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‘Congress itself is the target’: Capitol police overlooked intel and were ordered to hold back during riot, report finds

 (AP)
(AP)

An inspector general report into the US Capitol Police response to the deadly insurrection has revealed that agency officials ignored or overlooked intelligence warnings and ordered against deploying heavier crowd-control equipment against rioters.

Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton’s 104-page review following the siege on 6 January was completed in March and has not yet been released to the public. The House Committee on Administration will discuss its findings during a hearing on 15 April.

The watchdog found that department officials received warnings three days before the assault that now-former president Donald Trump’s supporters – fuelled by his false narrative of a “stolen” presidential election in an attempt to threaten and derail a joint session of Congress to certify the results – could bring violence to the Capitol.

One intelligence report from 3 January specifically mentions the “Stop the Steal” campaign – embraced by several of Mr Trump’s allies in Congress – and its proximity to “white supremacists, militia members” and other groups “who actively promote violence” and could create a “significantly dangerous situation for law enforcement” and the general public.

“Supporters of the current president see [6 January, 2021] as the last opportunity to overturn the results of the presidential election,” one intelligence analysis said, according to Mr Bolton’s report. “This sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent.”

“Congress itself is the target,” it adds.

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI’s field office in Norfolk, Virginia also signalled to law enforcement that similar groups could pose a threat in Washington DC.

But the day before the assault, police officials reported “no specific known threats related to the joint session of Congress.”

Mr Bolton pointed to dysfunction within the agency and has recommended “clear” means of “efficiently and effectively disseminating intelligence information to all of its personnel”.

The inspector general also assessed that officers with the Capitol Police Civil Disturbance Unit operated at a “decreased level of readiness” that day as a result of a lack of “adequate policies and procedures” for the unit, including sufficient equipment and training.

Officials directed officers against using less-lethal crowd-control weapons to push back against rioters.

Some riot shields “shattered upon impact” because they had been improperly stored, according to the report, and officers were stranded without other shields because they were locked on a bus during the attack.

A group of officers were “consequently required to respond to the crowd without the protection of their riot shields,” the report says.

The New York Times obtained a draft of the report, which also was previewed by CNN earlier this month.

In the wake of the attack, top security officials at the Capitol resigned, as members of Congress investigate what went wrong.

Administration Committee chair Zoe Lofgren said last month that she has been briefed on the “detailed and disturbing findings and important recommendations” in the report.

US Reps Tim Ryan and Jaime Herrera Beutler have called on the Capitol Police Board to release the report and hold regular briefings on threats to Congress and other findings.

The Department of Justice has filed dozens of charges against rioters.

Five people died during or after the event, including two rioters, a Capitol Police officer, and a rioter who was fatally shot by police. More than a dozen officers were hospitalised. Two police officers who responded to the attack died by suicide in the days after the event.

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