at least the initial report was: Crowd size doesn't appear to be unexpected, and the conduct so far is okay."[144] He had only watched the end of the President's speech.[145] It was early afternoon before the DOJ's senior leadership began to realize the extent of what was occurring. Acting Deputy Attorney General Donoghue remembered hearing protesters outside the Department of Justice "marching down Constitution, going from the Ellipse toward the Capitol" in the late morning, early afternoon, but wasn't specifically monitoring the protests as "there were a million things going on."[146]
At the same time, the President was pressing his request to go to the Capitol. According to Robert Engel, the head of his Secret Service detail, President Trump asked to go to the Capitol once they had gotten into the Presidential SUV.[147] Engel denied the President's request and returned to the White House.[148] The Committee has significant evidence regarding this period of time.[149]
President Trump, nevertheless, persisted in his request to go to the Capitol. A 1:35 p.m. entry in the USSS Civil Disturbance Unit's time log shows that the plan was to hold at the White House for the next 2 hours and then move the President to the Capitol.[150] Soon after, Engel emailed USSS leadership from the West Wing to say they were "discussing options and setting expectations."[151] Minutes later, after receiving an email from USSS leadership saying that it would not be advisable for the President to go "anywhere near" the Capitol, Engel responded, "[w]e are not doing an OTR to Punch Bowl."[152]
Mayor Bowser also spoke directly with Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy who informed her that they had not gotten a request for National Guard assistance from the USCP. Mayor Bowser informed Secretary McCarthy that she did not have the authority to re-direct the 340 DC National Guard troops at traffic points across the city, but that she had already deployed the DC MPD and FEMs to the Capitol. Because she and Chief Sund had not connected, Mayor Bowser concluded that the security of the Capitol was "now our responsibility" and requested National Guard assistance. At the end of this call, Mayor Bowser believed that Secretary McCarthy was "running [her request] up his chain of command."[153]
USCP Chief Sund was concerned when the explosive device was discovered near RNC Headquarters but did not then believe there was a need to change the USCP's operational posture. Minutes later, when a large group of rioters approached the outer west perimeter of the Capitol, Chief Sund raised the alarm and began to reposition his officers: "When we looked up, and I saw them approaching the officers that were standing, you know, right there on the barrier, I looked over to Chief Thomas and I said, Chad, where's our—where's CDU? Get CDU down there now."[154]
