(AP) — On Jan. 6, the U.S. Capitol was besieged by supporters of Donald Trump angered by the then-president’s election loss. While lawmakers inside the building were voting to affirm Democrat Joe Biden’s win, Trump loyalists were marching to Capitol Hill and breaking in. Five people died in the violent melee, including a police officer. Trump’s impeachment trial begins Tuesday on a charge that he incited the riot.
A look at what happened that day and the fallout since:
WHAT HAPPENED?
The Capitol Police had planned only for a free speech demonstration. Law enforcement was badly outnumbered and ill-prepared as thousands of Trump supporters marched from the Ellipse near the White House to the Capitol. The rioters broke through police barriers, breached doors and wandered around the building for hours, sending lawmakers into hiding.
Officers who have spoken to The Associated Press say they are angry with their leaders for failing to provide enough equipment or backup to defend the Capitol. Some officers want the acting chief of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, who took over when Chief Steven Sund resigned after the riot, to step aside as well.
The Capitol Police union had scheduled a no-confidence vote Thursday against Pittman, but postponed the vote in deference to the services of slain Officer Brian Sicknick, who was laid to rest Wednesday. Union leaders were criticized by some officers who considered it insensitive to vote the day after Sicknick’s burial. The vote has not yet been rescheduled.
Pittman has acknowledged the department knew before Jan. 6 that extremists and white supremacists could be in the crowd outside the Capitol. But Pittman and other leaders are still pointing fingers about who was responsible for not bolstering security. After Pittman told a congressional committee that Sund’s request to activate the National Guard was denied by the three-member Capitol Police Board, a member of the board issued a statement denying that claim.
In a video Friday, Pittman said the department would make “significant changes to our operations, policies, and procedures” after internal and outside investigations.
