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Senate report into January 6 US Capitol attack details broad intelligence failures

  • Investigation finds there were clear warnings and tips that supporters of former US president Donald Trump were planning to ‘storm the Capitol’
  • Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the findings show even greater need for a bipartisan commission to investigate the causes of the attack

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Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley, known as the QAnon Shaman, at the US Capitol riot in Washington on January 6. Photo: Getty Images / TNS

A Senate investigation of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol found a broad intelligence breakdown across multiple agencies, along with widespread law enforcement and military failures that led to the violent attack.

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There were clear warnings and tips that supporters of former President Donald Trump, including right-wing extremist groups, were planning to “storm the Capitol” with weapons and possibly infiltrate the tunnel system underneath the building. But that intelligence never made it up to top leadership.

The result was chaos. A Senate report released on Tuesday details how officers on the front lines suffered chemical burns, brain injuries and broken bones, among other injuries, after fighting the attackers, who quickly overwhelmed them and broke into the building. Officers told the Senate investigators they were left with no leadership or direction when command systems broke down.

The Senate report is the first – and could be the last – bipartisan review of how hundreds of Trump supporters were able to push violently past security lines and break into the Capitol that day, interrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential election victory.
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It recommends immediate changes to give the Capitol Police chief more authority, to provide better planning and equipment for law enforcement and to streamline intelligence gathering among federal agencies.

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