I found this article interesting, first interview of the outgoing head of Capitol Police. If what he says is accurate, it shows that the Capitol PD was undermined by those in charge, both in Congress and DoD.
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Thanks, but I can’t read it due to pay wall.
Christ, Bezos, everyone else uses ad dollars. Float the paper if you have to if it’s doing important work.
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Honestly that’s what they should get.
They came in waving confederate flags. Confederates are very clearly enemies of the United States of America.
We already had a war about this and it turns out shooting confederates is the moral and right thing to do.
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Sorry, I forgot I paid for a subscription. Used some of Donald’s stimulus money to pay for reporters to keep him in check 
WashPo - Capitol PD.pdf (205.6 KB)
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Thanks for the PDF!
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I’ll just put on my contrarian hat and say I still don’t see this as being a deeply plotted top-down incident, because Occam’s Razor says with the ease that they broached the building, if someone had wanted them to actually, you know, DO something (kill / take hostages, etc) it’s clear it could’ve and would’ve been done - there was no meaningful defense against a serious tactical squad.
Yes, it was still insurrection, but it was highly decentralized - “rev them up and turn them loose” - which (conveniently!) requires a lot less coordination and obviously gives almost everyone involved from a rhetoric side “plausible deniability.” Hell, I bet Marsha Blackburn, naive Grandma MAGAt that she is, really did have no idea until it happened that her constituents were capable of that …
I’m still waiting for more smoking guns, though. DoD, National Guard, FBI all still have a lot left to say in front of Congress …
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It’s pretty well documented that:
- The Trumpsurrectionists had been planning this for weeks, openly;
- There was communication between the WH, GOP legislators, and the Trumpists before and during the invasion of the Capitol;
- The Pentagon obstructed use of NG to shore up defense of the Capitol before and during the coup attempt.
Was every single Capitol Police officer involved? Obviously not, as some defended Congress bravely and some took selfless action to protect legislators. But to say that is evidence there wasn’t a widespread plot is to ignore the rest of the evidence.
Secondly, it’s becoming clearer that, within the chaotic and clueless crowd there was a smaller group with a plan and specific goals and objectives to cause harm to congressional leadership. They came disturbingly close to succeeding (one minute, to be precise), but that can be chalked up to a more effective defense from those Capitol Police who weren’t complicit and also the chaos of the crowd the more focused coup-ers used to cover their attack. That chaos was a double-edged sword; it helped to hide their true intent but also impeded their progress.
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I haven’t seen much evidence of #2 there, seems pretty big if true, can you point me to that?
Giuliani was standing right next to 45 in the Trumpsurrection Party, on the phone with GOP congresscritters telling them to delay the session so that the mob could reach them. Meanwhile, GOP reps were not only doing that, they were live-Tweeting location updates of the key targets like Nancy Pelosi. Also, those focused operators I mentioned above skipped past several target’s public offices and went straight to unmarked offices in the building where their colleagues know they often work, but locations that are not public knowledge. They were clearly given directions by either another member of Congress or staff.
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Repost of a Propublica article. Please note where the leader of the Oath Keepers was seen in constant communication with his militia.
Keep in mind that cell reception would most certainly be down for most people. If you’ve ever been downtown DC for a protest you’d know how quickly your phone becomes useless.
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I don’t doubt there were bottoms-up coup plotters there, but again, Occam’s razor: if you were Trump, and wanted Pence hung, Pelosi killed, ballots burned … whatever, name it - and you had weeks to prepare, millions of dollars, and the legal authority to instill a whole lot of security holes to exploit - don’t you think you would’ve succeeded?
So you need to ask yourself: why did this fail, if the Oath Keepers and a bunch of 3% ers were all in on this weeks in advance? And, sorry, saying “quick thinking Capitol Police heroes” ain’t it.
It’s terrorism. The thought of these things happening was the point.
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You are aware you’re talking about Donald J Trump, right? That paragon of operational excellence and effectiveness? Moreover, acting at least partly through Rudy “Four Seasons Landscaping” Giuliani.
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Yeah, this is more or less exactly what I’m arguing - this was stochastic terrorism, and with no real aim other than “chaos is a ladder.”
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Having read that, it does give the impression that Sund (head of Capitol Police) resigned honourably and that Irving (Sergeant at Arms and responsible for getting the NG standing by on alert) has some serious questions to answer.
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Oh, there was a goal, alright.
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But you’re also accusing a bunch of people in the House and Senate, and presumably the national security apparatus - sorry, they’re not all idiots as much as we love to lay it down on Rudy and Trump.
Remember, this is the guy who wanted columns of tanks and missiles at the 4th of July celebration.
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