The officer who was in charge of Capitol security on January 6 just gave former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a very public “fact check,” and it is not a good look for the former House Speaker.
In response to President Donald Trump’s announcement of a comprehensive federal criminal crackdown in Washington, District of Columbia, which included seizing direct control of the Metropolitan Police Department and activating the District of Columbia National Guard to police the streets, the Democrat from California spoke out against the president.
“Donald Trump delayed deploying the National Guard on January 6th when our Capitol was under violent attack and lives were at stake,” Pelosi fumed. “Now, he’s activating the D.C. Guard to distract from his incompetent mishandling of tariffs, health care, education and immigration — just to name a few blunders.”
U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund — who resigned after the Jan. 6 riot — wasted little time responding to Pelosi.
“Ma’am, it is long past time to be honest with the American people,” Sund said in a scathing statement. He recounted how on January 3, 2021, just three days before the riot, he formally requested National Guard support. That request, he says, was shot down by Pelosi’s own Sergeant at Arms.
“Under federal law (2 U.S.C. §1970), I was prohibited from calling them in without specific approval,” Sund explained. “That same day, Carol Corbin at the Pentagon offered National Guard support, but I was forced to decline because I lacked the legal authority.”
When January 6 arrived and chaos erupted, Sund said he begged again for the Guard — and was stalled for over an hour. “While the Capitol was under attack and despite my repeated calls, your Sergeant at Arms again denied my urgent requests for over 70 agonizing minutes, ‘running it up the chain’ for your approval,” Sund wrote.
He then accused Pelosi of hypocrisy: “When I needed assistance, it was denied. Yet when it suited you, you ordered fencing topped with concertina wire and surrounded the Capitol with thousands of armed National Guard troops.”
It is still a mystery why she wasn’t “waiting” to authorize the National Guard to secure the Capitol through the House Sergeant at Arms, as former Chief Sund highlights.
In the first week after the White House assumed control of Washington, D.C.’s police force and deployed federal agents and National Guard troops, the city recorded a modest drop in reported crime but a sharp increase in immigration-related arrests, according to a CNN analysis of government data.
For the week beginning August 12 — the first full week under federal control — property crimes fell by about 19 percent compared to the week prior, while violent crime dropped 17 percent, based on the most recent Metropolitan Police Department statistics.
The trends varied by category. Robberies and car break-ins fell by more than 40 percent, while thefts remained flat. Burglary cases rose 6 percent, and assaults with a dangerous weapon increased 14 percent. Two homicides occurred during the period, consistent with recent weeks, though none have been reported since August 13.
Federal agencies have embedded with local police, assisting in arrests, searches, and warrant executions while patrolling the city in unmarked vehicles, CNN noted further.
At the same time, immigration enforcement surged. Since August 7, federal officials have arrested about 300 individuals in the district without legal immigration status — more than ten times the typical weekly number of ICE arrests in the city, CNN found.
During the first six months of Trump’s current term, ICE averaged about 12 arrests per week in Washington, according to data from the Deportation Data Project at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.
Officials told CNN that ICE agents have been accompanying MPD officers and intervening when individuals stopped or questioned are found to be in the country unlawfully.
In response to CNN’s findings, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson stated that the media was attempting to dismiss the “exceptional results” of Trump’s efforts in Washington, D.C.
“The drops in crime are not ‘moderate,’ they are life-changing for the countless of DC residents and visitors who have not been murdered, robbed, carjacked, or victims of overall violent crime in the last week,” Jackson said. “The priority of this operation remains getting violent criminals off the streets — regardless of immigration status.”