What is the Pentagon & Capitol Police’s involvement in the terrorist attack?

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Yesterday, I wrote this story: “Why weren’t there mass arrests of the terrorists who rioted their way into the Capitol?” Many of you didn’t even read the post and just yelled “because they were white!” And I get that. Of course race played such a massive role in all of this – the terrorist attack on the Capitol was about white supremacy, white aggrievement and white privilege at a very fundamental level. But! There was a ton of other sh-t going on too, and all of it was terrible. We should not discount the anecdotal reports of Proud Boys and neo-Nazis infiltrating police departments, including Capitol Police. We should also not discount the fact that Donald Trump and his White House and Pentagon minions consciously made a choice to leave Capitol Police unsupported for hours during the siege, and that they had made arrangements for weeks, planning out the terrorist attack on the Capitol.

The Pentagon placed tight limits on the D.C. National Guard ahead of pro-Trump protests this week, trying to ensure the use of military force remained constrained, as the Guard carried out a narrow, unarmed mission requested by the city’s mayor to help handle traffic ahead of planned protests. In memos issued Monday and Tuesday in response to a request from the D.C. mayor, the Pentagon prohibited the District’s guardsmen from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protesters unless necessary for self-defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement, or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary’s explicit sign-off, according to officials familiar with the orders. The limits were established because the Guard hadn’t been asked to assist with crowd or riot control.

The D.C. Guard was also told it would be allowed to deploy a quick-reaction force only as a measure of last resort, the officials said. Then the mission abruptly changed — and the Pentagon is now facing criticism from governors and local officials who say it moved too slowly to send National Guard troops to respond, a charge that its leaders denied Thursday.

The Capitol Police, the law enforcement force that reports to Congress and protects the House and Senate, hadn’t requested help from the Guard ahead of Wednesday’s events. But early Wednesday afternoon, its chief made an urgent plea for backup from 200 troops during a call with top Pentagon and city officials, according to officials familiar with the call.

On the call, Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund was asked whether he wanted help from the National Guard. “There was a pause,” one of the D.C. officials said. And Sund said yes. “Then there was another pause, and an official from the [office of the] secretary of the Army said that wasn’t going to be possible.”

[From WaPo]

I know that this is insanely complicated and it will likely take months to uncover exactly what went down in the planning of the terrorist attack and how the attack unfolded in real time, especially since a lot of people, at a lot of different levels, f–ked up completely. The Pentagon was clearly given the order to leave Capitol Police unsupported on January 6th, even as it was clear that white supremacist terrorists would be descending on Washington and incited by Donald Trump. It’s also clear that Capitol Police were willfully unprepared. So unprepared, it had to be a conscious choice by leadership.

Speaking of, Speaker Pelosi was, as they say, incandescent with rage at the structural failures in and around the Capitol siege. In short order yesterday, she demanded and received the resignation of the Sergeant at Arms AND the chief of the Capitol Police, Steven Sund. I assume there will be more resignations and firings in the days to come, as there should be. Meanwhile, Capitol Police – as an organization – still haven’t done a press conference.

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81 Responses to “What is the Pentagon & Capitol Police’s involvement in the terrorist attack?”

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  1. Alarmjaguar says:

    This is what terrifies me

  2. Sierra says:

    Yes, without a doubt.

  3. Al says:

    Thank God Trump is allergic to responsibility or else he would have directly given the orders and maybe the coo-coo coup would have succeeded. As it was, relying on bad people to be as evil as he is didn’t work out for him.
    Never change asshole, never change!

    • ce says:

      He might be allergic to responsibility, but he *knew* what was going down and peaced out to his bunker, while there were bombs planted and terrorists with guns hoping to take hostages. He is not only complicit, but responsible! We’re lucky more people didn’t die, but the aim was to kill a lot of people in Congress and frankly that is something Drumpf should be charged with.

      • H says:

        Yes, you don’t bring zip ties to a “protest.” They were looking for Mike Pence b/c Trump sent them there. I hate Pence, but I don’t want the man dead. Although if that had happened, maybe a good portion of Republicans would be impeaching 45 today.

    • Lily says:

      *Coup Klux Klan

  4. Noodle says:

    I read that of the 2,000 people in the force, only 500 were at work and on duty that day – on a day they KNEW would be protests. This is the “normal” staffing on any random Wednesday. In any other city or context, it would have been “all hands on deck” if they were expecting a massive, and possibly contentious and violent protest, not a normally staffed day. This specific shortage of officers on duty is on Sund.

    • C-Shell says:

      Hell. Many years ago, when LSU (notorious hooligans) was the visiting football team to Blacksburg, VA to play the Virginia Tech Hokies, ALL area police forces were on scene in riot gear (that citizens were, frankly, surprised some of them had).

      This whole tragedy is unbelievable, could have been SOOO much worse, and I believe we’re going to be very very appalled when the truth comes out.

    • Pusspants says:

      This was certainly by design and supported from higher up the chain of command. An article in The Atlantic today described it well.

      “The mob attacks on the Capitol are not so much unprecedented as they are consistent with America’s history of white backlash to racial equality and white entitlement to political, economic, and social control.“

  5. Becks1 says:

    This line is what I have been saying – ” So unprepared, it had to be a conscious choice by leadership.”

    It clearly was a conscious choice by leadership – so I’m glad the Dems are going to investigate and that there have already been some significant resignations. They never should have gotten to the steps of the Capitol building. NEVER. What if they had managed to blow up the building and wiped out almost an entire branch of government? Were all members of congress there that day? Wednesday was really bad, but it could have been so much worse and it makes me scared for the next time. And that’s where the Pentagon really messed up in my opinion. I know it was because Trump ordered it – but they were willing to stand by and let these terrorists attack an entire branch of government. That’s why Trump should be impeached and removed. and Pentagon officials should resign too.

    • H says:

      If you read this fascinating account by Colorado Congressman Crow, a former Army Ranger, it seems they were cycling the representatives in and out of the chamber because of Covid. Guy is a hero.

      https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jason-crow-capitol-attack-mob-january-6-1111073/

      • AMA1977 says:

        Thank you for sharing that. It brought tears to my eyes to think of the terror that everyone victimized by that mob felt yesterday. I read elsewhere (maybe WaPo? So much reading in the last 24 hours, I’m not sure, but it was a trustworthy source) that Amy Klobuchar had to arrange a secret password to allow police to evacuate Tammy Duckworth from her office as her means of escape were compromised due to her disability. The reckless violence and hatred is astounding. I think we will be grappling with how to deal with it for a very long time.

    • AB says:

      “What if?” indeed.

      That scenario is how Gilead was founded in “The Handmaid’s Tale”.

  6. BayTampaBay says:

    I hope THE TRUTH about all of this comes out ASAP.

  7. Lauren says:

    It certainly goes deeper than just the capitol police. This whole coup was planned in the open for weeks, don’t tell me that only the capitol police had jurisdiction on the matter. The whole system failed intentionally.

    • amurph says:

      I agree with you. I’ve read that this was openly planned online and Capitol Police knew of a potential attack. There were people there that are known to the authorities as a problem yet they are having trouble “identifying” them. These people were armed, not only with zip cuffs but weapons. I am so frustrated by the fact BLM protests were met with such violence and this group was essentially allowed free reign, including stealing information, letters, podiums, etc. ALL in front of Capitol Police.

      • Lauren says:

        There are pages on instagram with name and last names of some participants and you go on the page of the metropolitan police and it says that those same people are wanted for trespassing with no names or anything. They are slowing down the investigation on purpose.

      • Sarah says:

        Yeah, Capitol Police were giving rioters directions to Schumer’s office according to the NYT.

      • Zengirl says:

        This was exactly my thought as I was reading on this issue. Where were the INTELLIGENCE services? It doesn’t even take a lot of work to have found this out as it was planned in the open for weeks. If there were intelligence reports that were ignored, that is criminal. If there were no intelligence reports, that is criminal or negligent. This is scary as hell.

    • sassafras says:

      Let’s go into all those Pentagon firings after the election and Trump putting in his people who had no national security experience. And they’ve been pumping up the 6th for months. Trump’s been hinting out in the open because narcissists want all the credit but NO ONE TOOK HIM SERIOUSLY.

      My god. My brain doesn’t want to go into how bad this could have been.

      The American Vice President, the VP-Elect, Schumer, Pelosi… zip tied? Think about that and then
      GO CALL YOUR REPS AND DEMAND (1) IMPEACHMENT and (2) INVESTIGATIONS AND ARRESTS.

      None of this can stand, not in this Republic.

    • Ponchorella says:

      I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist. Considering that this was a planned coup/uprising, who is to say that there weren’t Russian assets that entered the building dressed as Trumpbillies and gained access to computers or planted listening devices? I hope that Pentagon heads roll as well as Capitol police. I’m not glad that an officer died, but if one had to be extinguished with a fire extinguisher, it was appropriate that he was a magat. There appeared to be many sympathizers on the force.

  8. Snuffles says:

    From everything I’m reading. All of those sudden Pentagon firings and installation of cronies was a part of this. The goal was to delay and hamstring a response. I heard that the DC National Guard was prevented from getting to their gear for hours and that’s why the mayor had to summon DC and Virginia’s National guard. Both Bowser and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan both said they were stonewalled as well before they were given permission to deploy their local guard and police forces. Bowser said she requested more military and police presence before the 6th and was told it wasn’t necessary.

    I think Trump personally tried to coordinate a coup but it seems like there were many around him that weren’t down with it and that’s why it wasn’t successful. That, and the fact that the people Trump was relying on were complete idiots.

    As angry as I am that those idiots were seemingly allowed to run amuck. I now believe the Capitol police prioritized getting the VP, Senators, Congress and their staff to safety and were forced to let those MAGAts breach the building.

    • Myra says:

      I think the national and global reactions weakened their resolve in the end. The standing of the US plummeted even further on Wednesday.

      Just imagine that there is no one left in these high-level positions to put a stop to Trump’s worst impulse. Maybe Pence grew a backbone in the end, maybe he did it because he feared for his own safety and that of his family.

      I also think they weren’t successful because they could not get to the people they were hoping to harm – Pelosi, Schumer, Pence etc.

      • windyriver says:

        It was incredibly lucky the mob apparently wasn’t well organized. I wonder if they themselves were surprised they were able to get into the Capitol building so easily. In the top photo, one guy in the back is doing a cell phone video, while a guy in the middle is busy looking at pictures on the back of his big camera, instead of what’s going on with the police officers a few feet in front of him.

        Even so, I did read they were able to get into one of the main basement secure rooms set up for Congress in the event of an emergency, so police had to move people elsewhere in the complex for safety.

      • Chicken Tetrazzini! says:

        they were too busy taking selfies and posting to their make-believe internet world. These are not America’s best and brightest, nor are many of them in any shape to be attacking or staging an insurrection. The vast majority of the “patriots” aren’t fit to serve in any military capacity… even a desk job, so that worked in our favor.

      • Myra says:

        I think the farthest they got is where that lady got shot. They don’t get anywhere beyond that and eventually a group of police blocks the door. They then consoled themselves with stealing national security documents and whatever they could carry. It seemed that there were two types of intruders there – the disorganised mob, fuelled by chaos and disorder and a well-coordinated group with tactical gears and protections. The second group, I would bet my life were there for one purpose only and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a direct line to the WH.

      • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

        CAPITAL POLICE are seen ON VIDEO *taking away the barricades and WAVING Seditionist INTO the building!*. They are SEEN JUST STANDING AND TALKING TO these same insurrections, and taking selfies WITH them. They were NOT trying to *stall* for time.

        While I don’t believe ALL were “helping”, there was a GOOD portion that did NOTHING to stop it, incl. arresting these traitors as they walked through, then left the building.

    • Thirtynine says:

      Snuffles, i thought that too. Add to that the concerns that were reported in the media last week that there would have to be a clean out of the Secret Service as too many of them were Trump loyalists, and that kind of corroborates that sense that Biden’s team were uneasy about protection in the event of an assault. The insurrection yesterday pulled together all those fragments of information we kept getting and put it all in context.

    • Chicken Tetrazzini! says:

      well, there is video of police waving the protesters through the barricade so there were definitely a lot of bad actors within the police force as well. Seven Head Christopher C Miller is the acting secretary of defense and should be investigated for treason. He’s the one who was stonewalling the guard and was recently appointed by Trump. This whole thing turns my stomach in ways I didn’t know it could be turned

    • MaryContrary says:

      How about the video of some of the terrorists carrying in zip ties to take hostages? EVERYONE should be outraged by this. Those idiots like Gaetz or Gohmert don’t realize the Pandoras box that has been opened by their actions.

      • Frida_K says:

        “Those idiots like Gaetz or Gohmert don’t realize the Pandoras box that has been opened by their actions.”

        I think that they realize. They know, and they revel in it. So do Hawley and Cruz.
        This is their fantasy come to life.

        I hope that they are charged with sedition.

      • Veronica S. says:

        I really wonder how exactly these guys think their authoritarian fantasy will play out. The states have so much power explicitly as a way of protecting against a corrupted federal government. That’s why every single state has its own National Guard. Our founders weren’t idiots: one of the major protections the United States has going for it against a fascist regime is its sheer size and state autonomy. If the federal government goes down, states like CA and NY can halt federal tax revenue payments and funnel that money into their own systems for protections while simultaneously shutting down the capital cash flow. Then you’ve got to siege fifty different states, some of which are very large and quite distant from the federal capital, so your troops are going to be split over an immense area. You’ve got armed citizens – and yes, while a higher percentage of the gun-toting ones are conservatives, the vast majority of them are not military trained, and certainly not all of them are going to hop on board with a fascist regime invading their state off the bat…and more importantly, this idea that liberals, especially minorities, are going to lay down and just die for them at the end of a gun is just that – a fantasy. Plenty of us will fight back in a life or death situation.

        And this is, of course, before we take into consideration what happens if other allies get involved, the collapse of the American economy and all that sweet, sweet money they so desperately want to control, and the global fallout from the recession and political chaos it’ll cause in the long term.

    • jwoolman says:

      Pence’s wife and adult daughter were also in the chamber. They could hear the yelling “Where’s Pence?” and attempts to break through doors. They were escorted to a safe place under those conditions. Insane.

      Trump painted a target on Pence’s back.

      By the way, Trump is apparently on the Trumpy social media site Parler where a lot of the online planning for the riot occurred.

      • H says:

        Parler needs to be shut down. I don’t give a crap about 1st Amendment rights. If you plan a coup and allow others to do so, you get shut down.

      • Christin says:

        I heard that Orange has referenced some wacko theories about the election that are in the deepest recesses of the ‘net (not readily findable). I figure his spawn and/or others search out and feed him this stuff.

      • Christin says:

        . (Duplicate post)

      • KhaoManee says:

        Trump tried to get Pence and his family killed and he still won’t do anything to get this monster out of th WH! It’s insane. I don’t feel an ounce of sympathy for Pence or his family. You reap what you sow.

    • sassafras says:

      All that plus the letter from the ten former SecDefs last weekend (which was overshadowed by yet another impeachable offense – trump’s call to Georgia). The SecDefs knew something was up. Something bad enough to get Cheney and Rumsfeld and Mattis to start getting their hands dirty again.

  9. Indywom says:

    i think all of the officers social media pages need to be looked at. I would not be surprised at how many are sympathetic to MAGA views. I am glad Biden will be in office so that this does not get swept under the rug.

  10. Evenstar says:

    I saw so many anecdotal reports and video of officers being totally bloodied and terrified during this, especially the security guards inside the building trying to hold back a mob by themselves while being totally outnumbered. This was a systemic, willful failure from the top that cost lives (including an officer’s doing his duty to protect the democratic process). Heads need to roll.

    • Christin says:

      The one who died was reportedly beaten with a fire extinguisher! They were reportedly beaten with iron pipe or rods.

      No doubt there may have been a couple of bad actors, but for the most part I think they did what they could. Especially since only one-quarter of the force were on duty that morning.

      • Evenstar says:

        There was also a video of a security guard being pressed against the wall by the mob trying to get through a door literally shaking from fear. I think MOST of these guards and officers were just trying to do their jobs and they were fed to the wolves by their superiors.

  11. Naomi says:

    Kaiser is 100% that this was a willful, purposeful choice. All police agencies have, like, A TON of people & tactics & weapons at their disposal, handily. The DC Police themselves also actively *refused* to call for back ups, (and then when they did the Pentagon stopped them). And of cousre all the video of police taking selfies, waving in the rioters… I mean, I guess I don’t understand how people are like “How did this happen? How were they so unprepared?” The answer is right in front of your face! The police were sympathetic to the white supremacist rioters! Because – surprise surprise – the police/military as an institution is white supremacist.
    In some cases, the rioters were *off-duty cops.* I mean, those images of some of the insurrectionists with insanely fancy, expensive military/para-miliatry equipment… you don’t buy that stuff from ebay. You either *are* a military/police person or are good friends with them, and they gave it to you.

    The call is coming from inside the house. The mob is coming from inside the House.

    For anyone interested in a longer thread about how closely tied the police & insurrectionists are tied: https://twitter.com/doctorow/status/1347244255962533888

    • Courtney B says:

      I agree with a good bit of this. However, you can get that equipment shockingly easily. It’s actually pretty common amongst some of these groups, militias, etc.

  12. Thirtynine says:

    I don’t see how they can defend the video of the police opening the barricades and waving the rioters in.

    • Courtney B says:

      Just to play devil’s advocate— it could be because they were so ill prepared, outnumbered, and ill equipped that they were trying to prevent a total storming of the barricades. Lessen the pressure buildup. Maybe it they got in they would all be like those idiots just roaming like they were on a tour. Some did just that. Others rushed and broke windows, doors and pushed in. It obviously didn’t work.

      • Thirtynine says:

        It was pretty clear from the video that those officers weren’t threatened or in fear of their lives when they allowed the terrorists in.

      • acon says:

        I’ve tried to find a logical reason they just opened the barricades (I can’t). Isn’t it an officer’s job to protect against criminals, even if their life is on the line?

        Plus, they opened the gates and TURNED THEIR BACKS on the crowd. Seems like you surely wouldn’t turn your back, if only for your personal safety.

  13. Heather H says:

    What worries me is that Trump has unwittingly provided the roadmaps for others to follow to actually commit a coup of the government. Trump is too stupid and uncommitted to do it but others following sooner or later may be much smarter and even more ruthless. All it takes is a charismatic intelligent person with enough evil in their veins to get all these stupid nut jobs in line to make something more organized happen. It is so frightening and I hope sanity will prevail in the years to come.

    • Emily says:

      Thank God Trump is so stupid and lazy. This could have been much worse.

      I wonder if the mob of idiots was a distraction for the more armed/military types with the zip ties among them to get to members of Congress. Basically, let the idiots keep the police busy.

      The photos of people in furs and eagle masks make what happened yesterday look less serious than it is. Media need to use more images of the men with weapons, zip ties and members of Congress cowering as a mob tries to get into the chamber. Those are truly frightening and better represent the gravity of the situation.

    • AB says:

      Very true, Heather.

      Zeynep Tufekci wrote an article about this in The Atlantic a few days after the election.

      Trump was a trial run for full fascism. The more intelligent, controlled fascist politicians have watched, learned and are waiting in the wings.

  14. vertes says:

    It’s no secret that military and police personnel are far more likely to be big gun-rights supporters than the population at large. Relatively few of them have college degrees, which generally means they’ve had less exposure to broader views than grads do. I’m sure that many of them were complicit.
    Pence? He’s just trying to walk the fine line which will keep him a potential GOP leader without completely alienating the maga-maniacs who’d be his fan base in the future. I’d bet he knew what was coming & tried to distance himself while avoiding alerting any responsible authorities to the impending danger. For the same reason, he won’t trigger a 25th amendment take down.

  15. JRenee says:

    I’m glad they will be able to do real investigations soon, without hindrance. This was absolutely preventable and those who aided should be accountable

  16. Amelie says:

    It’s pretty clear MAGA sympathizers in the Capitol Police, the CIA, and whatever branch of government that should have responded more quickly to send the National Guard willfully conspired with the rioters of the rally. Our highest branches of government were infiltrated by MAGAs. I haven’t gone looking but I’m sure there’s plenty online evidence of this and the truth will come out that there was plenty of evidence pointing to this in the weeks before the incident. The majority of our lawmakers were in the Capitol to certify the results of the election so it was an opportune moment to try to kill and take out the majority of them (and I doubt they would have hesitated to kill Trump supporters like Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, etc, they were just looking for blood and not just Democrats). However, like all things they do and like their Dear Leader, MAGAs are very unorganized, awkward, and bumbling and it didn’t seem like they had much of a plan beyond “storm the Capitol.” But it was very clearly a planned domestic terrorist attack with the cooperation of officials at highest levels of government, making a conscious choice to not let the National Guard have access to riot gear or to even have them there at the Capitol protecting our lawmakers before the insurrection. They tried to plant pipe bombs which thankfully were safely defused by experts. My guess is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be firing a lot of people or a lot of of top officials will be resigning in the coming days, as they have already.

    Even if Trump tried to run in 2024, this has completely finished his political career. However, what is scarier, is that someone younger, more intelligent, and more capable than Trump could run and that’s what terrifies me. His cult of MAGA will endure beyond his presidency and that is what is terrifying.

  17. Veronica S. says:

    There has to be involvement both in the Pentagon and at the officer level, which…I wonder how that’s going down now amongst them since an officer has died. If you watch the video of the one officer crushed up against the door, being physically attacked, goggles ripped off and face bloodied, it’s pretty terrifying. (Not that I have that much sympathy considering what they did to people last summer.) I can’t imagine all of them are happy about that. They’re used to being the ones carrying the big stick.

    • KhaoManee says:

      Yeah and they are the party of Blue Lives Matter, Law and Order, blah, blah…what a joke.

    • (TheOG) Jan90067 says:

      Why else do you think the Seditious Orange Traitor fired the heads and installed his own unqualified goons a few wks. ago. They NEEDED these people in place who would refuse the calls at that level. NYT and WaPo have been reporting that calls have been traced to and from INSIDE the WH during this.

      We are living in a Tom Clancy novel, and we don’t have a Jack Ryan to save us in the next 12 days.

  18. jwoolman says:

    The video on Twitter showing how differently the National Guard (in full riot gear) was treating the rioters outside the Capitol was …. interesting. Those white MAGAts were being treated like black people. They looked pretty surprised about it also. Will this inspire some sympathies for BLM protests? Stay tuned.

    • Evenstar says:

      I can’t say I shed any tears for yesterday’’s rioters, tbh. If you stall the democratic process and commit some light treason and then you get shoved around in response, can’t say you didn’t deserve it.

  19. Franny says:

    Business Insider is reporting that some of our allies’ security officials are considering this a failed coup attempt. One French police officer explained that the standards for cordoning a perimeter and providing other security measures in this type of situation are so universal and basic that it looks like they were deliberately sidelined.

    https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-attempted-coup-federal-law-enforcement-capitol-police-2021-1

  20. KhaoManee says:

    Have you guys seen the video Don Jr. posted of the Tumps, including Trump himself, Ivanka, and Mark Meadows watching the terrorists sack the Capitol? It’s appalling. A Capitol Police officer is now dead. Beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by Trump ‘s goons. Their own Chief of Police let this happen to his own men. Some were in on it and let these terrorists waltz right in but some were actually trying to fight these goons and now one is dead. I just still cant wrap my brain around it.

    • Veronica S. says:

      If it’s the video where he’s clearly coked out and being needy with Kimberly, that’s actually filmed before the riots went down, but it is very damning in terms of what they clearly intended to do – rile up that crowd.

  21. sassafras says:

    I know there are legitimate privacy concerns about the government’s ability to follow us online, but this week, I’m so thankful for it and I hope the NSA/ FBI uses their capabilities to their fullest extent. The terrorists were livestreaming everything. It won’t be hard to follow all the breadcrumbs back to their lairs online and gather tons of evidence. The dude with the zipties? He had a camera strapped to him. Even if he’s professional police/ military, it’s all traceable.

    Good luck, Magats. Sorry you can’t vote after you’re convicted of a felony.

    • windyriver says:

      A number of these people are known, and followed, by other organizations, also targets of the same groups. The ADL has said it recognizes members of a number of different factions present at the Capitol. Despite the fact that one rioter is wearing a shirt that says Camp Auschiwitz (see the picture of the person holding part of Pelosi’s office sign), and another a shirt with the icon standing for Six Million Was Not Enough, some groups are saying Jews and Zionists are behind what happened, with conspiracy theories too convoluted for me to even follow.

    • Veronica S. says:

      I can guarantee you none of them had the location services on their phone turned off, either. It’s how some police forces are doing back issued arrests by tracing phone GPS. Which is….terrifying in its implications for a police state, mind, but I suppose I can spare a moment to be amused at how many of these people get arrested because of that.

      • Jen says:

        They don’t need location services to be enabled, particularly at that location. Your phone still pings cell towers regardless and those towers note the ping from your phone. It’s extremely difficult to hide where you’ve been when carrying a phone at this point in time. Also, many jurisdictions can sweep for much more data than just the phone being at x location at this point. And facial recognition is advancing. Not much privacy left, particularly there, I’d imagine.

      • Veronica S. says:

        Good point. A lot of BLM/leftist protest guidelines tell you to leave your phone and other digital devices at home for exactly that reason. It kind of speaks volumes about the entitlement, privilege, and outright ignorance of these people that they literally didn’t take any of the basic precautions…but also scary to think how many will take notes and learn.

  22. Laura-Lee MacDonald says:

    I’m glad this has been brought up. My fiancé is former CAF security specialist and he looked at the Twitter feeds and said the police are letting them in because they were scared for their lives. This was top down failure that put persons on their team at tremendous risk. The video of the black officer being mobbed made him livid. I was just yelling about racism, and he was all: “Yes, and…..”

  23. Izzy says:

    At 12:01 on January 20th, President Biden needs to order a purge of Pentagon staff. Anyone hired during the Dump administration – walk them out escorted by armed guards. Then start investigating everyone else there to make sure they don’t have ties to Russia or domestic terrorist groups.

    • Courtney B says:

      It’s not that easy unless they were political hires. Then, yes. But if they’re supporters who are federal employees it’s a longer process. But there does need to be a top down review. If there are some that you can’t legally terminate they need to be sidelined and neutralized doing the most basic job possible at their pay level, far from any power or influence. And this needs to happen in every department it just DOD, DOJ and State. Just start with them.

  24. Anna says:

    Their whiteness is what gave them the access. It goes hand in hand with the underlying and larger plan to destroy the government. So it makes sense that is what people were “yelling” about.

  25. Jen says:

    @khaomanee I believe it’s “les incompetents”

  26. Jen says:

    I also remember reading sometime a
    1/5 about how there wouldn’t be CBP officers other than a limited number on call, like there had been over the summer. Military leadership openly commented they would have extremely limited presence, highlighting the forthcoming opportunity for the insurrectionists. Sorry if this was covered, I hadn’t seen it so far.

  27. Mee yo says:

    Everyone is talking about this like a 1 time thing. In his video released yesterday, he says “to my supporters, this is just the beginning “. He meant that. This was for all intents and purposes, a trial run. I don’t think SDNY will arrest him ASAP or go to trial right away. This is just the beginning!

    • Thirtynine says:

      Im concerned that it was a test run too. Watching from the outside, it looks like there were lots of silly, easily expendable people who had no real plan set in motion to see what could be done. I’d be changing up all my plans for the Inauguration if I was Biden’s team.

  28. UVM says:

    “Some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses.”

  29. drbessy says:

    and what do you think the “security” will look like then at the inauguration? i hope we don’t see a repeat. I wonder if by Dump saying he won’t be present he already knows what will transpire and is creating himself an alibi.

  30. KeepCalmandBergeron says:

    I can’t help but continually think about how bad this really could have been. Imagine if the rioters at the door of the House were organized and had weapons they were prepared to use, there was a bookshelf and a few cops guarding the doors, they would have been through in minutes if not seconds!

    If the rioters were even somewhat prepared/organized/not stupid, they easily could have overwhelmed the small force guarding those doors and taken members of our government hostage. Add in the bombs that have been found and we are looking at the destruction of the entire legislative branch of our government.

    I don’t know if people don’t want to even enter that headspace – I just haven’t seen the worst-case scenarios really discussed anywhere – but this could have been the end of our democracy and the only reason it didn’t happen was because of the disorganization of the rioters.

    My first thought watching it all unfold was that they needed to get Harris, Pelosi, Schumer, etc the heck out of there because they were going to kill them. The more that comes out, the more I think that was the idea and they just couldn;t pull it off.