Ex-Capitol Police Chief: I Wanted D.C. National Guard on Standby

Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund says he was worried about the size of the Jan. 6 Trump protest crowd two days before and asked for the D.C. National Guard to be put on standby—but was rebuffed by the House and Senate sergeants at arms. In an interview with The Washington Post, Sund, who has since resigned in the wake of the deadly riot, said the House sergeant at arms was concerned about the “optics” of such a move. Sund also told the Post that when he called the Pentagon in the midst of the riot with an “urgent, urgent immediate request for National Guard assistance,” an Army official turned him down. “I don’t like the visual of the National Guard standing a police line with the Capitol in the background,” the official reportedly said.