Capitol Police Whistleblower Claims Senior Leaders Sat on Intel, Failed to Forcefully Respond to Jan. 6th Riot

A whistleblower in the U.S. Capitol Police has accused two of the department’s leaders of mishandling intelligence before January 6th and failing to properly react to the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Politico reports that the whistleblower, a former high-ranking USCP official, sent an accusatory letter to Congress last month that called out acting assistant chief Sean Gallagher and assistant chief Yogananda Pittman. The letter claims both department heads declined to share information with other police figures before January 6th, and they chose not to help officers when the siege got underway.

“The failures and inactions of these two prior to and on the 6th unquestionably contributed to the death of officers and the serious physical and emotional injury of hundreds of other members of law enforcement,” the unnamed official says in his letter. “It contributed to the death of citizens and caused harm to the reputation of the Congress, the USCP, and other commanders.”

The letter goes on to claim that Pittman and Gallagher were “blankly looking at the TV screens showing real-time footage of the officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives.” The whistleblower also accuses Pittman of lying to Congress about distributing an intelligence report to command staff before the attack, and that congressional leaders have “purposefully failed” to investigate the department’s missteps.

“The truth may be valued less than politics by many members of the congressional community to include those that have made decisions about the leadership of the USCP post-January 6th,” the official says. “But I believe the truth still matters to real people and certainly the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police.”

Watch above, via CNN.