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Source: House Television via AP
Republicans on the House Administration Committee are demanding an investigation into the Capitol Police Board (CPB), which the lawmakers argue is in desperate need of reform.
United States Capitol Police (USCP) Inspector General Michael Bolton recently testified before the committee about the January 6 attack on the Capitol. GOP ranking member Rodney Davis (R-IL) and Reps. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) and Bryan Steil (R-WI) argue that consequential and necessary changes are needed to ensure such an event never happens again, in a letter to committee chair Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). Mr. Bolton’s report and his testimony at the recent oversight hearing made clear that the USCP needs to make important changes, such as improving its intelligence capabilities, reforming its training processes, ramping up recruitment and hiring, and beginning an internal reorganization to protective agency model rather than a traditional police force, the
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The letter, released on Monday, added that the board s structure is flawed, leading to slow reactions to crises and politically driven decision-making.
Ex-Capitol Police chief Steven Sund has said that he asked the now-former House and Senate sergeants-at-arms ahead of Jan. 6 for permission to request placing the D.C. National Guard on standby in case police needed reinforcements to help control the expected pro-Trump crowd. Sund has said both sergeants-at-arms turned down his request, with Paul Irving, the House sergeant-at-arms at the time, saying he wasn t comfortable with the optics of formally making an emergency declaration ahead of the Electoral College proceedings.
House Republicans Request Hearing With Capitol Police Board for 1st Time in 76 Years
Three House Republicans are looking to hold a series of hearings concerning the U.S. Capitol Police Board in the wake of the lapses that contributed to the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol.
In an April 29 letter (pdf) addressed to Committee on House Administration Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), Reps. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), and Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) asked that all three members of the Capitol Police Board (CPB) testify before lawmakers, the first such appearance since 1945.
The Republicans cited recent testimony by U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) Inspector General Michael Bolton, who, according to the letter, said the board “is in desperate need of reform.”
“Today is the 100th day since the January 6th insurrection and assault on the Capitol and our Democracy,” Pelosi wrote in her letter. “On this 100th day, we are determined to seek the truth of January 6th. To do so, we must have a January 6th Commission. To that end, we have once again sent a proposal for such a Commission to the Republicans, modeled after the 9/11 Commission.”
Pelosi had indicated last week that she would be open to dropping a “9/11-style” commission and instead opt for a select committee of Congress to investigate the Jan. 6 attack. Pelosi first proposed such a commission in February that would “investigate and report on the facts and causes relating to the January 6, 2021, domestic terrorist attack upon the United States Capitol Complex.”