The acting head of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, warned this Thursday that the extremist militias involved in the takeover of the Executive on January 6 want to “blow up the Capitol” and “kill as many members as possible” when the president , Joe Biden, address Congress.
Pittman appeared before the House of Representatives this Thursday to explain the security flaws registered during the certification of votes in Congress, which caused a mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump to break in and take over the iconic building.
The acting head of the Capitol security forces has detailed during her intervention that the Police plan to maintain their highest level of security and alert at least until after Biden’s first official speech in Congress.
Attendees have questioned Pittman about the need for continued security measures around the building, including the fence and the deployment of the National Guard, as reported by NBC News.
Thus, Pittman has not specified any schedule to remove the fences that surround the Capitol currently, nor for the return of the members of the National Guard that remain in Washington to their states of origin.
In reference to the incidents of that day, Pittman has insisted that the intention of the assailants was not “to attack members of Congress and officials”, but that they intended “to send a symbolic message to the nation about who was in charge of that process. legislative”.
In addition, in response to the accusations that intelligence warnings about the possible violence that could be generated on January 6 had been ignored, the acting chief has remarked that “the department did not ignore the intelligence that indicated an attack of the size and scale that we found on the 6th “, because” there was no such intelligence “.
“Although we knew the likelihood of violence by extremists, no credible threat indicated that tens of thousands would attack the United States Capitol, nor did intelligence received from the FBI or any other law enforcement partner indicate such a threat,” he said. specified.
Although there is still no specific date, everything indicates that Biden will deliver a speech at a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives after Congress approves the aid package against COVID-19.
