UPDATED! LIVE-STREAM VIDEO: House Subcommittee on Oversight Hearing Interviews Former Capitol Hill Police Chief Steven Sund – Outspoken Critic of Nancy Pelosi’s Failures to Secure the US Capitol on Jan. 6 – WHY ISNT THE FAKE NEWS REPORTING ON THIS?!
Not a single peep from the mainstream media on this afternoon’s House Committee Hearing titled “Oversight of United States Capitol Security: Assessing Security Failures on January 6, 2021.” NOT A SINGLE PEEP! Google it for yourself and see.
Of course the Democrat run January 6th Unselect Committee propaganda hearings were all over the fake news last year, and aired on Primetime TV, complete with hearsay and phony witnesses. Unfortunately, a GOP House run hearing with an actual CREDIBLE witness get no such treatment.
Today, former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund testified before the committee. Chief Steven Sund has been outspoken of Nancy Pelosi and her failures to secure the US Capitol that day. Can this be the reason this man has been silenced?
Today’s hearing was be held in room 1310 of the Longworth House Office Building. Rep. Barry Loudermilk heads the subcommittee.
It has been widely reported that President Trump asked for the National Guard three days in advance of January 6. But Pelosi turned him down. She refused to call in the National Guard despite numerous warnings of possible violence.
Pelosi then refused to turn over information about her culpability in the security breakdown during the Jan. 6 protest for over a year to congressional investigators.
Steven A. Sund, the Capitol Police chief on that fateful day, confirms Pelosi’s culpability along with the rest of the Democratic leadership. Sund reported that Pelosi utilized him as a scapegoat and forced him to step down as Police Chief. We all know now she was just trying to obfuscate her own responsibility for the attack.
Here is the live-stream video:
Here is a transcript of Sund’s opening statement:
“Good Afternoon Chairman Loudermilk, Ranking Member Torres, and members of the subcommittee!
It is hard to believe that it’s been almost three years since January 6th, and we are still having congressional hearings to identify what contributed to that tragic day. To date there have been four congressional reports, along with several Inspector General and Government Accountability Office reports, and they continue to support what many of us have suspected from the very beginning: January 6th was an intelligence failure!
We rely on accurate intelligence to help us develop effective security and operational plans. Accurate intelligence is an essential factor in the decision-making process of the Capitol Police, the Capitol Police Board, and the Oversight Committees. We now know that significant intelligence existed that individuals were plotting to storm the Capitol Building, target lawmakers, and discussing shooting my officers. Yet no Intel agencies – or units – sounded the alarm. We were blindsided! Intelligence failed operations!
The January 6th attack at the Capitol was preventable. If the intelligence had been accurately reported, and the FBI and DHS had followed their policies and established practices, I wouldn’t be sitting here today. It was a failure to connect the dots on 9/11, and again on January 6. I’m concerned if we do not identify and correct these issues, we may fail again in the future.
I did everything I could to protect and defend the US Capitol, and the members of Congress, prior to and on January 6. On January 3rd I requested the assistance of the National Guard to support our perimeter and was denied by the two Sergeant at Arms over the concern for politics and optics. Still concerned for the number of personnel I had on my perimeter, I called the MPD earlier on the morning of January 6th and asked if they could stage additional personnel closer to the Capitol on Constitution Ave.
Less than two hours later we were violently attacked on the West front of the Capitol at 12:53PM. I immediately followed up on that morning call and contacted MPD Chief Carroll at 12:55 PM and requested those resources. MPD was on the scene within minutes and were assisting my officers and holding the line and delaying the breach of the building. It took 81 agonizing minutes for the mob to fight their way through numerous police lines before they were able to breach the Capitol. The decision to reach out to MPD proved critical in safeguarding the members of Congress.
Minutes after the attack began I made my first call to House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving at 12:58PM to request approval to bring in the National Guard. “Let me run it up the chain and I will get back to you,” was his response. It would be 71 minutes before that approval would finally come. Between 12:58PM and when I finally received approval for the National Guard at 2:09 PM, I made 32 calls to coordinate support for my officers – including at least 11 frustrating calls to the Sergeant at Arms regarding my request for the National Guard! My calls to my partner law enforcement agencies resulted in hundreds of police officers from around the region, coming from even as far away as New Jersey, responding to assist.
After I received approval to call in the National Guard, I then had to beg the Pentagon officials to send us help. I was repeatedly denied assistance by the Army Lieutenant General Piatt. Citing concerns over optics of the National Guard on Capitol Hill, the DC National Guard – many of whom were standing within eyesight of the Capitol and whose motto is “Capitol Guardians” – would not arrive until almost 6:00PM, after the fighting was over and the Capitol grounds had been secured. The New Jersey State police arrived before they did!
To add insult to injury, the Inspector General for the Department of Defense considered the response quote “appropriate”. Besides the MPD, the National Guard was the next largest cadre of personnel that could be deployed to assist my officers. We desperately needed those boots on the ground.
The fact that the Chief of Police responsible for the entire legislative branch of government was repeatedly denied assistance by the Pentagon is indefensible! The fact that the experience of an experienced law enforcement official was constrained by federal law for bringing in life-saving resources for his officers is unfathomable!
This type of politicized control and oversight was and continues to be detrimental to the mission. Why bring in an experienced law enforcement officer, if you are not going to allow him to do his job?
In December 2021 Congress amended 2 USC 1970 – the law that restricted my ability to bring in federal resources. While the amendment now grants the Chief authority to call in federal resources only during an emergency, it does not grant the Chief authority to request federal resources in advance of an event, which means the request can still be denied! In other words, the law still requires the Chief to seek advance approval from the Capitol Police Board and congressional leadership. This is exactly what I faced on January 3rd! It should also be noted that the new amendment makes the Chief’s emergency authorization, revocable.
I’m extremely proud and appreciative of the capitol police officers, the Metro Police Department, and the other law enforcement agencies that came to our assistance despite bureaucratic issues on the hill, and a no show by the military. It was law enforcement that saved the day, and not a single member of Congress was injured thanks to the assisting law enforcement. Men and women of the capitol police did not fail in their mission!
In conclusion, I ask that this committee address the institutional failures that contributed to January 6th. I also implore the committee to have an independent entity investigate the complaints and allegations of retaliation against Intel whistleblowers following January 6th and to review any of the personnel actions, to include disciplinary actions that occurred following January 6th, to ensure they were properly investigated and not subject to any inappropriate actions, coercion, influences, or predetermined outcomes.
Thank you for your time, and I look forward to your questions.”
-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund
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