Senate panel releases scathing report about the 'violent and unprecedented' Capitol insurrection days after lawmakers blocked a bipartisan commission

• A Senate panel issued a scathing report detailing law enforcement failures before the Capitol riot.
• The report came 10 days after Republicans blocked a bipartisan commission to probe the siege.
• The report "uncovered a number of intelligence and security failures" by federal agencies and Capitol Police.

A joint Senate panel released a scathing report on Tuesday that skewered the intelligence and coordination failures that led to a "violent and unprecedented attack" on the US Capitol on January 6. The report, undertaken by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration, came 10 days after Republicans in the upper chamber blocked a bill that would have established a bipartisan commission to investigate the deadly insurrection.

The 128-page report is the first in-depth public examination by Congress of the events leading up the siege and its aftermath. It is one of several congressional probes investigating the attack.

"The Committees' investigation uncovered a number of intelligence and security failures leading up to and on January 6 that allowed for the breach of the Capitol," the report said. "These breakdowns ranged from federal intelligence agencies failing to warn of a potential for violence to a lack of planning and preparation by USCP and law enforcement leadership."

Among other things, lawmakers found that there was conflicting intelligence about the threat of armed violence before the attack, a lack of preparation by law enforcement agencies for the violence, and a subsequent refusal by agencies to take responsibility for the breakdown in communication and lack of preparedness.

Officers told the committee investigators that they felt abandoned, hung out to dry, and "betrayed" by Capitol Police leadership during the attack itself, with one officer recalling hearing a lieutenant asking "[d]oes anybody have a plan?" multiple times on the radio.

"I was horrified that NO deputy chief or above was on the radio or helping us. For hours the screams on the radio were horrific[,] the sights were unimaginable[,] and there was a complete loss of control," another officer told the committee. "For hours NO Chief or above took command and control. Officers were begging and pleading for help for medical triage."

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The document adds another layer of credibility to previous reporting on the siege, like a December 21 report that detailed users' comments on the pro-Trump forum TheDonald.win, in which they shared maps of the tunnels connecting buildings in the Capitol and made remarks like, "Bring guns. It's now or never," and "surround every building with a tunnel entrance/exit. They better dig a tunnel all the way to China if they want to escape."

An FBI report issued the day before the riot also detailed some of this online activity and warned of a "war" at the Capitol.

The report, from the bureau's office in Norfolk, Virginia, cited an "online thread" that "discussed specific calls for violence," including one that said: "Be ready to fight. Congress needs to hear glass breaking, doors being kicked in, and blood from their BLM and Pantifa slave soldiers being spilled. Get violent. Stop calling this a march, or rally, or a protest. Go there ready for war. We get our President or we die. NOTHING else will achieve this goal."

Despite its dire warnings, the FBI's report was never disseminated to the intelligence arm of the Capitol Police or the agency's leadership, leaving it unprepared to deal with the attack on January 6, the Senate's investigation found. The panel also determined that "USCP leadership did not develop a comprehensive staffing plan" for when Congress met that day to certify the 2020 election results, and "failed to provide front-line officers with effective protective equipment or training."

The investigators issued 21 separate recommendations to reform and overhaul the US Capitol Police and the US Capitol Police Board's policies and procedures.

Tuesday's report was released 10 days after Senate Republicans filibustered a proposal to create a bipartisan panel to investigate the events of January 6 styled after the 9/11 commission.

It would have consisted of five Democratic-appointed and five Republican-appointed members tasked with producing a report by December 31. The GOP's move to block the commission was the first legislative filibuster of President Joe Biden's term.