The Capitol Reaction Against the Jan. 6, 2001, Capitol Police. Is Blanton on the Grounds During the January 6 Attack?
That day, we held our fellow officers’ hands as they got medical treatment and held vigil beside their hospital beds. We performed CPR on strangers and friends. We went to the bathroom and washed ourselves. We told our loved ones that we were all right.
On June 9, I was in the waiting room off the main hearing chamber, about to testify before the committee investigating the attack. There was a TV playing the hearing; I remember the noise leaking out from the chamber and then hearing it again, two seconds later, from the TV, as if the sound had been echoing through the halls. If I just focused on the echo, I rationalized, I wouldn’t have to hear what was being said. I didn’t want to hear it. I couldn’t wait for the ordeal to be over.
The noise I heard was the roar of the crowd at the riot. I was transported back to January 6. I started shaking and sweating. I am not there. I yelled to myself that I was not there. It is over. I am not there. But nothing was working. I felt sweat trickle down my back. I attempted to take deep breaths. From my training with the Capitol Police’s peer support program, I knew I was in real danger. I put my hands on the desk to make sure it was not back on the West Front of the Capitol. I looked so crazy I didn’t know what to think.
The inspector general’s report was released last fall, but Blanton found himself in the hot seat again last week during a House Administration Committee hearing, where he told lawmakers that he wasn’t on the grounds during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The Capitol Inspector General’s Report on the Blanton’s “Impossible Off-duty Mobile Command Post” During the AOC’s March 24 Intifad
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He said he had been coordinating with his team over the phone and via a radio system installed in his official vehicle instead of going to the Capitol that day because he thought it would not be “prudent” to drive to work as thousands of protesters blocked access to the complex.
“I’m trying to understand why you physically weren’t here on a pretty important day,” Representative Terri A. Sewell, Democrat of Alabama, said at the hearing. You have access to information that we have about possible problems on this campus, thanks to being on the Capitol Police Board.
It was mind- blowing that he wasn’t there and she noted how he knew a lot more than they did.
An investigation conducted by the Architect of the Capitol Inspector General’s Office found Blanton had abused his authority and used government property for personal gain.
Lawmakers also raised concerns about the allegation that Mr. Blanton had impersonated a police officer. According to the report, he used one of his official vehicles, equipped with police lights and sirens, to pursue a car that had hit a car belonging to his daughter’s boyfriend. The police report states that Mr. Blanton is an off-duty police officer.
The president fired Blanton after the White House did “due diligence,” a White House official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel issues.
Blanton told committee members at last Thursday’s hearing that he was “directing AOC personnel” from his government vehicle, which he said served as “AOC’s mobile command post”, during the riot — but not on the Capitol grounds.
The Inspector General’s report was very serious, which is why the first hearing was dedicated to providing oversight over the AOC. “His refusal to be transparent and truthful has made clear that he can no longer lead the organization and must resign immediately.”
“The Architect of the Capitol, Brett Blanton, no longer has my confidence to continue in his job. He should resign or President Biden should remove him immediately,” McCarthy tweeted.