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Capitol officials blocked request for National Guard before riot

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WASHINGTON — U.S. Capitol police were denied pre-authorization for National Guard support two days before the violent insurrection that overwhelmed their defenses and threatened lawmakers, according to written testimony in a House briefing on security failures in the deadly Jan. 6 riot.

The 1,200-person Capitol Police force was overwhelmed by a mob of then-President Donald Trump’s supporters that outnumbered law enforcement officials who were diverted to other emergencies, under-prepared and not sufficiently armed to repel the attack, acting Capitol security leaders said in their testimony.

They said the thenpolice chief’s Jan. 4 request for help from other agencies was rejected by a panel including House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and other Capitol officials. Acting Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, who took over after the attack, said this was one of many failures of the day and said she offered her “sincerest apologies on behalf of the Department.”

“On January 6th, in the face of a terrorist attack by tens of thousands of insurrectionists determined to stop the certification of Electoral College votes, the Department failed to meet its own high standards as well as yours,” Pittman said in a closed briefing before the Appropriations Committee.

The riot resulted in the deaths of five people, including one U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON — Congress is asking the Department of Defense to return billions of dollars that former President Donald Trump diverted from local military base construction projects to fund the border wall and was never spent.

President Joe Biden canceled the national emergency declaration that Trump and the Defense Department had used to justify shifting $3.6 billion from scores of domestic and overseas military construction projects. Those included a new fire station at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina and a new fire crash rescue station for Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, which was badly damaged by Hurricane Michael in 2018.

Of the $3.6 billion in military construction funds pulled for the border wall, $922 million was spent, according to documents obtained by McClatchy. The remaining $2.67 billion was for a specific border wall project or unspent.

Members of the House and Senate Armed Services and Appropriations out to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Defense Department to see how those funds can be returned and the projects restored.

“The former administration robbed billions from military construction projects that would have supported military readiness, quality of life, and deterrence of national security threats

Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/TNS file Police officers in riot gear stand guard while supporters of President Donald trump protest on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Jan. 6.

Police officer who was injured in the attack. Another officer later died by suicide.

The security failures have raised fundamental questions about how to keep lawmakers and staff safe while allowing access for press and members of the public. Acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett said the U.S. Capitol and its grounds may never be the same.

“One of the initial examinations must be in how communications work on the Hill, and how we mush adopt and evolve our structures, and our procedures,” he said. “We must harden this campus.”

Then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who stepped down after the attack, had asked the Capitol Police Board on Jan. 4 “to declare a state of emergency and authorize a request to secure National abroad,” House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said in a statement.

“The Armed Services Committees along with our Appropriations colleagues work with the Department of Defense and the Army Corps of Engineers to understand how they are conducting the review required by the Executive Order, what the path forward is and if they need any authority, reprogramming approval, or other action from Congress to restore funding military construction projects,” the Washington Democrat said.

The Army Corps of Engineers halted construction of the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border last week following President Joe Biden’s executive national emergency declaration set by Trump.

After pushback from Congress, funding for some of the cut projects was restored, such as a new schoolhouse for Fort Campbell, Kentucky, but not for all of them.

“I am hopeful that the many important projects that were sidelined, including the replacement of the Laurel Bay Fire Station at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, will now move forward in accordance with congressional intent,” Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., said in a statement to McClatchy.

As of January, there were 16 projects, ranging from a new submarine pier and maintenance facility in Washington to the expansion of a new missile field in Alaska to a new Marine Corps batGuard support,” but the board denied the request, Pittman said.

That panel – which also includes the architect of the Capitol and the Senate and House sergeants at arms – instead suggested that Sund determine how many National Guardsman could be sent to the Capitol on short notice, if needed. Both sergeants at arms also resigned after the attack.

Tuesday’s written testimony covered intelligence failures before the attack – even though protests were scheduled and online discussions suggested violence – as well as the inadequate response as the attack unfolded.

“It is clear there was a failure of preparation,” Blodgett said, blaming insufficient or conflicting intelligence and the delay in getting assistance from other agencies.

According to Pittman, talion complex at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, for which funding had not been restored.

“Each year, Congress works with the Department of Defense to fund priority military projects that are imperative to our national security – including at Naval Base Kitsap. That’s how the process works.” said Rep. Derek Kilmer, D-Wash. “The project in our region, which has the potential to create jobs in Kitsap County, supports critical missions that protect America – and should receive the funding that has previously been allocated by Democrats and Republicans in Congress.”

There are also dozens of overseas projects, including many supporting U.S. Pacific region that were put on hold, including new aircraft hangars at Yokota Air Base in Japan and a new machine gun range for Naval Base Guam

Trump directed that the Defense Department send forces to the border with Mexico in spring 2018. Those troops were used to help lay miles of concertina wire to create a border fence and provide medical, logistical and surveillance support to border agents.

After the House and Senate refused to fully fund Trump’s $5 billion request to build the border wall, the former president declared a national emergency that empowered him to direct the Defense Department to pull funds that had been allocated for military construction projects at bases across the United States and for drug interdiction efforts to spend on the wall instead. the 1,200 Capitol Police officers present that day were “no match for the tens of thousands of insurrectionists (many armed) attacking the Capitol and refusing to comply with lawful orders.”

She said the department’s resources were diverted to other emergencies at nearly the exact time the mob arrived at the Capito.

Pittman acknowledged that Capitol Police did not do enough to prepare, when they “knew that militia groups and white supremacists organizations would be attending,” and promised to be on a different scale than previous 2020 protests.

However, she said there were no preparations compatible with “an open campus” for lawful protests that would have also prevented the

Congress asks Pentagon to restore base construction funds from border wall

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Federal judge in Texas halts Biden’s deportation ban

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WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily barred the U.S. government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium, a key immigration priority of President Joe Biden.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday had asked the U.S. District Judge Drew Tipton, a nominee of former President Donald Trump who took the bench in Corpus Christi last June, to block the new policy that pauses most deportations for the next 100 days.

“Texas is the FIRST state in the nation to bring a lawsuit against the Biden Admin,” Paxton, a conservative Republican, wrote on Twitter. “AND WE WON. Within 6 days of Biden’s inauguration, Texas has HALTED his illegal deportation freeze. *This* was a seditious left-wing insurrection. And my team and I stopped it.”

Paxton has said he plans to try to stymie a raft of plans by the new administration.

The policy, which went into effect Friday, was announced by acting Homeland Security Secretary David Pekoske as part of a comprehensive review of immigration enforcement, particularly amid the challenges posed by Covid-19.

The pause, Pekoske said in a memo last week to immigration officials, will let the agency focus resources on its most pressing needs, in particular at the busy southern border “in the midst of the most serious global public health crisis in a century.”

But Paxton had said the pause violates federal law and an agreement between Texas and the Homeland Security Department – signed in the closing days of the Trump administration – that requires federal officials to provide 180 days of notice to Texas before immigration enforcement can be changed.

The deportation freeze also carries a safety risk, he said.

“Our state defends the largest section of the southern border in the nation. Failure to properly enforce the law will directly and immediately endanger our citizens and law enforcement personnel,” Paxton said in a statement announcing his first lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s policies.

Pekoske’s memo excluded from the freeze noncitizens who are suspected of terrorism or espionage or are found to pose a security threat. The freeze also doesn’t apply to those who voluntarily waive the right to remain in the United States.

“Nothing in this memorandum prohibits the apprehension or detention of individuals unlawfully in the United States,” he added.

Biden was in office for only a few hours when Paxton pledged Wednesday to use the court system to challenge the policies of a Democratic president who has vowed to overturn a raft of Trump-era priorities.