There was quite a bit of finger pointing Tuesday as former security officials testified before Congress about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund — who said he regrets resigning in the riot's aftermath — testified that he requested assistance from National Guard troops two days before the attack, but was shot down by former House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving because of concerns about "optics." Irving, though, said Sund never made that request and suggested he would have ensured the National Guard's presence if he had.
The pair also offered conflicting stories from the day of the attack. Sund said he called Irving early on to request more help, but Irving says he has no memory of the call, even after reviewing his phone records.
They also disagree about what happened on the 6th. They’re both doubling down on their statements @byrdinator tweeted here. https://t.co/b7C3uU4gIh
Sund says he has no memory of a 1:09pm phone call. Looks like the committee will request phone records.
— Paul McLeod (@pdmcleod) February 23, 2021
Sund also alleged a lack of action on the part of the Pentagon, testifying that he waited hours for the department to authorize National Guard assistance during the assault. Read more at Politico. Tim O'Donnell
NEW: There are some disastrous aspects of what went wrong with security on Jan. 6, but it all seemed to culminate in this 2:28 p.m. conference call, when the Pentagon heard pleas for help — and didn't respond for hours.
Per Sund:https://t.co/qVC47aX9D4 pic.twitter.com/YRnbiotXwt
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) February 23, 2021
Luke Mogelson, a veteran war correspondent and contributing writer for The New Yorker, captured what appears to be the "clearest" footage yet of the deadly riot at the United States Capitol earlier this month.
Mogelson attended (in a journalistic capacity) President Trump's rally on Jan. 6, which preceded the pro-Trump mob's march to and breach of the Capitol. He followed the rioters into the building and filmed a group that entered the empty Senate chamber. They began taking photos of documents in the room as part of a self-declared "information operation." One man said he was attempting to find something that he could "use against these scumbags," while another said he thought Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) "would want us to do this."
This video from @NewYorker is incredible.
A man rifles through confidential Senate documents and says, “I think @tedcruz would want us to do this.” pic.twitter.com/GowauKXpaq
— Sawyer Hackett (@SawyerHackett) January 17, 2021
In a later scene, Mogelson witnessed Jake Angeli, otherwise known as Q Shaman, sitting in Vice President Mike Pence's chair, as a lone Capitol Police officer tried unsuccessfully to get him to move. He also gathered footage from outside the Capitol, including a large crowd aggressively forcing its way into the building, as well as a man telling people around him to "start making a list, put all those names down" and "start hunting them down one by one."
The New Yorker notes that although the footage was "not originally intended for publication, it documents a historic event and serves as a visceral complement to Mogelson's probing, illuminating" written feature. Read the full report here and watch the complete footage here. Tim O'Donnell