Former Capitol Police Chief Didn’t See FBI Warning Of Capitol Violence, Regrets Resigning

Former United States Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund said Tuesday that he didn’t see the FBI’s warning of violence on the Capitol building and said he regretted resigning.

“Yes, I do sir, I certainly do regret signing, resigning. I love this agency. I love the women and men of this agency and I regret the day I left,” Sund responded to Republican Arizona Sen. Ron Johnson in a Senate hearing on Tuesday.

Sund announced his resignation as United States Capitol Police chief on Jan. 7, a day after a mob of former President Donald Trump’s followers breached the Capitol building on Jan. 6 after a protest turned into a deadly riot against the Electoral College’s certification of the presidential election results.

Sund and the former House and Senate sergeants-at-arms said they hadn’t seen the FBI’s warning report delivered on Jan. 5 to the Capitol police about possible unrest, according to The Washington Post.

Sund, former House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul D. Irving and former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael C. Stenger, said they hadn’t spotted the warning even though they scheduled meetings with the FBI and other federal law enforcement officials, The New York Times reported. The three said miscommunication with some intelligence was responsible.

Sund said a Capitol police officer on the law enforcement and joint terrorism task force submitted the FBI’s report to an official from the intelligence unit, but said “it did not go any further than that,” according to The Times.

Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin said what the Capitol police did “made our job more difficult,” particularly by not arresting people while they were leaving the Capitol building, Jake Gibson, a Fox News producer, tweeted on Jan. 7.

“Why they weren’t zip-tied as they left the building, I don’t know.” Sherwin said, Gibson tweeted at the time.