‘Left naked’ in Capitol assault
Pols told cop staffing same as on normal day
WASHINGTON — Despite ample warnings about pro-Trump demonstrations in Washington, U.S. Capitol Police did not bolster staffing on Wednesday and made no preparations for the possibility that the planned protests could escalate into massive violent riots, according to several people briefed on law enforcement’s response.
The revelations shed new light on why the Capitol Police were so quickly overrun by rioters. The department had the same number of officers in place as on a routine day. While some of those officers were outfitted with equipment for a protest, they were not staffed or equipped for a riot.
Once the mob began to move on the Capitol, a police lieutenant issued an order not to use deadly force, which explains why officers outside the building did not draw their weapons as the crowd
closed in. Officers are sometimes ordered against escalating a situation by drawing their weapons if superiors believe doing so could lead to a stampede or a shootout.
In this instance, it also left officers with little ability to resist the mob. In one video from the scene, an officer puts up his fists to try to push back a crowd pinning him and his colleagues against a door. The crowd jeers, “You are not American!” and one man tries to prod him with the tip of an American flag.
“They were left naked,” Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) said.
The Capitol Police’s lackluster response, poor planning and failure to anticipate the seriousness of the threat have drawn condemnation from lawmakers and prompted the ouster of the department’s chief and the sergeants at arms of both the House and Senate.
The FBI is also investigating whether some of the rioters had plans to kidnap members of Congress and hold them hostage.
Investigators are focused on
why some were seen carrying plastic handcuffs and had apparently accessed areas of the Capitol generally difficult for the public to locate, according to an official.
The official was among four officials briefed on Wednesday’s incident who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation publicly.
Larry Brock of Texas and Eric Gavelek of Tennessee, both photographed with plastic restraints as they broke into the Capitol, were arrested Sunday by the FBI.
The crowd that arrived Wednesday in Washington was no surprise. President Trump had been urging his supporters to come to the capital, and some hotels had been booked to 100% capacity — setting off alarm bells because tourism in Washington has cratered amid the pandemic.
A leader of the far-right extremist group Proud Boys was arrested coming into the city with high-powered magazine clips emblazoned with the group’s logo, police said. The clips were not loaded, but he was planning to attend a rally near the White House.
Capitol Police leaders, however, had prepared for a free speech demonstration. No fencing was erected outside the Capitol and no contingency plans were prepared in case the situation escalated, according to people briefed.
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy told lawmakers Sunday that the Defense Department and law enforcement officials had prepared for a crowd similar to protests in November and December, in the “low thousands,” and that they had been preparing for small, disparate violent events, like stabbings and fistfights.
McCarthy also said Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser had called for urgent reinforcements from the Defense Department as the crowd surged toward officers but were “unable to articulate what resources are needed and in what locations, due to chaos.”