Acting Capitol Police chief delivers message to Congress, public
Yogananda Pittman issues statement regarding future of U.S. Capitol Police department
The Capitol Police Union is holding a no confidence vote this week for the force's top brass in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that left one police officer dead and 140 more injured.
The Executive Board said it is taking "the unprecedented step after reviewing senior leadership’s handling of the January 6th insurrection."
The vote is aimed at Acting Chief Yogananda Pittman, Assistant Chief Chad Thomas, Acting Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher, and three deputy chiefs.
FORMER CAPITOL POLICE CHIEFS SEEKS TO 'SET RECORD STRAIGHT' ABOUT INSURRECTION IN LETTER
Criticism of Capitol Police leadership intensified when Pittman testified to Congress on Jan. 26 that the "Department knew that the January 6th event would not be like any of the previous protests held in 2020."
"We knew that militia groups and white supremacists organizations would be attending," Pittman told the House Appropriations Committee. "We also knew that some of these participants were intending to bring firearms and other weapons to the event."
The vote, which will take place Thursday and Friday, comes a week after Officer Brian Sicknick was laid in honor at the Capitol Rotunda.
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A Capitol Police officer and a Metropolitan Police officer both died by suicide after the Capitol riot. Union Chairman Gus Papathanasiou also noted the "140 USCP and MPD officers have sustained injuries, many of them serious."
"The enormity of the multiple leadership failures both in leading up to the insurrection, and in the Department’s response to it, have convinced us there is no other choice," Papathanasiou said Tuesday. "The leadership has failed us, and we have paid a terrible price."
Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
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