For months, Republican leaders have downplayed the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. However on Tuesday, forward of the primary listening to of a particular committee to research the riot, they took their method to new and deceptive extremes, falsely blaming Speaker Nancy Pelosi for the violence.
“The American individuals should know the reality that Nancy Pelosi bears duty as speaker of the Home for the tragedy that occurred on Jan. 6,” mentioned Consultant Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York and the social gathering’s No. 3 chief.
It amounted to an audacious try to rewrite the worst assault on the Capitol in two centuries and pre-empt the damning testimony of 4 cops who had been brutalized by the mob of Donald J. Trump’s supporters. Right here’s how Republicans twisted the information.
Pelosi just isn’t liable for securing the Capitol.
Trying previous the motivations of the mob or Mr. Trump, Republicans mentioned it had been as much as Ms. Pelosi and her management staff to guard the Capitol from the assault, significantly provided that intelligence gathered within the weeks earlier than it occurred pointed to the potential for violence in opposition to Congress.
“On Jan. 6, these courageous gives had been put right into a weak, inconceivable place as a result of the management on the prime has failed,” mentioned Consultant Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority chief.
Ms. Pelosi has appreciable affect because the speaker, however she just isn’t liable for the safety of Congress. That’s the job of the Capitol Police, an company Ms. Pelosi solely not directly influences. Most choices about securing the Capitol are made by the Capitol Police Board, a physique that consists of the Home and Senate sergeants-at-arms and the Architect of the Capitol.
Ms. Pelosi shares management of the Capitol with the Senate majority chief, who on the time was Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky. Republicans have made no try to blame Mr. McConnell for the safety breach or for failing to organize for assault.
That cost additionally contradicts a bipartisan report produced by a pair of Senate committees that discovered proof of systematic failures throughout American intelligence, navy and regulation enforcement companies, which misjudged the risk main as much as Jan. 6 and weren’t correctly educated to answer it.
It additionally flatly contradicted congressional testimony, information experiences and public accounts of that day, when Ms. Pelosi herself was one of many prime targets of the rioters, a few of whom stalked the halls of the Capitol chanting ominously, “Nancy…The place are you Nancy?”
Pelosi doesn’t management Nationwide Guard requests for the Capitol.
Mr. McCarthy and others mentioned that Ms. Pelosi had refused pleas by the Capitol Police to offer backup, just like the Nationwide Guard, forward of Jan. 6.
However the speaker of the Home doesn’t management the Nationwide Guard. And whereas Congress may have requested assist upfront, that call lies with the Capitol Police Board, not the speaker.
Members of the Capitol Police board have supplied conflicting accounts of a debate that occurred on Jan. 4 over whether or not to request the assistance upfront. Steven A. Sund, then the chief of Capitol Police, has mentioned he requested the board for the pre-emptive help however was rebuffed.
Among the many causes cited, Mr. Sund mentioned, was a priority by the Home sergeant-at-arms, Paul D. Irving, in regards to the “optics” of bringing in reinforcements. Ms. Stefanik falsely attributed that concern to Ms. Pelosi, whose aides have mentioned she solely discovered of the request days later.
A Instances investigation detailed why it took two practically hours to approve the deployment on Jan 6. After rioters breached the Capitol, Chief Sund known as Mr. Irving at 1:09 p.m. with an pressing request for the Nationwide Guard. Mr. Irving approached Ms. Pelosi’s workers with the request at 1:40 p.m., and her chief of workers relayed it to her at 1:43 p.m., when she authorised it. However it could be hours extra earlier than Pentagon officers signed off on the deployment and knowledgeable the District of Columbia Nationwide Guard commander that he had permission to deploy the troops.
Pelosi was not briefed about warning indicators earlier than the assault.
Republicans repeatedly mentioned that Ms. Pelosi had been warned as early as mid-December that demonstrations had been being deliberate for Jan. 6 round Congress’s joint session to rely the electoral votes.
That gave the impression to be a reference to early intelligence experiences and warnings that started to flow into contained in the Capitol Police on Dec. 14, which had been evidently by no means shared broadly sufficient to be acted upon.
However Ms. Pelosi’s aides say she was not briefed on the time in regards to the risk, and the Senate’s joint report discovered that the warning indicators had been blended at greatest till simply days earlier than the assault.
Senators — Republicans and Democrats alike — as a substitute mentioned the blame was with the Capitol Police and intelligence companies for failing to correctly assess and warn in regards to the threats.