While I was at the SIOC, I do recall someone saying that Capitol Police say they don't need help at this point, they've got it covered. I don't know who that was. It might have been . It might have been someone else.
It didn't surprise me because I knew that Capitol Police had more than enough officers to cover the Capitol. And since that was their area of responsibility, I thought that made perfect sense that the Capitol Police were going to push these people out of the Capitol, and that was going to be that.
But, again, because I wasn't able to get the answers I wanted with regard to what 9 was actually going on, on the ground, I decided to leave the SIOC and go to WFO and try to get a little bit closer to the Capitol to see what was going on.
Q What happened when you arrived at WFO?
A En route, I made several phone calls. There were a lot of phone calls in and out that day. So I don't remember them all. And I'm sure some of them are getting conflated in my mind.
But I do recall calling Regina Lombardo, and some others. I think I spoke to Don Washington, too, saying, get your guys ready. If the Capitol Police need help, we're sending help right away.
And they had previously—we had previously made clear to them that if they're asked for assistance, they should just deploy. They didn't need permission from me or the AG or anyone else. If a partner asks for help, just send your guys.
So there were some phone calls between the SIOC and WFO. When I got to WFO, I went inside. People were in the main command room. There were lots of different partners there. They, too, of course, had the televisions going and people working the phones and shouting out to each other information that they were getting.
I asked where Bowdich was. They directed me to a conference room in the back.
