The ranking Republican on the House Oversight Committee slammed the acting Capitol police chief’s last-minute decision to pull out of a Tuesday hearing on January 6, calling her excuse “pathetic.”
“I don’t understand how the Republicans can refuse to investigate the first armed insurrection in our nation’s capital,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told TPM.
Because it failed. At least they still have a shot with their fake audits.
“Director of Army staff Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, has admitted that he may have expressed concern about the “optics” of sending more troops to the area around the Capitol after first strenuously denying that he ever made such a comment.”
Hey General Piatt, how about these optics:
Not a good look for Pittman. Even if she has another ‘good’ reason, saying it’s because you have to watch another hearing that you can stream on C-SPAN later in the day ain’t really convincing.
Can’t give these sedition-adjacent Trumpistas any purchase in the argument against full accountability for the insurrection.
Bit of trolling on Warren’s part: she certainly knows why the Republicans have no “interest in that;” they were co-conspirators.
To paraphrase our host, you don’t invite Bin Laden to the investigation of 9/11, that’s not how it works; the Democrats need to go this one alone.
The plot sickens…
What about them? American-Flag-waving patriots standing on the steps of the Capitol?
Brings a tear to ones’ eye as we see that patriotism so ingrained in our culture which is missing in many other lands. How many decades after the war did it take before Germans felt they could proudly fly their own flag again…
James Comer (R-KY) said in a statement. “Acting Chief Pittman is declining to testify to avoid answering the hard questions.” HAHAHAHAHAHAHA…what a silly fraud he is. ‘Democratic narrative’??? Oh you bet you hypocritical POS.
“I don’t understand how the Republicans can refuse to investigate the first armed insurrection in our nation’s capital,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told TPM.
Liz. Love you to death. But even I, just some goober from rural Oregon commenting on the internet, can understand that.
“[Every single member of the Trump Administration] is declining to testify to avoid answering the hard questions.”
I don’t remember you saying anything like this during the last four years, Mr. Comer.
As @tindalos said a few floors up, she’s obviously trolling them. Do you think Elizabeth Warren is naive? A bit slow, maybe? She is neither by a long shot. She’s mocking their guilty hypocrisy.
They don’t want any investigation, but are outraged when there’s a temporary impediment to the watered-down investigation.
It’s either righteous outrage or utter hypocrisy. Take your pick. I know mine.
Of course not. I gave her money to run for President. But you already knew that.
Of course but as I often say, sometimes the D.C. folks sometimes speak in ways that are a bit puzzling until you realize it’s a kind of layered message, meant to be heard in different ways by different audiences. This isn’t even that, though. It’s just mock innocence for sarcastic emphasis. Everyone knows why the Republicans want to put this unfortunate business behind them without really looking very hard at it.
As no less an authority than Vladimir Putin noted, these are pictures of “Some of the people who took a stroll to the U.S. Congress."
“Acting Chief Pittman’s excuse for not showing up is pathetic: she claims she must watch another hearing where the Capitol Police Inspector General is testifying in case she has to respond in some way to what’s said at that hearing,” ranking member James Comer (R-KY) said in a statement. “Acting Chief Pittman is declining to testify to avoid answering the hard questions.”
Let’s check the tapes:
Comer voted against the commission, so he has no leg to stand on to criticize how House Dems conduct the investigation he opposed.
Pittman was in charge of intelligence for CPD at the time of the insurrection. I rarely agree with any police union on anything whatsoever, but the CPD union is absolutely correct to demand that she resign.
It may actually be a good thing that Pittman isn’t there today, simply because that will put more focus on the two generals who had a hand in delaying the National Guard response to the insurrection. There is a huge hole in understanding why the cries for help when unanswered, and why troops sat around waiting to go instead of being rushed into DC. Today’s hearing may get into that.
Today is also showing that the Biden administration is helping the investigation into what happened…there’s no way the emails and other information released comes out without wheel greasing. The kinds of things released today are usually defended at some level by an administration, even when defending the actions of the last one they don’t like, simply to keep executive branch power…it is very heartening that no one appears to be holding back documents that Congress requests about the insurrection and the lead up to it. I’d bet that DoJ is looking very carefully in to some of this stuff, including classified stuff that hasn’t been released, and it sure feels like some of this will cross a line into illegal behavior. I’m really hoping DoJ goes after the members of the Trump administration who helped support the insurrection…start with the little fish, and see where it leads.
Yep. What he’s mad about is that Pittman is the one the GQP Trump KKKulters want to ask loaded questions about Pelosi telling the Capitol Police to stand down and such, which is a very popular go-to blame-shifting conspiracy-wink message you will see on the Faux News KKKomment boards and in the right wing troll-o-sphere.
Senator Warren is highly intelligent and very likely better informed than anyone commenting on this post. Of course she understands that the enablers of an armed insurrection are unwilling to participate in the investigation, and why that is so. As for Pittman, she wasn’t in charge on 6 January, though it may be that she was as close to the decision-making process as anyone in the Capitol Police except for the now-ex chief: that is one of the things we don’t know. Still, she inherited a hot stinking mess that she did not directly cause, as far as we know. Senior officials, including Acting Chief Pittman, have more-than-full-time jobs even under ordinary circumstances. “Not compelling her testimony” is a recognition of that fact. A week might seem like sufficient notice, but as a point of information, my partner is a risk analyst at a university. She is not a director or a manager, much less a top official in a critical law-enforcement/security agency, yet she is always booked solid a week or more in advance. Scale that up to Pittman’s level, and the criticality of the issues Pittman has responsibility for. Sooner or later she has to face the committee, and she knows it. She just might need some time to prepare for probably the most important appointment of her career. If she is not well prepared, it could be the last.
