A Democrat senator from Maryland and U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger used a Senate budget hearing on April 25 to blast former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for creating an allegedly “false narrative” with the Jan. 6 security-camera video that he broadcast in March.
During a budget hearing before the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on the Legislative Branch, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) asked Manger to comment on Carlson’s use of the Jan. 6 video in his March 6 broadcast about the events of Jan. 6, 2021.
“In I think February or early March of this year, Speaker [Kevin] McCarthy authorized the release of more than 40,000 hours of security footage from the awful events of January 6,” Van Hollen said.
“He released them to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who then used them to create a false narrative surrounding the events of that day, concluding that the attack on the Capitol was quote, ‘mostly peaceful chaos,’ and that, ‘The footage does not show an insurrection or riot in progress.’”
Van Hollen noted that, as of April 24, Carlson’s program is no longer in the Fox News lineup. “But a lot of the damage has been done,” Van Hollen asserted. “Can you talk about the impact this false narrative has had on the men and women who work for you?”
“I think what was fortunate is that that narrative that Mr. Carlson tried to put out had no legs,” Manger said. “I think most folks understood exactly what it was. And so I think that was very gratifying to the members of the Capitol Police to see that that the public did not agree with that assessment.”
Van Hollen replied, “I appreciate that. And I agree with you that despite his best efforts, the American public understood exactly what happened on that day and that it was not the narrative that he put out.”
$106 Million Budget Increase
Manger outlined his fiscal year 2024 Capitol Police budget request with a $106.3 million spending increase. The USCP budget would fund the full-time equivalent of 2,761 positions, including 596 civilian employees and 2,165 sworn officers.The budget request would fund enhanced intelligence capabilities, a “normalization” of police staffing levels, expansion of the Dignitary Protection Division, better systems to address threats against members of Congress, better physical security to protect the Capitol, and strengthened training programs, Manger said.
“The sheer increase in the number of threats against Members of Congress—approximately 400 percent over the past six years—requires new and innovative techniques to identify, deter, and mitigate threats before they materialize,” Manger told the subcommittee.
“Upcoming elections, the campaign activities that precede them, and the increasingly heated political rhetoric further heighten the prospect of future security risks and challenges.”
Capitol Police has benefited from a substantial boost in funding since Jan. 6, 2021. Its fiscal year 2022 budget was $602.5 million, a 20-percent increase over 2021.
Funds have been used, in part, to respond to problems identified by various oversight groups in the wake of the Jan. 6 protests and rioting at the Capitol. These include failures in the USCP intelligence division, which has been cited for not sharing threat data with rank-and-file officers prior to and on Jan. 6.
The department is also trying to rebuild its ranks after a slew of post-Jan. 6 staff departures. According to Senate Sergeant at Arms Karen Gibson, chairwoman of the Capitol Police Board, nearly 200 USCP recruit officers graduated in October 2022.
The number of sworn police officers has recovered from a post-Jan. 6 low of 1,800 to more than 1,900 today, Gibson told the subcommittee. The USCP 2024 budget would fund up to 2,165 sworn positions, a 20-percent increase from the post-Jan. 6 low.
