A 30-year veteran of the U.S. Capitol Police, claiming to be a high-ranking official, is blowing the whistle on the lack of USCP leadership and accountability for the force's preparation and execution during the Jan. 6 protests at the Capitol.
A 16-page Sept. 28 letter from the whistleblower, obtained by Politico, claims assistant chief Yogananda Pittman and acting assistant chief Sean Gallagher withheld intelligence and failed to act to assist the Capitol Police response once protests turned violent.
The whistleblower also alleged members "purposefully failed" to tell the truth about the Capitol Police's shortcomings during the Jan. 6 storming of the Capitol, which left unarmed U.S. Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt dead after being shot by Lt. Michael Byrd as she climbed through the broken glass of a Capitol door.
"The truth may be valued less than politics by many members of the congressional community to include those that have made decisions about the leadership of the USCP post Jan. 6, but I believe the truth still matters to real people and certainly the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police," the whistleblower wrote, Politico reported.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and the House Administration Committee's Republican staff were sent a copy of the whistleblower's letter, according to the report.
Senior USCP leadership failures have been "marginalized, negligibly investigated, categorically underreported and without accountability," the letter read.
"In fact, as pointed out by many they have been restored to their exact same positions as if they were not responsible for the single greatest intelligence failure in the history of the U.S. Capitol Police is astounding," it added.
The whistleblower is no longer with the USCP, but Pittman and Gallagher are, according to the report.
"What I observed was them mostly sitting there, blankly looking at the TV screens showing real-time footage of officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives," the whistleblower wrote.
"It is my allegation that these two with intent and malice opted to not try and assist the officers and officials, blame others for the failures, and chose to try and use this event for their own personal promotions. This was done not after the even[t] but while officers and officials were still fighting the demonstrators."
The whistleblower demanded accountability for Pittman and Gallagher.
"This concerted effort to protect the two members of the department without question the most responsible for the tragic events of Jan. 6 is repulsive," the letter read.
"It is immensely embarrassing to the congressional leadership and staff that they selected the two individuals most responsible for the 6th to lead the department after the 6th," it concluded, Politico reported. "Especially since some entity selected them without any investigation. To hold them accountable would require this same group to admit they were wrong."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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