Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda D. Pittman on Tuesday apologized to Congress and acknowledged her department’s failure to adequately act on intelligence before a violent mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists infiltrated the Capitol on Jan. 6.
WASHINGTON (Tribune News Service) — Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda D. Pittman on Tuesday apologized to Congress and acknowledged her department’s failure to adequately act on intelligence before a violent mob of pro-Trump insurrectionists infiltrated the Capitol on Jan.6. Pittman, who took over the force when former Chief Steven Sund resigned Jan.8, said in a statement to the House Appropriations Committee that the Capitol Police knew by Jan.4 that the event would pose a security threat unlike any protests in 2020. “We knew that militia groups and white supremacists organizations would be attending,” Pittman said in her prepared statement. “We also knew that some of these participants were intending to bring firearms and other weapons to the event. We knew that there was a strong potential for violence and that Congress was the target.” Appropriators who fund the Capitol Police are now asking why the intelligence cited by Pittman was not used to better protect the Capitol on the tragic day. “But the real question is, you know, why was that intelligence not acted upon. So now we know they had it. We know they apologized, but we want to know why it wasn’t acted upon,” said Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who chairs the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee, during a news conference. “We want to know why the board that oversees the Capitol Police did not act upon that, did not want to allow for an increased number of support from the National Guard or whomever.” Pittman said on Jan.4 that Sund asked the Capitol Police Board — the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and the Architect of the Capitol — to declare a state of emergency and authorize a request for National Guard support, but the board denied the request.
