DeLauro said the revelation left her stunned and several federal law enforcement agencies failed to act on the basis of their intelligence.
“They had the information. They didn’t act on it. And a question I have, and I think we need to clarify, is who made the decision not to act?” DeLauro told CNN.
“People said today that there was ample evidence, that intelligence agencies had ample evidence, that an angry mob would attack Washington with the Congressional meeting to certify the election as the intended target,” added DeLauro.
After attending the hearing, Rep. Matt Cartwright, a Pennsylvania Democrat, told CNN: “It was just by luck that the elected officials, officials and more Capitol officers were not killed.”
Cartwright said his theory of why there was not enough action to prepare for was “that people were more concerned with optics than with security”.
Cartwright said he asked committee members directly whether concerns about what security arrangements would be like were a reason for not taking action.
“I received no denials and received some confirmations,” he told CNN, declining to say who specifically confirmed that the optics was the reason for the inaction.
According to the prepared comments, Pittman told lawmakers that the Capitol Police knew, two days before the insurrection, that militias and white supremacy groups would be at the Capitol on January 6, and some of these people planned to be armed.
Pittman highlighted four things that left the department ill-equipped to respond to the attack: lack of manpower, not having the right equipment on hand or easily accessible, lack of consistency in monitoring the building sealing process and communication by radio and the system public address being difficult to hear during the attack.
CNN tried to speak to some of the Republican lawmakers who attended the briefing.
Congresswoman Kay Granger of Texas, the committee’s top Republican, described the briefing as a “critical first step” and joined her fellow Democrats to denounce the failure to act on the intelligence that could have prevented the attack.
“While many questions remain, it is clear that the failure was not due to a lack of intelligence, but rather a failure to act appropriately based on that intelligence. This is unacceptable and has left our men and women responsible for law enforcement in the terrain unprepared for the danger they would face. These heroes not only deserve our gratitude for keeping members and staff safe, they deserve answers and a commitment to do better, “Granger said in a statement.
Congressman David Valadao, a California Republican, said in a statement to CNN: “Today’s security briefing with the House Appropriations Committee on the January 6 events was very informative and I hope the committee will continue to conduct it. them “.
DeLauro said members did not receive a clear answer when asked repeatedly who was responsible for the lack of preparation and response.
“No one would answer the question,” DeLauro told CNN, suggesting that it may be worth having an individual in charge to avoid the type of communication failure that occurred on the day of the attack.
The Connecticut Democrat said there was no specific line of questioning about trips made before January 6 during the briefing, in addition to an FBI mention that all issues related to the genesis of the insurrection are being investigated. She ended her comments at the briefing by saying that travel is something that needs to be examined and something that she believed was being investigated.
Cartwright shared that there was a “good discussion” about how to “examine more closely” security forces, particularly those charged with defending Capitol.