Democrats stunned by briefing on Capitol's security before insurrection: 'It was only by pure dumb luck' more weren't killed - CNN

Matt Cartwright, a Pennsylvania Democrat, told CNN, "It was only by pure dumb luck that elected officials, staffers and more Capitol policemen were not killed."

Cartwright said his theory of why there was not enough action to prepare was "that people were more worried about optics more than they were worried about security."

Cartwright said he directly asked those briefing the committee whether concerns about how security preparations would look was a reason for not acting.

"I got no denials, and I got a couple of confirmations," he told CNN, declining to say who specifically confirmed that optics were a motive behind inaction.

The briefing came as US Capitol Police officers debate whether to hold a no-confidence vote targeting department leaders who were working on the day of insurrection, including Pittman.

One source told CNN that Pittman was the operational chief the day of the siege at the Capitol and "never took control of the radio or commanded officers what to do in any way, shape or form." Officers have told CNN that they felt abandoned and betrayed by the department's leadership.

According to prepared remarks, Pittman told lawmakers that Capitol Police knew two days before the insurrection that militia and White supremacist groups would be at the Capitol on January 6, and some of those people planned to be armed.

Pittman outlined four things that made the department ill-equipped to respond to the attack: a lack of manpower, not having the right equipment on hand or easily accessible, a lack of consistency in following the process for sealing the building and communication over radios and the public address system being hard to hear during the attack.

CNN has attempted to speak to some of the Republican lawmakers who attended the briefing.

Rep.

Kay Granger of Texas, the top Republican on the committee, described the briefing as a "critical first step" and joined her Democratic colleagues in calling out the failure to act on intelligence that could have prevented the attack.

"While many questions remain, it is clear that the failure was not due to a lack of intelligence, but rather a failure to properly act on this intelligence.