House Republicans have released their own report on the infamous Capitol riot: “Report of Investigation: Security Failures at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Thank you to the five congressmen – Jim Banks, Rodney Davis, Jim Jordan, Kelly Armstrong, Troy Nehls -- who directed the preparation of the report, an excellent answer to the much-touted final report by the Democrats’ sham commission of many months.

Shortly after the release, my husband sent me an email.  In the subject line were the words, “You were right about Pelosi.” After the riot, he had heard me saying repeatedly that I thought congressional leadership was to blame.  Unfortunately, no journalist took up the matter.

The second item in a list in that article read, “Did congressional leaders and other elected representatives, or their staffs, instigate the storming of the Capitol?  The fact that the security profile at the Capitol that day was woefully inadequate and National Guard troops were doing other duty begs this question. Also, the Big Show the Democrats made afterward and are still making with the sham commission, shows consciousness of guilt -- are they trying to cover something up?”

The Republicans’ report answers these questions and more. From the Executive Summary: “This report supplements the Senate Report and provides findings from the perspective of the House of Representatives regarding those areas of inquiry that the Democrat-led investigation has thus far ignored, specifically answering the important question of why the Capitol was left so unprepared. This report is based on documents and communications obtained from key witnesses, and interviews with U.S. Capitol Police leaders and rank-and-file officers… This report goes to great lengths to protect the identities of the line officers and analysts who participated in interviews. Sources who cooperated with this investigation described retaliation by USCP leadership for their participation in this investigation and other investigations into the events of January 6, 2021.”

The authorities, congressional leaders, and their staffs, had something to hide after the riot.

The Key Findings section begins with the following points:

“The Speaker of the House and Democrat leadership were closely involved in security decisions in the lead up to and on January 6, 2021.

“The House Sergeant-at-Arms took direction from staff in the office of the Speaker of the House and intentionally excluded Republicans from key meetings and conversations related to House security.

“Staff with the House Sergeant-at-Arms office emailed Paul Irving that January 6^th was Pelosi’s fault.

“Widespread concern from Democrat leadership over “optics” in the aftermath of Summer 2020 “Black Lives Matter” protests prevented deployment of the National Guard.”

“The House Sergeant-at-Arms was compromised by politics in the lead up to and on January 6,2021 and did not adequately prepare the Capitol for possible violence.”

Under Pelosi’s leadership, Democrat partisan politics took priority over the safety of all members of the House of Representatives.  Direction by Pelosi and staff driven by political considerations affected how the House Sergeant-at-Arms did his job.

Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) commented to Jason Chaffetz on Fox after the release of the report, “That’s why they didn’t want to let us on the committee in the first place because they knew we would ask these questions and get to the information we ultimately got to.” He added that there were two things going on here: concerns over “optics” because of the riots of 2020 and a pattern of approval between the Speaker’s office and the House Sergeant at Arms.

Also mentioned in Key Findings is that Capitol Police (CP) were not adequately trained nor equipped to handle what they faced on January 6, and the command-and-control structure of this force delayed decision making.  In addition, the report found that the CP force has not implemented recommended changes from oversight.

It seems as if Pelosi was not doing her job as speaker when she did not make sure that CP officers were trained and equipped, and that she has been more interested in making a show with her partisan commission than in improving the force under her charge.

It’s good to have answers to questions the Democrat’s sham commission never asked.  Again, thank you to the House Republicans who took on this task.