Cuccinelli: Capitol Police Should Have Asked for Support Sooner, ‘No Other Law Enforcement Entity Was Responsible for That’

On Saturday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “America’s News HQ,” acting Deputy DHS Secretary Ken Cuccinelli said that Capitol Police should have asked for support sooner than they did and they are the only law enforcement entity responsible for the fact that they were overwhelmed so easily.

Cuccinelli said, [relevant remarks begin around 3:00] “[R]emember, the Capitol Police are solely responsible for that jurisdiction. They have to request assistance. The moment they requested our assistance, first through the Secret Service, they got it. They got it in the hundreds of officers from the Department of Homeland Security over the course of the day, and we were prepared for that, to respond. But we cannot affirmatively go into their jurisdiction without that request, neither can anybody else, except under prearranged circumstances, and for the Department of Homeland Security, those prearranged circumstances exist with the Washington Metro Police, perhaps with the FBI. So, you know, people are going to look at the Capitol Police and they’re going to analyze why were they overwhelmed so easily, and that is a very legitimate and important law enforcement question. But let’s not kid ourselves, no other law enforcement entity was responsible for that. And should they have asked for support sooner? Yes, I think so. But, nonetheless, they were in charge.”

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