by Gregory Hoyt at Law Enforcement Today
A former high-ranking Capitol Police officer familiar with the department’s reaction to the January 6th attack on the Capitol has sent a damning letter to congressional leaders accusing two of the department’s top officials of mishandling information and failing to respond appropriately during the incident.
A Capitol Police whistleblower has sent congressional leaders a scathing letter accusing 2 of its senior leaders of mishandling evidence and failing to respond properly during the Jan. 6 riot https://t.co/p9Q0LzbP2q
— POLITICO (@politico) October 8, 2021
The whistleblower, who asked to remain anonymous for confidentiality reasons and left the department months after the assault, submitted the 16-page letter to the House and Senate’s senior members in late September.
Sean Gallagher, the Capitol Police’s acting chief of uniformed operations, and Yogananda Pittman, the Capitol Police’s assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations and who previously served as the prior acting chief are heavily criticized in the letter.
Gallagher and Pittman are accused by the whistleblower of intentionally neglecting to assist police under assault on January 6th, and Pittman of lying to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received before the incident.
On January 6th, the whistleblower in question was a senior officer on duty after a long career in the department.
The letter also went on to be critical of congressional leaders, without naming anyone specific, as they allegedly “purposefully failed” to convey the truth about the Capitol Police’s failures during the January 6th riot:
“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, but I believe the truth still matters to real people and certainly the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police.”
According to the whistleblower’s letter, Pittman allegedly lied to Congress about an intelligence report the Capitol Police attained back in December – one containing a blog post from “thedonald.win” that had a map of the Capitol campus and commenters suggesting that demonstrators show up armed.
Back in April, Pittman told congressional investigators that numerous senior officials within the department were made aware of the aforementioned report. However, the whistleblower claims that the document (known as 21-TD-159) was only known to Pittman and Gallagher:
“The ‘TD’ report was never heard of by any member of the executive management team other than Pittman and Gallagher. They were the ones that implemented this numbering system to track internal documents for their command unbeknownst to other commanders.”
According to the whistleblower, the report in question wasn’t the only important piece of intel that didn’t make it to the appropriate individuals in the department. Gallagher and Pittman also have evidence that entities granted permits to stage rallies near the Capitol on January 6th were all fronts for Stop the Steal, according to the whistleblower.
From the way the whistleblower frames the allegations, Gallagher and Pittman possessed more than enough intel prior to the January 6th riot to justify the presence of the National Guard, outfitting officers with more adequate less-than-lethal weapons, and closing the doors to the Capitol on the morning of the riots.
The whistleblower said two of the Capitol Police’s leaders sat “with their hands in their laps” as officers fought for their lives https://t.co/V4TRMeToeO
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) October 9, 2021
Yet, the whistleblower claims that Gallagher and Pittman opted to instead implement what many now see is a dismal security effort during the day of the riot.
The whistleblower also claimed that he spent hours with Pittman and Gallagher in the Capitol Police Command Center throughout the assault, which three sources confirmed the whistleblower was present, and that they did nothing to halt the carnage:
“What I observed was them mostly sitting there, blankly looking at the TV screens showing real time footage of officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives.”
It’s the viewpoint of the whistleblower that Gallagher and Pittman opted to not respond properly to the January 6th riot so that the two could pull off an ‘I told you so’ move to advance their careers:
Continue Reading“It is my allegation that these two with intent and malice opted to not try and assist the officers and officials, blame others for the failures, and chose to try and use this event for their own personal promotions. This was done not after the even[t] but while officers and officials were still fighting the demonstrators.
I clearly heard one comment being made on the phone to the extent of: We told him this was going to happen, and he did nothing. (I believe they were referencing Chief Sund).”…