Thread by @weareoversight

New: We’re going to court to get answers about the failures of preparation and planning that led up to the Jan. 6 deadly mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, as well as about exactly what went wrong that day.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…

On Jan. 6, mobs of Trump supporters violently attacked and invaded the U.S. Capitol building with the intent of overturning the democratic will of the American people. But these attacks were well-coordinated and planned in plain sight. Why wasn’t law enforcement prepared?

We’ve been investigating. Five days after those attacks, we sent records requests to five agencies for communications and directives about the events at the Capitol: the Dept. of Defense, National Guard, Army, Secret Service, and the Justice Dept.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…

Despite multiple congressional hearings and extensive reporting, key questions remain unanswered — and the agencies have released few if any records in response to our requests — so now we’re going to court.
americanoversight.org/document/ameri…

Here are some of the issues we hope to shed light on. Robert J. Contee III, acting chief of DC’s Metro. Police Dept., told senators at a recent hearing that he “was surprised at the reluctance to immediately send the National Guard to the Capitol grounds.”
military.com/daily-news/202…

We want to know exactly where this reluctance came from. Emails and text messages, as well as any directives or orders, sent or received by top officials — including from the National Guard — on the day of the attack could help answer that question.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has alleged that the Pentagon slow-walked requests for deployment authorization. There have also been reports that the president himself was reluctant to mobilize D.C.’s units.
cnn.com/2021/01/06/pol…

We want to know whether these requests were delayed and if so, what reason was given. If the president delayed mobilizing reinforcements, who carried out that order and how did agency officials respond?

Former heads of Capitol security, each of whom resigned following the insurrection, have blamed intelligence failures for the breach and offered conflicting accounts of conversations that took place during the attack.

“None of the intelligence we received predicted what actually occurred,” said former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund. “We properly planned for a mass demonstration with possible violence. What we got was a military-style, coordinated assault.”

We want to know exactly what intelligence the different agencies *did* have prior to the attacks and if it were passed on to other law enforcement agencies. Our requests for communications and directives could potentially answer this question.
americanoversight.org/american-overs…

Overall, agency communications could tell us how officials potentially planned for the events, reacted in real-time to the mob violence, and how they evaluated the response in the aftermath. Directives could show what orders top agency officials received or gave.

This lawsuit is part of our ongoing investigation into the Jan. 6 attacks and the assault on our democracy. Learn more here:
americanoversight.org/investigation/…