Capitol Police Chief: Records Prove Backup Requests During Riot - NPR

Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman testified on the Jan.

Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman testified on the Jan.

Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman, testifying remotely through a video link, told a House committee that her agency head had requested military backup about a half-dozen times in the first hour after the Capitol complex was breached on Jan.

"Chief Sund spoke to both sergeants-at-arms to request National Guard support," Pittman told a House panel on Thursday in her first testimony in a public congressional hearing on the siege.

Pittman's and Sund's accounts now directly contradict one by the top House security chief at the time, Paul Irving, who told a Senate panel this week that he didn't get an early call for military aid.

Instead, Irving said Sund did not make the request for the National Guard until around 2 p.m.

Tim Ryan, who chairs the House Appropriations subpanel on legislative branch affairs that oversees the Capitol Police, told reporters following the hearing.

6 saw an estimated 10,000 or more rally attendants at the Ellipse make their way to the Capitol, with about 800 of them breaching the complex, said Pittman, who was testifying alongside acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett before a House Appropriations subpanel.

Pittman said the phone records obtained reflect that Sund first reached out to Irving to request the National Guard at 12:58 p.m.

The new details follow the first congressional oversight hearing, on Tuesday, for the insurrection, with Sund, Irving and Stenger, who all testified before two Senate committees alongside acting D.C.

from the Capitol Police Board, which is composed of the police chief, both sergeants-at-arms and a member of the Architect of the Capitol.

Pittman said even if she and other leaders had seen that FBI report, which former and current top Capitol security officials say didn't reach them in time, it likely would not have changed the posture of the Capitol Police.

"I think there's consensus about the relic called the Capitol Police Board," Ryan said

Jennifer Wexton, D-Va., about the fact that Pittman has not answered any questions from the press since the attack, the acting chief said her agency has issued news releases since the riot but could not commit to having regular press briefings