police officers during the attack and saw the communication failures happening in real-time.
“It was very clear that their head pieces, the communication pieces they were getting no actual real communication, they were getting no leadership, they were getting no direction, there was no coordination and you could see the fear in their eyes,” Herrera Beutler said.
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Capitol complex has been "hardened" to prevent another attack, acting US Capitol Police chief says
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
House Appropriations
Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman outlined some security measures being implemented to prevent an attack like the one on Jan. 6 from happening again.
Pittman said the Capitol complex has been “hardened.”
While some increased security protocols at the Capitol complex “are not popular,” she said they are “necessary in the short-term.”
She said the Capitol lockdown “was not properly executed,” and some officers were “unsure of when to use lethal force.” Pittman also noted that radio communications to officers were “not as robust.”
“We are ensuring that our incident command system protocols are adhered to going forward and reimplementing training in those respective areas,” Pittman said.
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Newly erected Capitol fence costs $2 million each week, lawmaker says
From CNN's Marshall Cohen
A temporary security fence topped with concertina razor wire surrounds the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on February 17.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The new razor wire fencing that went up around the United States Capitol after the Jan. 6 attack costs about $2 million every week, a lawmaker said at a House hearing on Thursday.
Beutler is the top Republican on the House subcommittee that’s hearing testimony from two key security officials — the acting chief of the US Capitol Police and the acting House sergeant at arms.
CNN previously reported that US Capitol Police officers want the new fencing to stay up until at least September. Calls for permanent fencing were met with bipartisan resistance from lawmakers.
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Acting US Capitol Police chief: "No credible threat" indicated thousands would attack the Capitol
From CNN's Whitney Wild, Jeremy Herb and Zachary Cohen
Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said in her testimony that the agency had taken action ahead of the Jan. 6 riot based on intelligence that extremists planned to participate in the preceding rally and planned to be armed, but that the intelligence failed to predict the scope of the attack, which would ultimately overwhelm officers when the Capitol was breached.
“Since the 6th, it has been suggested that the department was either ignorant of or ignored critical intelligence that indicated that an attack of the magnitude that we experienced on January 6th would occur,” Pittman said.
Pittman noted that then-Vice President Mike Pence was brought to the Capitol that day because Secret Service was also “unaware of any credible threat” that described the magnitude of what occurred.
The acting chief said there were also intelligence failures in providing an accurate warning of the nature of those involved in the riot.
“The department also did not ignore intelligence that we had which indicated an elevated risk of violence from extremist groups, to the contrary, we heightened our security posture,” Pittman said. “There is evidence that some of those who stormed the Capitol were organized. But there is also evidence that a large number were everyday Americans who took on a mob mentality because they were angry and desperate. It is the conduct of this latter group that the department was not prepared for,” she continued.
In her written testimony, Pittman called the events of Jan. 6 an “ugly battle” and defended the work of her colleagues that day.
“But at the end of the day, the USCP succeeded in its mission. It protected Congressional Leadership. It protected Members. And it protected the Democratic Process. At the end of a battle that lasted for hours, democracy prevailed. It prevailed in part because of the determination and commitment of USCP officers at every level of this Department and the assistance of the Department’s law enforcement partners, such as the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD),” Pittman said in her written testimony.
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The acting US Capitol Police chief is testifying now. Here are key things to know about her.
From CNN's Nicquel Terry Ellis
House Appropriations
Yogananda Pittman, the acting US Capitol Police chief, is testifying now in the House.
She was appointed last month after the former head resigned in the fallout from the agency’s inadequate response to pro-Trump rioters who staged an insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Pittman, who previously served as an assistant chief, became the first woman and first Black person to head the Capitol Police, according to Morgan State University, the historically black school that Pittman graduated from in 1999. CNN reached out to Capitol police and has not been able to independently confirm this.
Pittman replaced former chief Steven Sund, who resigned after he was criticized for being ill-prepared to respond to the deadly mob on Capitol Hill. Sund testified in the Senate on Tuesday about the security failures of Jan. 6, and said that he had never seen a critical FBI memo that warned of a “war” on the Capitol.
“Chief Pittman is a very progressive Chief,” Sund told CNN about Pittman’s appointment. “She’s very concerned as well about the welfare of the officers.”
Pittman comes with a track record of making history as a Black woman in law enforcement. She joined the department in April 2001 and became one of the first Black female supervisors to achieve the rank of Captain, according to the Capitol Police website. As captain, she managed more than 400 officers and civilians and led the security footprint for the 2013 presidential inauguration.
Pittman’s other assignments have included providing security and protective details for US Senators and visiting dignitaries and serving as an Inspector in the Office of Accountability and Improvement.
Pittman has a Bachelor of Science in psychology from Morgan State and a Master’s degree in Public Administration from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, according to a statement from Morgan State.
Pittman’s appointment put her among the few Black women police chiefs in the nation.
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Today's hearing on the Capitol riot security failures has started
From CNN's Whitney Wild, Jeremy Herb and Zachary Cohen
The House Appropriations committee hearing on the deadly Capitol riot has begun.
The witnesses are:
Timothy Blodgett, acting House Sergeant at Arms
Yogananda Pittman, acting Capitol Police chief
According to her written prepared testimony, Pittman will tell lawmakers that US Capitol Police had taken action ahead of the Jan. 6 attack based on intelligence that extremists planned to participate in the preceding rally and planned to be armed.
That intelligence, however, failed to predict the scope of the attack, which would ultimately overwhelm officers when the Capitol was breached.
Today’s hearing comes after another round of law enforcement officials testified in the Senate on Tuesday about the attack, and echoed similar observations.
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Key security officials will face questions about the Capitol riot. Here's what you need to know.
From CNN's Zachary Cohen, Whitney Wild and Marshall Cohen
The House Appropriations committee, which has direct oversight of the US Capitol Police, is holding a hearing today with acting USCP Chief Yogananda Pittman and acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett.
This will mark the first time either has appeared in an open hearing. Pittman apologized to lawmakers for security failures in a closed door hearing last month.
During the closed-door briefing Pittman said that the “department failed to meet its own high standards” on Jan. 6 when a crowd of pro-Trump rioters overran the Capitol building.
Pittman called the insurrection a “terrorist attack” and offered her “sincerest apologies on behalf of the department,” according to her prepared remarks during the closed briefing for lawmakers.Pittman also said the department was aware of a “strong potential for violence” targeting Congress and did not take the appropriate steps to prevent it.
Her new testimony today comes as officials are starting the search for a new USCP chief.
A congressional source told CNN that Congress is moving forward with hiring an outside entity to begin the search.
Several other committees working together have already received briefings and documents from intelligence agencies as part of the numerous probes.
The House Intelligence, Homeland Security, Oversight and Judiciary committees’ joint review prompted an initial production of documents last week from the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center, a congressional source told CNN. Additionally, they have received several briefings from the three agencies.
The source said so far the documents have mostly been finished intelligence products that the committee could already access.
On Tuesday, another round of law enforcement officials testified in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Rules committees about the Capitol riot.
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This is the 9/11 style commission Democrats want to form to investigate the insurrection
A senior Democratic aide involved in the negotiations described the plan as a discussion draft to begin the process of crafting the legislation that will be used to form the group.
According to the aide, the draft calls for a commission of eleven members, outside of government that will be appointed by congressional leaders and the White House.
The “big four” leaders in Congress would each get to appoint two members, while the President would appoint three members including the chair.
Based on the current leadership make up Democrats would choose seven of the commission members and Republicans would pick four.
The commissioners would be tasked with filing their report by the end of 2021. The commission would end 60 days after the report has been issued.
While this commission is being modeled after the 9/11 commission, its work is going to be expected to be complete under a much shorter timeline. The commission formed to investigate the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, DC was formed in November of 2002. It did not release their final report until August of 2004.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced plans to create the commission during an update on the ongoing review of Capitol Security being led by retired Lt. Gen. Russell Honore. Pelosi has promised that while the commission will draw on the experience of the 9/11 commission, it’s membership will be more diverse.
A brewing political fight over the creation of the commission has begun, however, not only on the partisan makeup of the panel but also over the scope of the probe and how the commission would examine domestic extremism.
Republicans are balking at the plan put forward by Pelosi to create the outside commission with more Democrats than Republicans, and one whose mandate they say would go beyond just the security failures of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday that Pelosi’s plan “sets the stage” for a politicized and cherry-picked inquiry into domestic violent extremism beyond Jan. 6, while House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told Pelosi in a letter this week that Congress should not include predetermined conclusions about what the commission should investigate.
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Acting Capitol Police chief will tell lawmakers intelligence failed to predict scope of Jan. 6 attack
From CNN's Whitney Wild, Jeremy Herb and Zachary Cohen
Acting US Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said Wednesday that the agency had taken action ahead of the Jan. 6 riot based on intelligence that extremists planned to participate in the preceding rally and planned to be armed, but that the intelligence failed to predict the scope of the attack, which would ultimately overwhelm officers when the Capitol was breached.
Had there been better intelligence of the coordinated attack, Pittman suggested, the US Secret Service might not have brought then-Vice President Mike Pence – a target of the insurrectionists – to the Capitol to oversee the certification of the November election that day, according to her testimony released ahead of today’s House Appropriations Committee hearing.
“The Department’s preparations were based on the information it gathered from its law enforcement partners like the FBI and others within the intelligence community, none of which indicated that a mass insurrection of this scale would occur at the US Capitol on January 6th,” Pittman said in her written prepared testimony.
Pittman said in her written testimony that the department’s Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division had produced as many as four intelligence assessments leading up to the riot Jan. 6, with the final assessment showing that members of militias, White supremacists and other extremist groups would participate in the rally and planned to be armed.
The final assessment, Pittman wrote, prompted Capitol Police to post Dignitary Protection Agents at the homes of some congressional leaders, deploy other agents of that unit to the Ellipse to protect members of Congress and post evacuation vehicles for congressional leadership on the day of the rally.
But Pittman says the intelligence failed to foresee the scale of the attack that would take place on Jan. 6, with thousands of rioters overwhelming outnumbered Capitol Police officers and breaching the Capitol. The intelligence told them to prepare for a protest, Pittman plans to say – but never indicated a coordinated attack.
Another top law enforcement official will tell House lawmakers Thursday that problematic intelligence and a breakdown in sharing information between law enforcement agencies contributed to the security failures on Janu. 6 when the US Capitol was overrun by a violent pro-Trump mob.
Acting House Sergeant at Arms Timothy Blodgett will say in his prepared remarks that the intelligence prior to Jan. 6 was an issue, citing a Jan. 3 US Capitol Police bulletin as an example of contradictory information that was provided to law enforcement agencies prior to the attack.
Blodgett will say that this USCP bulletin contained some warnings that the January 6 protests could turn violent and would be different than previous MAGA marches. But he also plans to say the bulletin maintained that Jan. 6 was expected to be similar to previous MAGA marches and he believes that assessment was used to inform the security preparations for the day.
