“They want to blow up the Capitol.”
In testimony before the House subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman said extremist groups could be planning another high-profile attack on America’s democracy.
“We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6th have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible with a direct nexus to the State of the Union.”
Pittman, who was elevated to acting Capitol Police Chief just days after five people were killed during an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, told lawmakers that extremists are interested in sending “a symbolic message to the nation.”
House members pressed Pittman on her agency’s handling of the January 6th attack. Pittman conceded, “On January 6th, our incident command protocols were not adhered to as they should have.” Yet, she also insisted that the Capitol Police were blindsided by the scale of the violence (watch above).
“The department was not ignorant of intelligence indicating an attack of the size and scale we encountered on the 6th,” she said. “There was no such intelligence. Although we knew the likelihood for violence by extremists, no credible threat indicated that tens of thousands would attack the U.S. Capitol, nor did the intelligence received from the FBI, or any other law enforcement partner indicate such a threat.”
Pittman added that Capitol Police will maintain an “enhanced and robust security posture” until the threat subsides, but she also told lawmakers that the controversial fencing encircling the Capitol would be removed eventually. “We have no intention of keeping the National Guard soldiers or that fencing any longer than what is actually needed,” she said.
Presidents do not typically deliver a State of the Union address in their first year, but the Biden administration is reportedly mulling a speech in front of a joint session of Congress later this year, according to CNN.