US Senate to Examine January 6 Capitol Security Failures

By Polityk | 23/02/2021 | Повідомлення, Політика

Two U.S. Senate committees are holding a hearing Tuesday examining the January 6 attack on the U.S. capitol with a focus on security and the response of law enforcement. Scheduled to testify before the Homeland Security Committee and Governmental Affairs Committee are the former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger and former House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving, as well as former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and Metropolitan Police Department acting Chief Robert Contee. For Stenger and Irving, their testimony will be their first public comments since they resigned just after the attack by a pro-Trump mob.In this image from video, Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger reads the proclamation during the impeachment trial against President Donald Trump in the Senate at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 29, 2020.Senator Amy Klobuchar told the Associated Press that lawmakers would be focused on how security agencies shared information ahead of the attack, the timing of the deployment of National Guard troops to assist overwhelmed Capitol Police officers and whether the command structure of the entities responsible for Capitol security contributed to security failures. Klobuchar also said the panels would hold at least one more hearing as part of their investigation that would examine the responses of the Defense Department, Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Capitol attack came as lawmakers inside were meeting to certify President Joe Biden’s electoral win over former President Donald Trump in the November election.  Rioters smashed windows and doors and clashed with officers, leaving dozens of police injured. Members of Congress fled their chambers and had to return hours later to finish the vote certification. The violence left five people dead, including one Capital Police officer. In the weeks after the attack, the House of Representatives impeached Trump on charges he incited insurrection. The Senate later acquitted Trump.