A bipartisan U.S. Senate report said Capitol Police did not take seriously warnings of potential violence ahead of the deadly riot on January 6.
This report produced by Zachary Goelman.
U.S. Capitol Police failed to heed multiple warnings about the potential for violence ahead of January 6, when a mob inflamed by then-president Donald Trump's false claims of election fraud attacked Congress, leading to five deaths.
That's according to a lengthy bipartisan report produced by two U.S. Senate committees investigating the deadly insurrection.
It reads, "On January 6th, 2021, the world witnessed a violent and unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Vice President, Members of Congress, and the democratic process." The report lays out repeated warnings from pro-Trump message boards that supporters planned to use force to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.
Two weeks before the assault the U.S. Capitol Police's own intelligence office created a seven-page report noting alarming comments on a site called thedonald.win, urging Trump supporters to converge on Washington on January 6.
One person wrote that they needed to be ready to "draw down" or shoot police.
Another wrote: "Bring guns.
It's now or never." But in the three days before the attack Capitol Police assessed the likelihood of civil unrest as "remote" to "improbable." On January 5, an FBI report flagged an online discussion where one person wrote: "Get violent .
.
.
Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest.
Go there ready for war .
.
." The Senate report states that when rioters reached the capitol, the Pentagon spent hours assessing Capitol Police pleas for help.
D.C.
National Guard troops arrived almost three hours after the request for backup, by which time the siege was mostly over.
The senators recommended empowering the Capitol Police chief to ask directly for D.C.
National Guard help in an emergency.
Rules Committee Chair Senator Amy Klobuchar said she and Republican Senator Roy Blunt would introduce legislation to change this protocol.
Absent from the report is any allegation Trump may bear some blame for the violence.
"You don't concede when there's theft involved." The document noted that Trump encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol that day.
"I know everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building." A copy of his speech was appended to the report.
Late last month, Senate Republicans blocked legislation to set up a bipartisan commission that would have the power to force witnesses, possibly including Trump, to testify under oath about what happened that day.
The January 6 riot was marred by government, military, and law enforcement missteps, the Senate report says.
