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Ahead of the House January 6 committee's final report, the five Republicans who were originally nominated to sit on the select committee on Wednesday released a counter-report on security failures at the Capitol, which they said "the Democrat-led investigation has thus far ignored."
Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rodney Davis, R-Ill., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., and Troy Nehls, R-Texas, largely blamed bureaucratic mismanagement and "political pressures" from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., exerted on the House Sergeant at Arms that left U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) unprepared for the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
"When Speaker Pelosi made the unprecedented decision to reject Jim Banks and Jim Jordan from sitting on the January 6 Select Committee — we knew she intended to play politics instead of addressing the massive security failures that lead to that day," the lawmakers said in a statement"
We said then that we would investigate and get to the bottom of why the Capitol was left so unprepared that day, and what needs to be done to make sure our security apparatus is never left so unprepared again," they added. "Unsurprisingly, the Select Committee appears to have spent almost no time on this issue. We release the following report to answer these questions, and to lay groundwork for security reforms as we prepare to lead a safer and more secure Campus in the 118th Congress and beyond."
The GOP report blames "leadership and law enforcement failures" for making the Capitol vulnerable. It said changes to USCP intelligence protocols in the lead-up to Jan. 6 "caused confusion and rendered a key USCP component ineffective" during the mob violence.
Republicans accused former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving of being "compromised by politics," coordinating closely with Pelosi and her staff but leaving GOP lawmakers out of discussions about security. The report said Democratic leaders were concerned over the "optics" of deploying the National Guard in response to the riot, given the Black Lives Matter riots that took place in the summer of 2020. The GOP lawmakers alleged these concerns prevented early deployment of the National
Guard.
"To make matters worse, systemic issues have crippled the security apparatus for years. USCP line officers were under-trained and ill-equipped to protect the Capitol complex," the report said. "One officer testified to investigators that he went into the fight on January 6, 2021 with nothing but his USCP-issued baseball cap. Even if every USCP officer had been at work that day, their numbers would still have been insufficient to hold off the rioters due to a lack of training and equipment. The USCP was set up to fail, and there have been scant signs of progress toward addressing these weaknesses."
Republicans said the evidence gathered in their report came from witnesses and USCP sources whose identities are protected for fear of retaliation. Additionally, the House investigators interviewed USCP Chief Tom Manger, House Sergeant at Arms William Walker, and the Assistant Director of the Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division Julie Farnam. The investigation also relied on public documents and news reports to supplement their findings.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ho...ounter-report-jan-6-security-failures-capitol
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It was Nancy's fault. She was worried about "optics". It's no wonder why she stacked the committee so that they would not investigate why the Capitol was left ill prepared to defend itself.
Reps. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Rodney Davis, R-Ill., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., and Troy Nehls, R-Texas, largely blamed bureaucratic mismanagement and "political pressures" from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., exerted on the House Sergeant at Arms that left U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) unprepared for the violence of the Jan. 6, 2021 riot.
"When Speaker Pelosi made the unprecedented decision to reject Jim Banks and Jim Jordan from sitting on the January 6 Select Committee — we knew she intended to play politics instead of addressing the massive security failures that lead to that day," the lawmakers said in a statement"
We said then that we would investigate and get to the bottom of why the Capitol was left so unprepared that day, and what needs to be done to make sure our security apparatus is never left so unprepared again," they added. "Unsurprisingly, the Select Committee appears to have spent almost no time on this issue. We release the following report to answer these questions, and to lay groundwork for security reforms as we prepare to lead a safer and more secure Campus in the 118th Congress and beyond."
The GOP report blames "leadership and law enforcement failures" for making the Capitol vulnerable. It said changes to USCP intelligence protocols in the lead-up to Jan. 6 "caused confusion and rendered a key USCP component ineffective" during the mob violence.
Republicans accused former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving of being "compromised by politics," coordinating closely with Pelosi and her staff but leaving GOP lawmakers out of discussions about security. The report said Democratic leaders were concerned over the "optics" of deploying the National Guard in response to the riot, given the Black Lives Matter riots that took place in the summer of 2020. The GOP lawmakers alleged these concerns prevented early deployment of the National
Guard.
"To make matters worse, systemic issues have crippled the security apparatus for years. USCP line officers were under-trained and ill-equipped to protect the Capitol complex," the report said. "One officer testified to investigators that he went into the fight on January 6, 2021 with nothing but his USCP-issued baseball cap. Even if every USCP officer had been at work that day, their numbers would still have been insufficient to hold off the rioters due to a lack of training and equipment. The USCP was set up to fail, and there have been scant signs of progress toward addressing these weaknesses."
Republicans said the evidence gathered in their report came from witnesses and USCP sources whose identities are protected for fear of retaliation. Additionally, the House investigators interviewed USCP Chief Tom Manger, House Sergeant at Arms William Walker, and the Assistant Director of the Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division Julie Farnam. The investigation also relied on public documents and news reports to supplement their findings.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/ho...ounter-report-jan-6-security-failures-capitol
====================================
It was Nancy's fault. She was worried about "optics". It's no wonder why she stacked the committee so that they would not investigate why the Capitol was left ill prepared to defend itself.