Emails and text messages reportedly show that Nancy Pelosi’s staff was involved in security planning for the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, and that their actions may have contributed to the failure of the security measures in place on that day, according to Just the News.
A new report produced by five House Republicans—Reps. Rodney Davis (IL), Jim Banks (IN), Troy Nehls (TX), Jim Jordan (OH), and Kelly Armstrong (ND)—raises questions about whether the riot could have been prevented and that it may lead to calls for Pelosi to testify about the events.
According to the report, Pelosi’s staff had direct communication with officials who were responsible for security planning and edited some of the security plans and notifications before the riot.
“Our report exposes the partisanship, incompetence and indifference that led to the disaster on January 6 and it the leading role Speaker Pelosi and her office played in the security failure at the Capitol,” Rep. Banks said. “Unlike the sham January 6th Committee, House Republicans produced a useful report that will keep out Capitol and USCP officers safe with no subpoena power and no budget.”
Capitol Police apparently received detailed intelligence warnings about the possibility of violence and the leadership of the Capitol Police failed to adjust security plans accordingly, while the political leadership in Congress refused to provide additional resources to secure the building.
“Prior to that day, the U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) had obtained sufficient information from an array of channels to anticipate and prepare for the violence that occurred,” the report stated.
Pelosi also apparently forced the House Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, to resign in the aftermath of the riot and a staffer in the House Sergeant at Arms office accused Pelosi and other Democratic leaders of making the Sergeant at Arms and the Capitol Police Chief the “fall guys” in order to cover up their own failure to provide adequate security resources.
“Then-House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving—who served on the Capitol Police Board by virtue of his position—succumbed to political pressures from the Office of Speaker Pelosi and House Democrat leadership leading up to January 6, 2021,” the report says. “He coordinated closely with the Speaker and her staff and left Republicans out of important discussions related to security.”
The report does not shy away from condemning the actions of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. It describes their behavior as “criminal” and notes that they assaulted police officers, broke into the Capitol building, damaged property, and disrupted the certification of states’ presidential and vice presidential electors at the Joint Session of Congress.
Nevertheless, the report concludes: “Leadership and law enforcement failures within the U.S. Capitol left the complex vulnerable on January 6, 2021. The Democrat-led investigation in the House of Representatives, however, has disregarded those institutional failings that exposed the Capitol to violence that day.”
