Security officials point fingers at each other in Capitol riot hearing

Steven Sund.
(Image credit: ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

There was quite a bit of finger pointing Tuesday as former security officials testified before Congress about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund — who said he regrets resigning in the riot's aftermath — testified that he requested assistance from National Guard troops two days before the attack, but was shot down by former House sergeant-at-arms Paul Irving because of concerns about "optics." Irving, though, said Sund never made that request and suggested he would have ensured the National Guard's presence if he had.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.