Senate holds first public hearing on Capitol riot

The Senate hearing on the Capitol riot has wrapped. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Rules Committee, outlined several things she said were made “very clear” to her as a result of today’s hearing.

These are the points she highlighted:

Klobuchar called today’s hearing “very constructive” and said the Senate plans to have additional hearings next week to dig deeper on the events of Jan. 6. Today’s hearing was held by both the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and Senate Rules committees.

The former US Capitol Police Chief says he only learned this week about a bombshell FBI memo that was sent one day before the insurrection with an explicit warning about potential violence.

The much-discussed “Norfolk memo,” named for the FBI office where it originated, has been a key point of contention at a Senate hearing Tuesday with the top officials who were responsible for security at the Capitol that day. 

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said the Norfolk memo reached his department before the attack but he and other leaders did not see it.  

Interestingly, Sund said Tuesday that he only learned about it this week, telling lawmakers, “this is a report that I am just learning about within the last, they informed me yesterday of the report. “ 

The FBI memo was first made public by the Washington Post on Jan. 12. The story received national attention because it was the first indication of clear warnings of an attack on the Capitol. It is unclear why it took six weeks for Sund to learn about that memo, even after the press coverage.

A top Capitol security official on Tuesday debunked claims by some Republicans that Democratic lawmakers delayed the deployment of the National Guard during the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund previously said it took one hour for then-House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving to approve his request for National Guard troops. Sund claimed Irving told him he needed to “run it up the chain of command,” which would include elected congressional leaders from both parties.

On Tuesday, Irving disputed this timeline and claimed there was no delay. 

Sund’s previous comments led some top House Republicans to accuse House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, of slowing down the National Guard response during the attack.

They sent a letter to Pelosi last week, asking her to explain any involvement and accusing her office of “obstruction.” 

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican who promoted former President Trump’s lies about voter fraud, brought up this angle at the Senate hearing Tuesday. He asked Irving if any politicians delayed in the desperate requests for national guard troops while the Capitol was being stormed on Jan. 6. 

“You weren’t waiting any point from congressional leadership? … You weren’t waiting for them at any point, there was no delay in getting national guard requests?” Hawley asked. 

“No, absolutely not,” Irving said. 

This debunks comments from Rep. Jim Jordan, a top Republican from Ohio, who wrote the letter to Pelosi. Last week, he tweeted about the slow deployment of troops, saying, “During the attack, Capitol Police made the request again. It took over an hour to get approval from Pelosi’s team!”

Former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund cited “extensive costs,” “extensive training,” and the lack of need up until the insurrection when asked why more officers weren’t outfitted with riot gear that would have given officers more protection and greater ability to fight back insurrectionists.

Sund gave the answer in response to questioning from Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio.

“I would just say, obviously those officers who you say had interior posts needed it that day. So it’s not accurate to say that they didn’t need it,” Portman responded.

Sund told senators that the number of civil disturbance units in the US Capitol Police force – four groups of about 40 officers with full riot gear and another three groups of about 40 with lighter gear – had sufficed up until Jan. 6.

“I don’t know why you would have a civil disturbance unit platoon that didn’t have riot gear,” Portman said. “But you’ve just testified that that is true. That only four of them had it, is that correct?”

“That is correct,” Sund said. 

By contrast, every DC Metropolitan Police Department officer is assigned a baton, a helmet, gloves and a gas mask and officers coming out of the training academy have some basic civil disturbance training, said Richard Contee, acting chief of police for the DC Metropolitan Police Department. Not every US Capitol Police officer has that gear. 

Sund noted that he ordered helmets for his officers in September, though Covid-related manufacturing delays prevented them from arriving in time. The department distributed some helmets a couple days before the insurrection.

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Senate Rules Committee Chair Amy Klobuchar told reporters today that the Senate Rules and Homeland Security Committees would hold another joint hearing next week with Pentagon officials testifying.

“Yes, they’re coming next week. We’re having another hearing,” Klobuchar said.

Acting Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told the committees today that he was “stunned” at the Army’s hesitation to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol on Jan. 6 as the attack was unfolding. Today’s hearing is the first of what Klobuchar said would be a series of hearings examining the security failures on Jan. 6.

Klobuchar also said there was a clear structural problem with Capitol Police, where the chief had to go to the House and Senate Sergeant at Arms for approval, suggesting changes needed to be made.

“To have that structure where in a crisis he’s trying to go to them, while they’re trying to protect the members, it doesn’t really make any sense at all,” Klobuchar said. “So the structure has to be changed. It doesn’t mean have the board, you want someone to supervise, but not those day-to-day decisions, the emergency decisions.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chair of the Senate Rules committee, weighed in on when the fencing could come down around the US Capitol complex, saying it’s going to be up to leadership and based on security recommendations.

She told reporters:

The Minnesota Democrat added: “After 9/11, the National Guard was here for a number of years.”

The Senate is holding its first public hearing today on the Capitol Hill attack.

CNN’s Crime and Justice Correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has the latest from DC.

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The Senate hearing just returned from a five-minute break. Senators will continue to question law enforcement officials about what occurred on Jan. 6, the day a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.

The witnesses are:

Sen. Gary Peters revealed Tuesday that an FBI report containing “troubling” information was given to US Capitol Police headquarters on the eve of Jan. 6 but never made it to the department’s leadership, a breakdown the Michigan Democrat said is “clearly a major problem.” 

“How can you not get that vital intelligence on the eve of what’s going to be a major event?,” Peters asked.

Former US Capitol Police chief Steven Sund responded that it was “coming in as raw data,” though he acknowledged the information would have been helpful. 

“I agree that’s something we need to look at. What’s the process and how do we streamline?” he said.

Peters also pressed Sund to explain why more actions weren’t taken in light of a Jan. 3 internal Capitol Police intelligence report that stated the Capitol was the target of the January 6 protests.

Sund responded that the report prompted Capitol Police to discuss its plans with Metropolitan Police and expand its perimeter for the event, though he also said that the expansion was already underway.

Sen. Gary Peters asks the witnesses a question during the hearing.

Sen. Gary Peters asked the witnesses to explain why they believe that the Jan. 6 attack was coordinated.

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said that he believed there was “significant coordination” by the rioters to carry out the attack.

“One, these people came specifically with equipment. You’re bringing climbing gear to a demonstration. You’re bringing explosives. You’re bringing chemical spray, such as what Captain Mendoza had talked about. You’re coming prepared.”

He said that he believes the insurrectionists planted bombs nearby to draw police resources away from the Capitol.

Robert Contee, acting chief of the DC Metropolitan Police, echoed Sund’s opinion that the attack was coordinated.

“My view is from the day of the incident. I think there were hand signals that were being used by several of the insurrectionists,” he said. “There were radio communication by several individuals that were involved … I certainly believe it was coordinated.”

Former US Capitol Police chief Steven Sund testified that he could not ask for help from the National Guard as rioters stormed the Capitol without a emergency declaration from the Capitol Police Board — something that also stops him from being able to “give my men and women cold water on an excessively hot day.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar noted that written Sund’s testimony described how he could not ask for help from the National Guard without the declaration.

“Mr. Sund, your written testimony states that you had no authority to request the assistance of the National Guard without an emergency declaration of the Capitol Police Board. On what rule, regulation or authority did you base that view?” she asked.

Here’s how he responded:

“It’s just a process that is in place,” he added.

Top Capitol security officials said White supremacists were involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, asked the officials, “Would you agree that this attack involved white supremacists and extremist groups?”

All the officials who were testifying answered “yes.”

The officials are former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger, and DC Metropolitan Police Acting Chief Robert Contee.

CNN has previously reported on the presence of far-right extremists, anti-government militants, and white nationalist groups among the mob of pro-Trump rioters that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. One of the rioters went viral for his “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt that referenced the Nazi-era concentration camp. 

In recent weeks, some right-wing figures have downplayed or denied the role of racist groups in the attack. For instance, Fox News host Tucker Carlson said on his show Monday night, “There is no evidence that white supremacists were responsible for what happened on January 6. That’s a lie.”

Former US Capitol police chief Steven Sund testifies on Tuesday.

Former US Capitol police chief Steven Sund pushed back on the suggestion that USCP was not prepared for the events of January 6.

“A clear lack of accurate and complete intelligence across several federal agencies contributed to this event and not poor planning by the United States Capitol Police,” Sund said today during a Senate hearing on the Capitol attack.

He continued: “Based on the intelligence that we received, we planned for increased level of violence at the Capitol and that some participants may be armed, but none of the intelligence that we received predicted what actually occurred.”

“We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence, what we got was a military-style coordinated assault on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol building,” Sund said.

Sund noted that because of a lack of intelligence, the police were “outnumbered” by the mob. He thanked and praised the work of his colleagues on that day.

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Steven Sund is sworn in on Tuesday.

Former chief of the US Capitol Police, Steven Sund, called the rioters “criminals” and said they “came prepared for war” during the Jan. 6 attack.

In his prepared opening statement during a Senate hearing on the Capitol riots, Sund said that the events of Jan. 6 were “the worst attack on law enforcement” that he has seen during his nearly 30 year career.

Sund said that he witnessed the rioters beating officers with “fists, pipes, sticks, bats, metal barricades, and flag poles.”

“These criminals came prepared for war,” he said. “They came with their own radio system to coordinate the attack, as well as climbing gear and other equipment to defeat the Capitol’s security features,” he continued.

“I’m sickened by what I witnessed that day,” Sund said in his opening testimony.

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The acting chief of the DC police department planned to tell lawmakers today that the Pentagon was “reluctant to send the DC national guard to the Capitol” during the Jan. 6 insurrection. 

In prepared testimony, Acting Chief Robert Contee III described a phone call shortly after the Capitol was breached by pro-Trump rioters, and how Pentagon officials were apparently unable or unwilling to quickly send in National Guard troops. 

“I was stunned at the response from Department of the Army, which was reluctant to send the DC National Guard to the Capitol,” Contee said in his prepared remarks.

“While I certainly understand the importance of both planning and public perception – the factors cited by the staff on the call – these issues become secondary when you are watching your employees, vastly outnumbered by a mob, being physically assaulted.” 

He continued: “I was able to quickly deploy (DC police) and issue directives to them while they were in the field, and I was honestly shocked that the National Guard could not – or would not – do the same.”

Captain Carneysha Mendoza, US Capitol Police, told Senate committees that after police cleared the rotunda of the building, officers had to physically hold the door to the Capitol closed as rioters continued to try to get into the building.

She continued: “Officers begged me for relief as they were unsure how long they could physically hold the door closed with the crowd continually banging on the outside of the door, attempting to gain reentry. Eventually officers were able to secure the door with furniture and other objects.”

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Captain Carneysha Mendoza of the US Capitol Police was invited to speak to testify before the Senate today.

Mendoza has been a member of the Capitol Police for almost 19 years, with 13 years of leadership experience, according to Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who introduced her.

Prior to joining the Capitol Police, Mendoza served as an active duty soldier in the United States Army, and she has received various awards for her work, including her work on recovery efforts during the Pentagon attack on 9/11, Klobuchar added.

Born and raised in Missouri, Mendoza has a Bachelor of Science degree in criminal justice administration from Park University. She has two children.

On Jan. 6, during the attack, “she rushed to the Capitol when she heard that her fellow officers needed immediate help and assumed command in the Rotunda as they fought to push back the rioters and drive them out of the building,” Klobuchar said.

Capitol Police Captain Carneysha Mendoza said she suffered chemical burns while she defended the US Capitol on Jan. 6 — wounds that have still not healed, nearly seven weeks later.

Mendoza said rioters deployed a military-grade gas as they stormed the building.

She continued: “Officers received a lot of gas exposure, which is a lot worse inside the building versus outside, because there’s nowhere for it to go. I received chemical burns to my face that still have not healed to this day.”

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Rioters clash with police at the US Capitol on January 6.

A top theme quickly emerging from the prepared testimonies of former USCP Chief Steven Sund, former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, and former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger: criticism of intelligence before the riot.

They were prepared for a protest but didn’t know they needed to prepare for a battle. And they are emphasizing the difference.

Senate Homeland Security Chair Gary Peters.

The chairs for the two committees overseeing the hearing on the insurrection at the Capitol laid out their intentions for the hearing, both saying they both hope to take action quickly to prevent future attacks on the Capitol.

Senate Homeland Security Chair Gary Peters and Senate Rules Chair Amy Klobuchar spoke to reporters ahead of the meeting with congressional security personnel, and both expressed support for a 9/11-style commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack while also emphasizing the importance of today’s joint hearing.

“I’m in favor of that,” Klobuchar said of a 9/11-style commission. “But this will allow us to get answers right away because we need answers right away in order to make decisions going forward.”

“What the commission is doing is additive,” Peters said. “Actions can be taken from what we’re doing here. Some actions need to be taken fairly quickly, we can take those quick actions, and others will take more time.”