A Senate report on the events at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in which protesters broke into the building and then vandalized some parts of it blames the deaths of three police officers on the day’s mayhem.
Even though one of the officers died of natural causes and the other two committed suicide.
The Washington Examiner reported on the newly released bipartisan assessment that “contends” that a total of seven people “lost their lives” as a result of the siege.
Three other members of the public died of natural health issues during the day’s events, and one woman, unarmed, was shot and killed by a police officer whose name has been concealed by federal authorities.
The investigation also concluded there were security breakdowns in all components of the protection assembled for the Capitol: the police, intelligence agencies and the National Guard.
Regarding the deaths, the 99-page “Examining the U.S. Capitol Attack: A Review of the Security, Planning, and Response Failures on January 6,” said Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, 42, died after he was attacked with bear spray.
However, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, led by Francisco Diaz, told the Washington Examiner in April that Sicknick died of “acute brainstem and cerebellar infarcts due to acute basilar artery thrombosis” (a stroke), and the “manner of death” was “natural.”
Then Metropolitan Police officer Jeffrey Smith and Capitol Police officer Howard Liebengood both committed suicide.
The report said the “rioters” were trying “to disrupt the Joint Session of Congress” when they “broke into the Capitol building, vandalized and stole property, and ransacked offices. They attacked members of law enforcement and threatened the safety and lives of our nation’s elected leaders. Tragically, seven individuals, including three law enforcement officers, ultimately lost their lives.”
Hundreds of individuals have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol events.
The report looked at the obvious “intelligence and security failures leading up to and on January 6 that allowed for the breach of the Capitol.”
The members of Congress wrote “these breakdowns ranged from federal intelligence agencies failing to warn of a potential for violence to a lack of planning and preparation by USCP and law enforcement leadership.”
“Despite online calls for violence at the Capitol, neither the FBI nor DHS issued a threat assessment or intelligence bulletin warning law enforcement entities in the National Capital Region of the potential for violence. FBI and DHS officials stressed the difficulty in discerning constitutionally protected free speech versus actionable, credible threats of violence,” the report said.
It now has been revealed that the Capitol Police agency’s Intelligence and Interagency Coordination Division “was aware of the potential for violence” and had heard from sources on those threats.
But the agency neglected to include those details in “its internal assessments.”
Federal authorities said they have arrested hundreds of people so far, including 130 accused of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.
Meanwhile, the treatment handed out to the Capitol protesters, as compared to those who rioted in dozens of American cities over the course of 2020, leaving behind billions of dollars in damages, is getting attention.
According to the Fox report, multiple Republicans senators have joined to write a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“During the spring and summer of 2020, individuals used peaceful protests across the country to engage in rioting and other crimes that resulted in loss of life, injuries to law enforcement officers, and significant property damage,” the senators, led by Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and others, said. “A federal court house in Portland, Oregon, has been effectively under siege for months. Property destruction stemming from the 2020 social justice protests throughout the country will reportedly result in at least $1 billion to $2 billion in paid insurance claims.”
However, they noted that while the Department of Justice charged 510 with the Capitol events and has a webpage listing them, there’s no such compilation for those arrested for the 2020 riots.
The Republican senators contend the government is handing “harsher treatment” to one set of offenders as compared to a second set.
The senators said, “Violence, property damage, and vandalism of any kind should not be tolerated and individuals that break the law should be prosecuted.”
But they said the “potential unequal administration of justice” causes concern.
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