US Park Police in Washington DC were overwhelmed by protesters and called for help from colleagues hours before then President Donald Trump’s 6 January speech urging people to march on the Capitol, bombshell new recordings reveal.
As early as 9am, Park Police in the Capitol reported “individuals breaking through the fence line” and radioed colleagues with concern about “a large crowd that’s following us”, recordings obtained by the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) show.
Park Police met with a large crowd near the Washington Monument early in the morning, and had been instructed to attempt to hold them back, but had requested backup to do so.
“Park Service has requested that the Flag Circle is closed, uh, we have about 300 people up here – they’re all refusing to leave.
Do we have any react squads so we can have a small show of force, get this area closed?”
on message said, while another added “We have individuals with shields and gas masks at the statue”.
Hours later, a violent mob breached the Capitol attempting to prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. »