Republican insurgency claims to blame Pelosi: fact-check

[ad_1]

For months, Republican leaders played down the Jan.6 assault on Capitol Hill by a pro-Trump mob. But on Tuesday, before the first hearing of a special committee to investigate the riot, they took their approach to new and deceptive extremes, falsely accusing President Nancy Pelosi of violence.

The American people deserve to know that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as Speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on January 6, said Rep. Elise Stefanik, Republican of New York and leader of the No.3 Party.

It was a bold attempt to rewrite the history of the worst attack on Capitol Hill in two centuries and anticipate the damning testimony of four police officers brutalized by the mob of Donald J. Trumps supporters. Here’s how Republicans twisted the facts.

Pelosi is not responsible for securing the Capitol.

Beyond the mob’s or Mr Trump’s motives, Republicans said it was up to Ms Pelosi and her management team to protect the Capitol from attack, especially since intelligence gathered during weeks leading up to the attack indicated the potential for violence against Congress.

On January 6, these brave officers were placed in a vulnerable and impossible position because leadership at the top failed, said Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader.

Ms. Pelosi has considerable influence as a speaker, but she is not responsible for the security of Congress. This is the job of the Capitol Police, an agency that Ms. Pelosi only influences indirectly. Most decisions about securing the Capitol are made by the Capitol Police Board, a body made up of the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms and the Capitol architect.

Ms Pelosi shares control of the Capitol with the Senate Majority Leader, who at the time was Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell. Republicans have made no attempt to blame Mr. McConnell for the security breach or for not preparing for an attack.

The accusation also contradicts a bipartisan report produced by a pair of Senate committees that found evidence of systematic failures in the U.S. intelligence services, military and law enforcement agencies, who misjudged the threat leading to the January 6 and were not properly trained to respond.

It also flatly contradicted congressional testimony, reporting and public accounts from that day, when Ms Pelosi herself was one of the main targets of the rioters, some of whom walked the halls of Capitol Hill ominously chanting. Nancy Where are you Nancy?

Pelosi does not control the National Guard’s requests for the Capitol.

Mr McCarthy and others said Ms Pelosi refused requests from Capitol Hill police to provide reinforcements, such as the National Guard, before Jan.6.

But the Speaker of the House does not control the National Guard. And while Congress could have requested support in advance, that decision rests with the Capitol Police Council, not the speaker.

Members of the Capitol Police board have provided conflicting accounts of a debate that took place on January 4 over whether to seek help in advance. Steven A. Sund, then Capitol Police chief, said he asked the board for preventative help but was turned away.

Among the reasons given, Sund said, was a concern from House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving about the prospect of bringing in reinforcements. Ms Stefanik falsely attributed this concern to Ms Pelosi, whose assistants said she only learned of the request a few days later.

A Times investigation explained why it took nearly two hours to approve the January 6 deployment. After rioters breached the Capitol, Chief Sund called Mr. Irving at 1:09 p.m. with an urgent request for the National Guard. Mr. Irving approached Ms. Pelosis’s staff with the request at 1:40 p.m., and her chief of staff forwarded it to him at 1:43 p.m. when she approved it. But it would be hours longer before Pentagon officials approved the deployment and informed the District of Columbia National Guard commander that he had permission to deploy the troops.

Pelosi was not told of the warning signs prior to the attack.

Republicans have repeatedly said Ms Pelosi was warned as early as mid-December that protests were planned for Jan.6 around the joint session of Congress to count the electoral votes.

This seemed to be a reference to the first intelligence reports and warnings that began circulating inside Capitol Police on December 14, which clearly were never widely shared enough to be heeded.

But Ms Pelosis’s aides say she was not informed at the time of the threat, and the joint Senate report found warning signs were mixed at best until just days before the threat. ‘attack.

Rather, Republican and Democratic senators said the fault lies with the Capitol Police and intelligence agencies for failing to properly assess and warn of the threats.

[ad_2]