The day before the Jan. 6 protests devolved into rioting, U.S. Capitol Police alerted senior command staff and members of Congress to a “significant uptick” in online interest in the Capitol’s tunnel system and noted “attempts by unauthorized individuals to block members of Congress from entering the Capitol building through tunnels,” court records say.
The document describes a Jan. 5 email from the “USCP deputy chief to a [Capitol Police] Board member and others at USCP and in Congress reporting ‘a significant uptick in new visitors’ to a ‘historical website’ containing information on Capitol system tunnels.”
The email included a social media post and maps that were shared online.
Another Jan. 5 email from a deputy chief to a member of the Capitol Police Board and others alerted them “to an online website soliciting information on high-level government officials and their expected whereabouts on January 6, 2021, and linking to the website’s article entitled, ‘Why the Second American Revolution Starts Jan 6.’”
The information in the emails could have proven significant on Jan. 6. When protesters breached the Capitol Building just after 2 p.m., Capitol Police evacuated members of Congress through the subway system and tunnels to secure locations in nearby federal buildings.
Capitol Police is a creation of Congress, which exempted itself from the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Judicial Watch sued USCP, arguing a common-law right for the public to inspect the inner workings of government.
The new email information provides some additional pieces of what has been an incomplete puzzle on the Jan. 6 security footing.
Previous oversight reports and congressional testimony showed that critical intelligence gathered by Capitol Police was not widely shared in the days leading up to Jan. 6, even within the police ranks.
At least some Capitol Police officials were aware that massive crowds would descend on Washington for then-President Donald Trump’s speech at the Ellipse.
Huge Crowds
“Activity on the 6th. Women for America. March for Trump (POTUS attend at 11) 20k (organizer says 3 million to attend),” the email read.Baboulis’s email was entered into evidence on Feb. 22 as a defense exhibit in the third Oath Keepers criminal trial in U.S. District Court in Washington.
Mr. Sund said he was told, “We got to come up with another plan. Pelosi will never go for it,” referring to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Mr. Sund told the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight that he was “floored” by the response.
Immediately after crowds breached the first police line on the Capitol’s west front on Jan. 6, Mr. Sund said, he renewed his request to call in the National Guard.
That approval didn’t come for another 71 minutes, he said. It was followed by resistance from the Department of Defense over the “optics” of having citizen soldiers at the Capitol.
“After I received approval to call in the National Guard, I then had to beg the Pentagon officials to send us help,” he said. “I was repeatedly denied assistance by Army Lt. Gen. [Walter] Piatt, citing concerns over optics of the National Guard on Capitol Hill.
“The D.C. National Guard—many of whom were standing within eyesight of the Capitol, and whose motto is Capitol Guardians—would not arrive until almost 6 p.m., after the fighting was over and the Capitol grounds secured,” he said.
Chief Calls Out Speaker
In his September testimony, Mr. Sund contradicted statements made by Ms. Pelosi that she had not spoken to the chief on the evening of Jan. 6, before she publicly demanded his resignation the next day.“I spoke to Speaker Pelosi three times that evening, and she went on national TV and said I'd never spoken to her, but I spoke to her three times,” Mr. Sund testified.
“So you didn’t have one call, you didn’t have two calls, you had three calls,” said Rep. Bryan Steil (R-Wis.), chairman of the Committee on House Administration. “So Speaker Pelosi’s comments that she didn’t speak to you are inaccurate.”
“That is correct, sir,” Mr. Sund responded.
The Judicial Watch litigation is also seeking the public release of thousands of hours of Capitol Police CCTV security video from Jan. 6.
“It is urgent that the January 6 videos and related U.S. Capitol Police emails be released to the American public,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.
