Leading a congressional hearing into the Jan. 6 Capitol riot response, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan called the incident “a complete failure of leadership” by Capitol police.

“I, for one, am at a loss to understand how your intelligence report — and then later as the mob walked 16 blocks, growing in size and aggressive demeanor — failed to impact the Capitol police force security posture,” Ryan, D-Howland, said to Yogananda Pittman, the acting Capitol police chief.

Ryan serves as chairman of the House Appropriations’ Legislative Branch Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the Capitol police. The subcommittee is investigating the Capitol police’s response to the riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, a Republican.

Testifying Thursday were Pittman and Timothy Blodgett, acting U.S. House sergeant-at-arms. Their predecessors resigned as a result of the mishandling of the riot.

At the start of the hearing, Ryan said: “I want to emphasize at the outset that the hearing is not a gotcha exercise. None of us at this hearing can forget the events of Jan. 6. But how we respond will determine how we collectively learn from the trials of that day.”

Pittman said her department “was not ignorant of intelligence indicating an attack of the size and scale we encountered on the 6th. There was no intelligence.”

‘MOB MENTALITY’

She said the Capitol police weren’t prepared for thousands of Americans “who took on a mob mentality.”

In excess of 10,000 protesters were near the Capitol with about 800 coming into the building, Pittman said.

She added 35 Capitol officers are under investigation as a result of the response to the riot and six have been suspended.

“We acknowledge that there are a lot of things that should have been done differently, but this is an opportunity for us to make change and were making that happen,” Pittman said.

Speaking to reporters after the hearing, Ryan said most of the investigations “seem to be around some social media stuff. It’s an open case. It seems like nothing too dramatic. It seems like some of the officers stepping over the line as far as social media.”

Ryan said an intelligence report on Jan. 3 stated Congress was a target of pro-Trump supporters during the Jan. 6 riot.

“But even putting the Capitol police intelligence assessment aside, how could the security planning, policies and procedures apparently be so lacking and ill-prepared?” he said.

Thousands of pro-Trump supporters came to the Capitol on Jan. 6 to protest Congress’ count of the Electoral College vote that affirmed Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

“This event was widely promoted on social media weeks in advance and your own report specifically shows the department was monitoring these posts,” Ryan said to Pittman. “There were numerous groups with a history of violence known to be planning to attend and these groups were actively discussing their plans on social media.”

NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE

Pittman was assistant chief of the Capitol police’s protective and intelligence operations before she was promoted Jan. 8 to replace Steven Sund as chief. The Capitol police union recently gave her and six other top department officials a “no-confidence” vote.

Ryan stopped short of calling for her resignation, but said: “There’s some real questions about the decisions that were made. She was there that day.”

Capitol police will maintain high security based on credible threats during Biden’s State of the Union address, Pittman said. The date of that address hasn’t been released.

She added that “members of the militia groups” at the Jan. 6 riot have said “they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many members as possible” during the State of the Union.

Ryan said: “As we move forward, we do not want to fall into the trap of preparing to fight the last war. We must be prepared to ensure the next one never happens and if we ignore the mistakes of the past, the Capitol campus will continue to be vulnerable to unknown and unexpected threats.”

dskolnick@tribtoday.com