Lawmakers investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection are zeroing in on an opaque trio of officials now in charge of Congress’ security after that group’s failures during the riot exacerbated the violence.
Blunt said the board is “designed not to function at all in a crisis” like the one he and his fellow lawmakers experienced firsthand on Jan. 6. Yet the further in the rearview the riot gets, the trickier it may be for Blunt to keep sustained pressure on congressional leaders to remake the 138-year-old board, which gives those same leaders outsized control over security matters.
Their challenges reaching each other crystallized in a still-lingering dispute over the timing of their phone calls and whether the concentration of power in the three board members contributed to the delay in getting support for a Capitol under attack. Sund has since said he regrets resigning. Blunt, who recently announced he is leaving Congress after 2022, added that he has yet to figure out whether the Senate majority leader and the House speaker, who each appoint one of the police board members, want to maintain the current setup.
Senate Homeland Security Chair Gary Peters said that while he and his GOP counterparts have “found a number of areas where there is that kind of agreement,” he didn't want to telegraph specific recommendations while the committees are still conducting their probe. “[W]e write today to express frustration with your unwillingness to release information to the public or answer media questions regarding the events of January 6th,” Reps. Tim Ryan and Jaime Herrera Beutler wrote in a letter to the board. “Restoring security at our nation’s Capital in a sustainable manner therefore requires more than just increased equipment and personnel; it means publicly acknowledging the critical deficiencies that existed.
Oh so now its the cops fault that 1000 idiots decided to do what the orange guy said and attack the Capitol.
lauferlaw Good