Congress, Criminal law

“I Take Responsibility”: Pelosi Admits Fault for the Lack of Security Precautions on January 6th

For years, some of us have asked why the Capitol was so poorly prepared for the January 6th riot. As part of the coverage on that day, I remarked at the start of the protests that I had never seen the Capitol so thinly protected for a major demonstration. Some paths to the Capitol were protected by a handful of bicycle officers and thin barriers. Now, a previously-unreleased video taken on Jan. 6, 2021 shows then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., admitting that she was responsible for the lack of preparedness.

The video was disclosed in a posting on X by a House Republican panel.  The video shows Pelosi in an exchange with Chief of Staff Terri McCullough on the evacuation. Pelosi states:

“We have responsibility, Terri. We did not have any accountability for what was going on there. And we should have. This is ridiculous. You’re going to ask me in the middle of the thing when they’ve already breached…that, should we call the Capitol Police? I mean the National Guard? Why weren’t the National Guard there to begin with?…They clearly didn’t know, and I take responsibility for not having them just prepared for more.”

The video was never released by the J6 Committee, which was criticized for its highly choreographed and scripted hearings with little balance in the presentation of evidence. The lack of emphasis on the security issues was glaring and raised by critics throughout the hearings.

While Democrats and the media dismissed the issue and claims that Trump offered to supply the national guard, it was later confirmed that those offers were made to Congress and rejected. A report from Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton also found that Capitol police were told that they could not use critical riot materials and tactics in preparation for the Jan. 6th protests.

What was so curious about the lack of precautions that morning is that the Capitol had just experienced the violence outside of the White House in the Lafayette Park protests.

To this day, the media and many members continue to repeat false accounts of the Lafayette Park. Many still have stories posted that claim that Lafayette Park was cleared for Trump to hold a photo op in front of a church. I discussed those accounts in testimony before Congress and in columns on the clearing of the Lafayette Park area. NPR still has a story on its website entitled “Peaceful Protesters Tear-Gassed To Clear Way For Trump Church Photo-Op.” More officers were injured in the Lafayette Park protests than on January 6th.

As previously discussed in repeated columns, the House Democratic leadership refused to hold a single hearing with key witnesses on what occurred before the riot. After using a “snap impeachment,” weeks went by without calling such witnesses before the Trump impeachment trial. Such evidence would have challenged the narrative and raised questions over decisions made by Congress that left the Capitol vulnerable to such an attack.

In the Lafayette Park protests, White House officials feared that the compound could be breached by violent protesters who had injured dozens of officers and engaged in arson and attacks around the White House during that weekend. They decided to clear the area to install fencing (which Congress only ordered after the Jan. 6th riot). They also deployed the National Guard and the “heavier, less lethal weapons” that the Inspector General found were denied to the Capitol Police.

Had Pelosi and others accepted National Guard support and installed fencing as was done at the White House, it is doubtful that the riot on January 6th would have occurred or any disruption would have been far more limited in scope. The fact that the J6 Committee downplayed this major factor in the riot further undermines how the investigation was framed by the Democratic leadership. Pelosi barred the GOP members selected for the committee, hand picking two anti-Trump Republican members.

The absence of any balance on the committee was evident from the start. There was little effort to present alternative explanations or defenses to critical issues raised in hearings. No opposing witnesses were called who might contradict the narrative put forward by the Committee, including witnesses who would debunk the much-repeated, false claim that Trump wrestled with his driver to gain control of the presidential limo to drive to the Capitol.

With the Speaker admitting on tape that she bore responsibility for the lack of precautions, one would think that the J6 Committee, including then Vice Chair Liz Cheney, would consider that relevant for the public to understand the underlying facts. Instead, it was buried with much other countervailing evidence.

198 thoughts on ““I Take Responsibility”: Pelosi Admits Fault for the Lack of Security Precautions on January 6th”

  2. Joe Biden repeated his boast today that he had F-15s that he could use to bomb Americans who get out of line.

    But DJT is the authoritarian threat

      1. Maybe Biden is part of an experiment to develop a new language. It would make sense. English is a product of White Supremacy. In the future, we will all talk some form of jibberash created by the Democrats.

    2. The gaslighting by Democrats that the GOP and Orange-Man-Bad are threats to democracy seems to be working. Yesterday a friend overheard two young store clerks at a ritzy boutique in our resort community say that Orange-Man-Bad was doing all the things Hitler did. Really? Seems to me the Dems with their media lapdogs are doing all the things Goebbels did, including repeating lies over and over and gaslighting the populace. There’s a good reason the Founding Dads put freedom of the press in the First Amendment, but the repeated examples of media malpractice and Goebbels-like propaganda will help bring this country down.

  3. Until three things happen, which is incredibly unlikely, nothing will change. The first is that we find ourselves with a media dedicated to the truth and without any agenda whatsoever. A media devoted to informing, not influencing. Secondly, the American people put away their apathy, intellectual vacancy, the greed that influences their decisions, and the Confirmation Bias that shapes their opinions. Last of all, Americans allow honest, open discourse on all topics without retreating into tribal enclaves and opinion bubbles that isolate them from reality. No more cancel culture. Not likely, but an attractive dream, nonetheless.

  4. The Speaker of the House — and the first woman to hold that position — has disgraced the nation. Now, years after people have spent their days in confinement to no good purpose, and only because she has at last been found out, she “accepts responsibility,” which is the bureaucratic way of evading responsibility while pretending contrition.

    It would be hoped that she would leave public service at this time.

    1. She would leave public service, but she’s too busy tearing up Trump speeches with a crazed grin and very wide eyes.

  5. “I take responsibility” is something that Trump and his lawyers will tell the Probation Officer doing his sentencing, and then will deny in public he ever said that.

    2. Sure, that’s better. Let’s go with your attempt-at-being-clever prediction, which you don’t even believe. That way you can avoid being man enough to admit that that greedy old hag was to blame. Jesus, she can say “I take responsibility” and you can”t accept it for fear of a psychotic break? Please re-insert your head in the sand and pipe-down. Adults are trying to discuss something, GUS.

  6. Me-thinks she and other Ds wanted something like a “riot” and did what they could to make sure the peaceful protest did not remain peaceful. Me-thinks they did much more than have insufficient security.

  7. I have uncovered strong evidence that Biden manipulated his Justice Department to charge Hunter with relatively minor crimes in order to cover up the more egregious crimes related to being an unregistered foreign agent, financial crimes and foreign corruption. This was done to avoid leaving a trail that would lead back to the President.
    Joe Biden also manipulated the jury selection to ensure that Hunter would be convicted. The plan was to try to end the investigation by convicting Hunter.

    An update will follow shortly.

    1. Looking forward to it. Most who have stayed awake (or as awake as possible) during this disastrous administration have had some ideas about the father and son duo and their dealings in Burisma only to note, lo and behold, that the has U.S. found itself a cause to sink its teeth and its billions into in Ukraine. The money poured into Ukraine has been irretrievably lost. And so has the dignity of the nation.

    2. How do you keep credulous idiots in suspense?

      An update will follow shortly.

      Still waiting for the evidence of Dominion voting systems and Hugo Chavez as well.

      1. and don’t forget Obama’s birth certificate – investigators in Hawaii going to provide that evidence any day now.

        1. Look the spastic idiot has run out of responses to his own post, so he just goes with +100

  8. In other news, 10,000 workers lose their jobs in California, and hundreds of restaurants close, all because of the new minimum wage law. The law allows state officials to virtue signal and feel smug, while destroying thousands of jobs and businesses. With its beautiful weather and abundant natural resources, California should be almost utopia, but because it’s being governed by liberal Democrats, it’s a dumpster fire that people are fleeing from – and going to red states.

    1. The singular American failure is the judicial branch, with emphasis on the Supreme Court.

      All Americans enjoy immunity from regulation that is not enumerated in Article 1, Section 8.

      All Americans enjoy the absolute right to private property, which provides only the owner the power of dominion, allowing only the owner to set prices, rents, wages, etc.

      The rights, freedoms, privileges, and immunities prescribed and provided by the Constitution and Bill of Rights to all citizens cannot be denied by Congress or inferior levels of government.

      California is now officially an intractable cesspool of unassimilable heterogeneous foreign communist illegal alien invaders.

  9. Thank you, Professor Turley
    why doesn’t she take responsibility for the two sham impeachments and all the Russian rhetoric and all the controversy she and her cronies created have a great day

  10. Turley shills hard for fox as he takes Pelosi’s statement pathetically out of context. Trump had his boys standing by, he whipped them up and then sat around thumb popping his butt as his cabinet repeatedly sent Ivanka to try to talk sense to him about stopping the raid. He just threw plates against the wall in the dining room. No call for the Guard by the person that needed to make it. Full stop.

    For that alone, trump should be barred from ever entering the Oval office again. Hell, his cabinet ran a soft 25th on him at exactly that moment.

      1. That’s right, Trump did ask his followers to not listen or see what others showed or written, so your right, it was the idiot that said that.

    2. “Turley shills hard for fox as he takes Pelosi’s statement pathetically out of context.”

      It’s Pelosi’s own video. How did Turley take it out of context? Are you a simpleton?

        1. I agree with Anonymous. When I said “Oh Brother” it was meant for the “meathead” who said “Turley shills…” Oh brother!
          I think J. Turley has a lot of knowledge, independent thinking, logic and he shares it in the way we can understand it. Thank you, Mr. Turley. Keep up the good work.

          1. Biden boasts again today that he has F-15s that he can use to bomb americans who get out of line.

      2. Diesel powered moron who groans uncontrollably at cretin circle jerks. ^^^

        He took it out of context by…, wait for it…, taking it out of context.

  11. “Hunter Biden should be on trial for money laundering, tax evasion for his Burisma bribes, illegal influence peddling, and operating as an unregistered foreign agent of corrupt foreign governments. But he’s not, because a corrupt prosecutor refused to charge him for anything related to the Biden crime family syndicate.” @seanmdav

    But now Democrats and their media propagandists are all over TV saying “Joe Biden is the living embodiment of the rule of law.” LOL. HAHAHAHAHAHA. LOL. No. Joe Biden is the Mafioso head of the Biden Crime Family Racketeering Syndicate that has been getting away with actual CRIMES for 50 years.

    1. “Do you see the op now? Charge Hunter with a minor gun violation and NOT his conduct as an unregistered foreign agent or illicit foreign business dealings in order to protect the BIG GUY before the election. DOJ is Biden’s election protection racket.” @StephenM

  12. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio
    Only in America could the sons of immigrant refugees grow up to be politicians opposed to immigrants and refugees.

    1. There are only two kinds of people in the world, people who hate Ted Cruz… and Ted Cruz.

    2. They are opposed to ILLEGAL immigration, which is not really “immigration” at all.

      1. Edward – the distinction between illegal immigration, and legal immigration, is discussed all the time by Republicans. Yet Democrats can’t seem to hold that little thought in their heads.

      2. edwardmahl,
        Thank you for making the distinction.
        I thought it would of been obvious to all, but apparently not.

  13. Who would have thought, much less known, that a political party would make every effort to write history in their own image based upon falsehoods. . . And, so many, too many, actually believe the falsehoods as being true . . . Or, at least the basis to fundamentally transform our constitutional republic to become a globalist, socialist, banana republic.

  15. RUSSIAN NAVAL GROUP HOLDS EXERCISES OFF FLORIDA COAST

    A Russian naval group is holding exercises off the coast near West Palm Beach.
    https://apnews.com/article/russia-navy-warhips-cuba-caribbean-ukraine-12c2be0f94a5ce1fcb8c6fdc0101d450

    They will head to Cuba after a brief stop at Mar-a-Lago for cocktails and to pick up classified documents.

    Tracking data of the vessels is available here:
    https://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/news-selections/world-news/russian-naval-group-off-melbourne-florida-coastline

  16. Steve Sund of the Capitol Police was offered the National Guard days before Jan 6. He asked the Sargent at Arms of the House whether to request the support. Apparently after consulting Pelosi the Sargent at Arms said no. While the evidence of Pelosi’s recognition of responsibility is new, the basic facts are not. The J6 Committee had only one purpose: to implicate Trump regardless of the facts.

    1. Daniel,
      Did you see this?
      Democrats rushed to blame Trump for J6 riots while Pelosi privately admitted some responsibility
      https://justthenews.com/government/congress/democrats-blamed-trump-j6-while-pelosi-privately-admitted-some-responsibility

      From Sund, “I point out in the book how politicized security on Capitol [Hill] is, and that hasn’t changed. It’s still the same,” Sund said. “You still have way too much politics playing a role in security. All the oversight over the police department is all politically aligned. And anytime you have oversight that reports to a certain political party, it’s a recipe for disaster.”

    2. Nothing stands between Americans and the Democrats/Deep State controlled National Institutes of Health (NIH / National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Gain of Function research. The following was released today by the US House of Representatives:

      The primary conclusion drawn at this point in the investigation is that NIAID cannot be trusted to oversee its own research of pathogens responsibly. It cannot be trusted to determine whether an experiment on a potential pandemic pathogen or enhanced potential pandemic pathogen poses unacceptable biosafety risk or a serious public health threat. Lastly, NIAID cannot be trusted to honestly communicate with Congress and the public about controversial GOFROC experiments. * 15.

      US House Interim Staff Report on Investigation into Risky MPXV [Monkeypox Virus] Experiment at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases

      * 15:  U.S. HHS OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL, A-05-21-00025, THE NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH AND ECOHEALTH ALLIANCE DID NOT EFFECTIVELY MONITOR AWARDS AND SUBAWARDS, RESULTING IN MISSED OPPORTUNITIES TO OVERSEE RESEARCH AND OTHER DEFICIENCIES (2023); U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE, GAO-23-106119, NIH COULD TAKE ADDITIONAL ACTIONS TO MANAGE RISKS INVOLVING FOREIGN SUBRECIPIENTS (2023).

      1. To understand the gravity of the above Congressional Report, one has to read the background information cited in the journal Science where the journal editors themselves were concerned about the NIH’s Gain of Function research.

        MOVING TARGET:  The global monkeypox outbreak is giving the virus an unprecedented opportunity to adapt to humans. Will it change for the worse?
        15 SEP 2022
        https://www.science.org/content/article/will-monkeypox-virus-become-more-dangerous

        MAKING TROUBLE:  The United States is moving to tighten oversight of studies that could make viruses more dangerous. But how far should it go?
        19 OCT 2022
        https://www.science.org/content/article/u-s-weighs-crackdown-experiments-could-make-viruses-more-dangerous

        1. Professor Richard H. Ebright is an excellent resource to understand the Gain of Function research

          Professor Richard H. Ebright
          @R_H_Ebright
          Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

          https://x.com/R_H_Ebright

  17. The interesting thing…
    You have more damage from Pro Hamas protesters which have encircled the WH and defaced memorials around the area.
    You don’t see any of them getting arrested or charged.

    As to J6… there were thousands of hours of video. Much of it would be exculpatory evidence. None of it shown or released.
    (Which could be grounds for misconduct on the part of the J6 prosecution.)

    -G

  18. The communist American Deep Deep State “Swamp” Regime conspired to criminally implicate Real President Donald J. Trump, an innocent party, as yet another segment of the ongoing Obama Coup D’etat in America to “fundamentally transform the United States of America” into a Tin Pot, Banana Republic, Cesspool, S—hole country.

  19. Reading Pelosi’s quote and Turley’s spin is why he makes the big bucks with FOXNEWS.

    1. Fishstick, still obsessing with the good professor’s paycheck?
      And it is not spin. The good professor’s column is factual and as any good trial lawyer would do, point out the facts, the evidence and then ask the related questions.

      1. Trump watched it on TV and did nothing. She asked the question, why isn’t anybody doing anything, and she made calls to the DOD, Capital Police, DC police, and National Guard. Who did Trump call? Somebody made the call for help, and it wasn’t Trump.

        1. She made no such calls, ya fvcking liar.

          The chief of capitol police tells a different tale than your dumb ass.

  20. Hunter verdict: guilty on three felony counts.

    If I were Judge Norieka, I’d delay sentencing until the day after Trump’s sentencing. Lawfare goes both ways.

    Also, I owe the citizens of Delaware an apology. They did the right thing. I should be less pessimistic.

    1. Diogenes,
      I for one, am rather shocked at the verdict.
      However, when looking back at not only the good professor’s columns on the subject, other alternative sources, the prosecution proved their case. The defense did not prove theirs.
      Concerning the timing of sentencing, well said!

      1. Upstate, Joe said, “Nobody f***s with a Biden.”

        There’s a mop handle in a prison shower that says otherwise. Joe needs to talk to his buddies in NYC.

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