‘PAID A HORRIBLE PRICE’

Capitol Police Union Tells Acting Chief to Quit Over Failure to Warn Officers About Insurrection

Earlier this week, a damning Senate report that said the force’s leadership failed to act on intelligence about the Jan. 6 insurrection plans.

Yogananda Pittman was only sworn in as acting chief of the Capitol Police in the week after the Jan. 6 insurrection—but she could already be on her way out. The head of the U.S. Capitol Police union has called on Pittman to quit following the damning findings of a joint Senate committee report that said the force’s leadership failed to act on intelligence that clearly showed that supporters of Donald Trump planned to storm the Capitol. Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, said in a statement: “The time has come for those in senior leadership who failed us, to stand aside. It is not enough to scapegoat others... Those most responsible, including Acting Chief Pittman who was in charge of intelligence prior to the insurrection, need to step aside for the good of the department... As the Senate report found, our leadership failed us and we paid a horrible price.” The Senate report claimed that Capitol Police intelligence officers were told about insurrectionists’ plans as early as Dec. 21, but that information never reached frontline officers.