Capitol Insurrection Investigation: First Senate Hearings Probe Congressional Security Officials

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Paul D. Irving and Michael C. Stenger, the former sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate, have come under scrutiny since the Capitol attack. Both have resigned: Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times

By Glynn Wilson –

The public will get its first chance to hear from the Congressional security officials this week who resigned in the wake of the violent insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6 incited by the former president and commander-in-chief that disrupted the peaceful transfer of power as Electoral College votes were being certified naming Joe Biden as president.

Michael C. Stenger, the former Senate sergeant-at-arms, and Paul D. Irving, the former House sergeant-at-arms, will come under questioning and scrutiny in a joint Senate committee hearing on Tuesday by the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, led by Gary Peters of Michigan, and the Rules Committee, led by Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota.

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Sen. Amy Klobuchar, (D-MN), who ran for president in the Democratic Party primary in 2020, is known as a tough questioner in the Senate: Google

Also there to testify will be Steven Sund, the former Capitol Police Chief who also resigned right after the event at the behest of House Speaker Nanci Pelosi, and Robert Contee, the new Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, which saved the day by coming to the rescue of the beleaguered Capitol Police force, where a number officers are being investigated for being complicit in allowing rioters into the building.

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Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Gary Peters., D-Mich., is also known as a tough questioner: Google

Unfortunately, from other advance coverage it appears the framing of the story is going to continue the narrative of an advance planning and intelligence failure and that too few officers were prepared to handle the “unanticipated” size of the insurrection crowd.

When you hear them face grilling for delaying calling in reinforcements and deploying the National Guard only hours after the Capitol breach was already underway, remember that we have already reported that it was an “inside job” and that an implicit stand down order was in place from Trump to his acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, whose name is not on the list of witnesses at the Congressional hearing panel.

Some news outlets are billing this as a “bipartisan” investigation, although Republicans are resisting a proposal by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, to form an independent, bipartisan commission modeled after the one that investigated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, arguing that her blueprint would skew the panel toward Democrats.

You can watch the hearing on C-SPAN or here in the Senate Rules Committee feed. It’s possible that some of the hearing will be shown on other cable news channels as well.