Former Capitol Police chief, sergeants at arms called to testify on Capitol riot

Capitol security forces and Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police are being called to testify before the Senate to examine the breakdown in response to rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Former Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper Michael Stenger, former House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving and former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, all who resigned in the wake of the attack, have been called to testify along with Robert Contee, chief of the Metropolitan Police Department.

The three men that resigned have faced questions about their hesitancy to call for National Guard assistance ahead of the planned protests that turned into a violent mob. The group has faced scrutiny about their preparation for a day when thousands of former President Trump’s supporters pledged to protest congressional certification of the 2020 election results.

The Feb. 23 hearing is a joint effort from the Senate’s Rules Committee and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which, alongside two other committees, recently kicked off a probe of 22 different agencies seeking information on preparations for the attack.

“The security failures that led to the breach endangered not just the Vice President and the Congress, but the peaceful, democratic transfer of power itself. The American people deserve a complete accounting of those failures,” lawmakers wrote in a letter accompanying their request last week.