This Is Where to Look. By Josh Marshall.

This Is Where to Look. By Josh Marshall.

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TPM Reader JB, a former Hill staffer, is 100% right. A serious threat to the Capitol would never have been left to the Capitol Police. The failure is almost certainly rooted in the fact that federal law enforcement and the military were reluctant to plan for a threat from the President’s own supporters.

To your correspondent BK’s comments today I have to add the point that a serious threat to the Capitol — which yesterday’s riot certainly was — would never have been left to the Capitol Police alone had it been foreseen.

We have to ask whether the reason it was not foreseen is because federal law enforcement and military officials were reluctant to plan for threats coming from supporters of the President. Obviously, these were almost entirely white people. If they hadn’t been, Capitol Police would not have been as accommodating. But it’s also true that a determined assault by a large crowd of people, some of whom might be armed, on the complex is not something Capitol Police are trained or resourced to handle by themselves. They would need help for that, and yesterday they didn’t get it. We ought to be asking why.