Senate examines Capitol riot failures

Law enforcement officers tasked with protecting the U.S. Capitol blamed intelligence failures for the Jan. 6 incursion that left five people dead and dozens injured. At a joint Senate committee hearing on Tuesday, witnesses said they never saw a warning the FBI sent about the potential for violence the day Congress met to certify the results of the presidential election. “We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence,” former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund said. “What we got was a military-style coordinated assault on my officers and a violent takeover of the Capitol building.”

Would better preparation have helped the response? U.S. Capitol Police Capt. Carneysha Mendoza said she didn’t think having more officers on the line would have mattered: “Of the multitude of events I’ve worked in my nearly 19-year-career in the department, this was by far the worst of the worst. We could have had 10 times the amount of people working with us, and I still believe the battle would have been just as devastating.” Congress will hold another hearing on the riot next week. It will focus on the response of the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and the FBI.

Dig deeper: Read Emily Belz’s report about the threat of domestic terrorism in the United States.