Cascade of failures left Capitol exposed to Trump rioters, senators told

Why didn't they see it coming?

On Jan. 5, an FBI field office in Virginia sent a report to Washington that extremist supporters of President Donald Trump were heading there, vowing to wage "war" on his behalf to overturn the election results. The FBI in Washington relayed the report to other law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Capitol Police. At that department, it got as far as a sergeant in the intelligence division; it never got passed up the chain of command.

The memo also was sent to Washington's Metropolitan Police — in a routine-looking email. "I would think that something of that nature would rise to the level of more than just an email," acting D.C. police Chief Robert Contee told a joint hearing of two Senate committees Tuesday. "I assure you that my phone is on 24 hours a day, seven days a week." The warning never reached the sergeants-at-arms responsible for House and Senate security either.

Contee was one of four law-enforcement and security witnesses who testified; the other three were forced from their jobs after the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. While sometimes contradicting one another on details — such as why the National Guard wasn't called in faster — all agreed they were unprepared for the size and ferocity of the assault.

"No single civilian law enforcement agency — and certainly not the USCP — is trained and equipped to repel, without significant military or other law enforcement assistance, an insurrection of thousands of armed, violent, and coordinated individuals focused on breaching a building at all costs," testified former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund.

Even without the FBI intelligence report, there were clear, open signs of the threat of Jan. 6 violence. Far-right social media users openly hinted for weeks that chaos would erupt at the Capitol while Congress convened to affirm Joe Biden's election victory. But Sund said his department's internal intelligence assessed the probability of civil disobedience or arrests as "remote" to "improbable" for the pro-Trump groups expected to demonstrate.

Sund and former House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving disagreed on when the Guard was called and on requests for the Guard beforehand. Sund said he spoke to both Irving and former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger about the Guard in the days before the riot, and that Irving voiced concern about the "optics" of having them present. Irving denied that, saying Sund’s account was "categorically false." Sund and Irving also disagreed on when the Guard was requested via Irving once the violence had begun — Sund said he asked early on at 1:09 p.m., but Irving denied receiving a call at that time.

Contee, whose officers arrived as backup, said he was "stunned" over the delayed Guard response. Sund was pleading with Army officials to deploy the troops as the rioting rapidly escalated, Contee said, but the military brass appeared to be going through a bureaucratic checklist instead of moving with urgency. Pentagon officials, who will be invited to testify before the committee at a second hearing next week, have said it took time to put the Guard in position, and they added there had not been enough contingency planning because offers of assistance beforehand were turned down.

Charge ex-NYPD cop mauled cop at Capitol

A retired NYPD officer once assigned to City Hall and Gracie Mansion has been charged with assaulting a police officer as part of the Jan. 6 insurrection mob.

Thomas Webster, 54, was caught on video going after a D.C. police officer "like a junkyard dog — teeth clenched and fists clenched," a prosecutor said in White Plains federal court Tuesday, according to The Washington Post. Wearing a bulletproof vest and prepared for "armed conflict," Webster allegedly used a flagpole flying a Marine Corps flag as a weapon and also pulled down the officer’s gas mask, causing him to choke.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause denied bail for Webster, who retired in 2011. During a hearing Tuesday, Krause said, "What we see in this video … goes well beyond First Amendment speech and moves into criminal activity."

Also arrested and charged this week was a Republican district leader from Queens, Philip Grillo, federal authorities said. Tipsters told the FBI they recognized him by his Knights of Columbus jacket in images from the riot.

An FBI statement submitted in Brooklyn federal court said video footage from inside the Capitol showed Grillo climbing through a broken window. YouTube footage just outside the Capitol has Grillo near the front of a crowd shouting "Fight for Trump" that was "engaged in a physical confrontation with uniformed officers at the entryway."

Janison: Middling interest in Middle East

President Biden's administration appears bent on keeping its foreign policy focus on areas outside the Mideast, writes Newsday's Dan Janison. "If you are going to list the regions Biden sees as a priority, the Middle East is not in the top three," a former senior national security official and close Biden adviser told Politico. "It’s Asia-Pacific, then Europe and then the Western Hemisphere."

During his first month in office, Biden's only call to a head of state in the region went to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, with whom Biden has sharp differences over the Iran nuclear pact from which his predecessor withdrew. That's not to say the region and its potential flare-ups can be otherwise ignored.

One trouble spot in that part of the world is oil-rich Libya, where any faction's hope of governing in a functional way remains dim a decade after dictator Moammar Gadhafi was overthrown and assassinated.

Earlier this month, Biden announced a halt to U.S. support for the Saudi Arabia-led coalition in the Yemeni civil war, including arms sales. "This war has to end," Biden said, calling it a "humanitarian and strategic catastrophe."

A warm front from Canada

Biden held his first bilateral meeting with a foreign leader on Tuesday, a virtual session with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who could hardly contain his relief with the change in the White House after four years of Trump.

"U.S. leadership has been sorely missed over the past years," Trudeau said from Ottawa during an open segment of the meetings. "As we're preparing for the joint rollout and communiqué from this one, it's nice when Americans aren't pulling out all references to climate change and, instead, adding them in," said Trudeau, apparently referring to the Trump administration's attitude toward climate policy. (See a video clip here.)

Biden, delivering remarks afterward, said "for both our nations, getting COVID under control at home and abroad is an immediate priority." He added that both countries were committed to working together to lead "a robust economic recovery that benefits everyone."

Not that there aren't tensions. Biden upset Canada on his first day in office by revoking the permit for the planned Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta, Canada, to Nebraska. Canadian officials also have raised concerns about the impact on Canadian manufacturers of Biden’s "Buy American" executive order to federal agencies.

But there was nothing like the personal animosity of the Trump-Trudeau relationship. Trump had called Trudeau "dishonest and weak" over a tariffs dispute and "two-faced" after video emerged of the Canadian leader and other world leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, appearing to mock Trump's behavior after a NATO gathering. For more, see Newsday's story by Laura Figueroa Hernandez.

Biden's Cabinet filling up

The Senate confirmed two more of Biden's Cabinet nominees on Tuesday. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a career diplomat, was approved by 78-20 to become ambassador to the United Nations. Tom Vilsack will be agriculture secretary — a job he also held under President Barack Obama — following a 92-7 vote.

Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland's confirmation with bipartisan support grew even likelier as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's office said he favored the choice. In 2016, McConnell led GOP efforts to block Obama's nomination of Garland to the Supreme Court.

Biden's pick to lead Health and Human Services, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, largely avoided hostile fire from Republicans at a Health committee hearing Tuesday, though several GOP senators expressed concerns about his lack of direct health care experience as well as his support for abortion rights.

The nominee for interior secretary, Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), faced sharp Republican questioning at a hearing Tuesday over the Biden administration's favoring of green energy over fossil fuels in long-term climate change strategy.

Most in doubt on Biden's hoped-for team was the fate of Neera Tanden, his choice to head the Office of Management and Budget, who antagonized Republicans over her past stings of them on Twitter. At least one Republican is needed to rescue her nomination after West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin said he would oppose her confirmation. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he is "continuing to look" for votes for Tanden.

More coronavirus news

See a roundup of the latest regional pandemic developments on Long Island and beyond by Newsday's reporting staff, written by Bart Jones. For a full list of Newsday's coronavirus stories, click here.

What else is happening:

• COVID-19 vaccine makers told Congress on Tuesday to expect a big jump in the delivery of doses over the coming month, and the companies insisted they will be able to provide enough for most Americans to get inoculated by summer.
• Biden will visit Houston on Friday as Texas struggles to recover from major winter storms and power and other utility outages. First lady Jill Biden will join him on the trip, which will include meetings with local officials on storm relief efforts and a stop at a COVID-19 vaccination center.
• Texas' Sen. Ted Cruz made a show of contrition after his getaway to Cancun, Mexico, last week during the utility crisis across his state, but he made clear on a conservative podcast Tuesday that he is feeling wronged. Cruz said he and his wife are trying to find out who leaked the contents of a group texting chain that undercut his first story about the trip. "We’ve got a number of Republicans who are neighbors, but we also have a number of Democrats," he said.
• Trump issued a get-well statement to Tiger Woods after the golfing star was seriously hurt in a California car crash. "Get well soon, Tiger. You are a true champion!" said the former president.
• Biden has shifted the remnants of his 2020 campaign operation to the Democratic National Committee as part of a broader effort to build up the party in advance of the 2022 midterm election, The Washington Post reported. Advisers say Biden is not expected to create a committee for his own reelection until after the midterms.