Received the Opening Statements from the people who are going to be testifying. And for the first time we are hearing from one of those people, paul irving, he is the house sergeant at arms, the former now, who essentially is part of the team that is in charge of securing the capitol and hes defending his actions that day as well as the others. And what he was saying in this Opening Statement, what he intends to say is that they have no intelligence to indicate that anyone was going to try and overtake the capitol. And in this Opening Statement is what he said. Let me read it to you. For each of the days leading up to january 6th and indeed on january 6th itself, the Capitol Police issued a daily Intelligence Report in which it assessed the potential for this civil disobedience and arrest as remote to improbable. So hes saying there was no intelligence to say that there mob was going to attack the capitol. And were getting the Opening Statement from the former Capitol Police chief steven sund and hes defending his actions on that day saying that they were prepared based on all of the information they had, they were prepared for the day. He also said theyve had several meetings leading up to it. But he also said that he went to paul irving and he said, in the days leading up to the up to january 6th, he said that he asked him, should we call up the National Guard and he said that paul irving told him that he was concerned about the optics of having the National Guard there in place on the capitol. So it is going to be interesting to see how this plays out at this hearing. Because sund here, the former chief, is not holding back. He has a list by list and he goes time to time of the times that he went asking for National Guard and the conversation. Shimon, hold that thought because the hearing is kicking off here. Looking into security failures january 6th, lets listen in. This joint meeting hearing today. I would like to thank our witnesses for joining us today and fo and for your service to our country. For Many Americans this will be the first opportunity to hear about what happened in the capitol on january 6th directly from our witnesses. We appreciate your willingness to work with our committees, to examine the breakdowns that allowed this terrible attack to occur and to ensure that an attack like this can never, ever happen again. In hearing is unique because it is personal for everyone involved. And im grateful to our witnesses, colleagues, staff, Capitol Police and the d. C. Metropolitan police and the National Guard units who continue to assist in protecting the capitol today. And for all of the hard work that allows this very important discussion to begin. So i would like to once again thank chairwoman klobuchar for your partnership and for your leadership and look forward to your opening remarks. Thank you very much, chairman peters and good morning. Thank you to our witnesses for being here today for this first joint hearing of the rules committee and the Homeland Security security and Government Affairs committee as we work to conduct oversight into what happened in the lead up and during the horrific events of january 6th. Thank you to chairman peters and also Ranking Member portman and my good friend senator blunt who i look forward to continue working with on the rules committee in this congress. I think it is important to note that we planned this entire hearing on a bipartisan basis. That is because of the stakes are so high and we want this, and i say this to our witnesses as well, who are all appearing here volunteerly, i think it is important for the members to know that and we thank them for doing that. We want this to be as constructive as possible. Because in order to figure out the solutions so this doesnt happen again, we must have the facts. And the answers are in this room. When an angry violent mob staged an if insurrection on january 6th and desecrated our capitol, the temple of our democracy, it was not just an attack on the building, it was an attack on our republic itself. Were here today to better understand what was known in advance, what steps were taken to secure the capitol and what occurred that day. Because we want to ensure that nothing like this happens again. Each of our witnesses held a leadership role at the time of the attack. Acting chief Robert Contee of the metropolitan Police Department, of the District Of Columbia, mr. Steven sund former chief of the u. S. Capitol police here with us in person today, mr. Michael stanger, former Senate Sergeant at arms and mr. Paul irving, former house sergeant at arms. The other witnesses are here as of our witnesses do via video. To our witnesses, your testimony is vital and thank you again for coming. At the same time, this is certainly not the last hearing that we will have regarding this attack. Next week we will hear from witnesses from federal agencies including the fbi, the department of Homeland Security, and the department of defense that are critical to our understanding. The insurrection at the capitol was more than an assault on democracy, it was an actual life or death situation for the many brave Law Enforcement officers who showed up here to do their work every day and at the beginning of this testimony well hear from one of them. Well never forget the haunting shreeks of the Police Officers pinned in and pleading for help and officer harry dunn who fought against the violent mob for hours and after it was over break down in tears telling fellow officers he had been called the nword 15 times that day. He asked, is this america . Our officer Eugene Goodman who after saving senator romney from walking, who is here with us today, thank you, from walking directly into the mob, ran by himself to take on a group of rioters and then Eugene Goodman diverted that mob away from the Senate Chamber allowing us to safely depart. Trag tragically the attack on the capitol cost the lives of Brian Sicknick who died from injuries sustained while ep gauging with protesters. Two other officers died by suicide following the event of january 6th, d. C. Metropolitan Police OfficerJeffrey Smith and u. S. Capitol Police Officer howard levin good. Or howie to those who knew them worked the delaware door of the russ Office Building someone who ive seen at the door way and greeted me and everyone with a warm smile. It is been reported that 140 u. S. Capitol Police Officers sustained injuries from defending the capitol. They will be remembered forever but there are still many voices that we have not heard including the many staff who make sure we have food in our cafeteria and water and heat in our building. One Janitorial Worker hid during at tack in a closet. Another staff member reflected on how terrible he felt when he had to clean up feces and had been speared on the wall saying i felt bad, i felt degraded. These dedicated workers were here, too, when the capitol was attacked as were many committed journalists who report on our work to the American People. To make this place safe Going Forward, we must answer some key questions. First and foremost, on many of our minds is what took so long to deploy the National Guard that day, both because of decisions made in the capitol complex but also by others in the federal government. We must find out what was known about the potential for violence before the attack and how that intelligence was shared with Law Enforcement partners including the officials responsible for protecting the capitol. There are also important questions to be asked about how information concerning those threats was communicated to rank and file officers. And it is vital that we explore necessary reforms to the structure of the Capitol Police board which i know we will hear more about today. We owe it to the 140 Capitol Police officers injured and to all those at the capitol who continue to suffer the repercussions. We owe it to the officer beaten by the violent rioters because he placed his body in the door way to protect us. We owe it to the officers who lost her lives. We owe it to American People to figure out how the United States capitol, the preeminent symbol of democracy around the world, could be overtaken by an angry, violent mob and we owe it to ourselves, colleagues, to believe enough in our democracy and in the u. S. Senate that despite our political differences, we will be constructive in this hearing today, not just here to make political hey, but be constructive today so figure out what went wrong and what changes we could make ensure that the capitol is safe for us and the public Going Forward. Chairman peters, Ranking Member blunt and portman and colleagues, for me the bottom line is that we must get the answers and those answers are what will give us the solutions. Thank you very much. Thank you madam chair. It is been just over six weeks since our nation watched with horror as our Capitol Building was breached by domestic terrorists who sought to use violence and intimidation to overturn the results of a free and fair election. This was a shocking assault on our democracy. And it marked one of our nations darkest days. The United States has stood as a beacon for the world, showing how democracy can thrive. On january 6th, we saw just how fragile many of our most valued democratic principles, including the peaceful transfer of power is. It is hard to compress how deeply grateful we are for the action our Capitol Police, our sergeant at arms and other Law Enforcement agencies do to keep us safe every single day. And especially on that day. Too many of our officers were gravely injured or tragically killed as they bravely fought back the attackers. Chief contee, were indebted to the d. C. Metropolitan Police Department for their valiantef warts to thwart the attack. D. C. Police helps secure the capitol but the officers under your command did not hesitate to come to our aid. We are thankful for the heroic actions of so many who ensured this direct attack on our democracy failed. But there is no question that there were colossal breakdowns in the intelligence gathering and security preparations leading up to the events of january 6. As well as during the coordination and response efforts once the attack got underway. Our goal today is to begin to understand where those breakdowns failures occurred and to determine if there are policy and structural changes Congress Must make to prevent a future attack of this nature. In my role, on the Homeland Security committee, ive worked to raise attention to domestic terrorism, including the rise of insidious dolg of white supremacist and now qanon conspiracies. These ideologies are intertwined in neem you arous ways and we saw how quickly they could shift from online communities to committed organized Violent Attacks in the real world. But the warning signs were there. Just a few months earlier in my home state of michigan, lawmaker successfully stopped a plot by antigovernment militias to kidnap our states governor. Weve seen an increase in Violent Crimes over the last decade driven by hateful ideologies and we saw the deadly and tragic consequences on january 6 when the domestic terrorist threat was not taken as seriously as it should have been. This is a systemic and leadership failure on the part of the security officials, if the fbi and the security leadership on the ground in capitol and it must be addressed. Domestic terrorism is not a new threat. But it is an urgent threat. It will require serious focus to ensure that we are doing everything that we can to protect the safety and security of all americans. And id like to take a moment to remind my colleagues that every senator here today took an oath to protect and defend the constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. As committees charged with oversight, strengthening Homeland Security and maintaining capitol operations, we have a solemn duty to thoroughly examine the security breakdowns and make needed reforms. And im hopeful well be able to Work Together and carry out this responsibility in a serious and a nonpartisan way. And finally while todays hearing is our first on january 6th attack, it will be not be our last. We will continue to seek testimony and information from a range of agencies and officials who were involved in preparing for and responding to the events of the day for the u. S. Capitol and for the entire region. The attack on january 6 was an extraordinary event that requires exhaustive consideration. The American People deserve answers on why their capitol was breached and i look forward toing have a productive discussion with our witnesses to provide the American People with those answers. Thank you, madam chair. Senator blunt. Thank you, chairwoman klobuchar, it is great to work with you and chairman peters and senator portman as we move forward on this hearing on what happened on january the 6th and i think that will require discussion of what happened in the days immediately leading up to january the 6th. This hearing as senator peters have both seed the beginning of a series of efforts that we could approach in a bipartisan way that looks for a solution and ensures that the deadly outrageous destructive attack that marked such a sad day in our history never happens again. The officers who defended the capitol deserve to be recognized and praised for their valiant efforts and willingness every day to stand ready to do what needs to be done to defend the capitol and those who work there. Im certainly grateful to them. Im particularly grateful in this instance to the metropolitan Police Department and their really admirable response to be here quickly, to be here with significant numbers of people in the very shortterm and within an hour to have an incredible impact on what was going on here at the capitol and in a positive way. The failures of the day, unfortunately, were of the most serious kind. Senator klobuchar has already mentioned the three officers whose lives were lost and other officers who have really had to deal with this in a significant way. Also you have to remember that this was an event where the families of our officers were watching in realtime on television in an attack where theyre seeing people that mean t the entire world to them in this fight for their lives and fight for our lives and the capitol. Three of todays witnesses, former house sergeant at arms irving, former Senate Sergeant at arms stanger and former chief of the United States police sund were all charged with protection of the capitol on january 6th. We need to hear from them. Where there was a failure of imagination of what could go wrong, a failure of intelligence gathering and dissemination, a failure of preparation which ultimately led to this problem, or maybe a structural failure that is just not designed in a way that it allows us to respond to an immediate crisis and obviously we need to get that done. I want to hear from chief contee of the metropolitan Police Department to learn about the departments role and frankly to learn how their decisionmaking process appeared to be so much quicker than the decisionmaking process we could go through here. I believe it is important for everyone to note that the attacks on january 6th did not prevent congress from fulfilling its responsibilities, both chambers reconvened that evening and finished the certification of the results of the Electoral College and i think senator klobuchar and the Vice President and i leave the building at about 4 00 a. M. On friday morning but we did get our work done where the American People and people all over the world would have expected it to get done. And then on the 20th, we held an inauguration on the same platform that had been stormed three weeks earlier. And the two weeks earlier and carried out one of our most important aspects of our democracy, the peaceful transfer of power. I want to thank my colleagues from both the Homeland Security rules committee for todays hearing as and stat work that has gone into getting ready for today. Thank you, member portman. Thank you chairman peters. Chairman klobuchar and Ranking Member blunt for the constructive comment this i