By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
The head of the U.S. Capitol police and two other senior security officials are resigning following the mismanaged response to the assault on Capitol Hill by a violent mob incited by President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, according to news reports.
Steven Sund’s resignation will be effective Jan. 16 and follows calls by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others for accountability.
“There was a failure of leadership at the top,” Pelosi reportedly said.
Michael Stenger, the Senate sergeant-at-arms, and Paul Irving, the House sergeant-at-arms, also resigned.
The U.S. Capitol security force was overwhelmed from the beginning as the large mob gathered and forced their way through barriers. They took little to no action outside as insurrectionists scaled the walls and stairs and forced their way into the Capitol Rotunda. Eventually backup arrived in the form of the National Guard, local police and FBI agents. Mayor Muriel Bowser instituted a 6 p.m. curfew that many of the insurrectionists ignored.
Among those facing charges following the riots is Leonard Guthrie of Cape May, who was arrested by U.S. Capitol police for unlawful entry of a federal building. He was one of 82 initially arrested.
One rioter was shot dead, three people died of medical conditions and officer Brian Sicknick of the U.S. Capitol Police, died of injuries suffered during the riot. More than 50 other officers suffered injuries.
Atlantic County Democratic Party Chairman Michael Suleiman said the situation was a failure of security and saw a distinct difference between how this mob was treated as opposed to those participating in the Black Lives Matter protests across the nation this past summer.
“I shudder to think what would have happened if these were Black Lives Matter protesters — tear gas and rubber bullets all over the place,” Suleiman said. “What is frightening is that apparently it’s harder to storm on the field at an Eagles game than it is to break into Congress.”
Cape May County Republican Party Chairman Michael Donohue questioned why police failed to keep the rioters out of the Capitol building but defended their right to be there.
“To go to the nation’s capital, to stand on the steps of the Capitol to protest things that were happening in our political processes in our government, is the greatest of American traditions,” he said, asking why they were there in the first place and who roused the rioters.
President Donald Trump spoke to his supporters at a rally Wednesday morning and encouraged them to march to the Capitol, vowing he would never concede and repeating his consistent lie that the election was stolen.
Suleiman said he fears for the safety of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
“I would strongly urge them not to have any sort of public swearing in, inauguration. I don’t think it’s safe. I think he should get sworn in in the Oval Office. He and Kamala each get a speech in the Oval Office and that’s it. I worry for these people’s safety. Broadcast it over TV and that’s it,” he said.