-If I give this up, they're going to have direct access.
-Let's go!
-At least this Capitol we can defend.
We got to hold what we have.
[indistinct shouting]
-In the months since January 6th,
lawmakers and other officials have sought to understand
how rioters were able to penetrate police lines
and lay siege to the US Capitol,
storming through the halls in a rampage
aimed at overturning a presidential election.
-We have got to take a really hard look
at what happened on January 6th.
-Clearly seemed to me there were some failures.
-I acknowledge that under the pressure
of an unprecedented attack, a number of systems broke down.
-"The Washington Post" analyzed police radio communications,
synchronized them with hours of footage,
and drew on interviews with police supervisors.
-They had bats, sticks, sledgehammers.
-To show how failures of planning
and preparation left police at the Capitol
severely disadvantaged due to insufficient manpower.
-It's us versus about 200 people.
-And a shortage of nonlethal weapons
and protective equipment.
-We're out of munitions.
-The radio calls also reveal communication breakdowns.
-I need a command official from Capitol
so we can coordinate where they want us to pull back to.
-That hampered the police response.
The police audio recordings turned over to Congress
during the impeachment of former president
Trump primarily capture the communications
from Washington's Metropolitan Police Department, the MPD.
A team of MPD officers, led by Commander Robert Glover,
was dispatched that day to aid
the already-overwhelmed US Capitol Police,
the agency primarily responsible for securing the Capitol.
To better understand how rioters overwhelmed police,
"The Post" created a 3-D model of the Capitol grounds
using satellite imagery, video footage, and photographs.
The examination found that the mob confronting police
on the west side of the building swelled
to more than 9,400 people, outnumbering officers
by more than 58 to 1.
As the crowd grew, Glover called for reinforcements
at least 17 times in 78 minutes.
-It's over.
You better run, cops.
-As President Trump speaks at a rally near the White House,
his supporters are gathering along the west side
of the US Capitol complex.
Around 12:53, they break through a line of bike racks
on a pathway and approach Capitol Police officers.
None of the officers seen here,
identifiable as Capitol Police by patches on their arms,
are outfitted with riot gear or shields.
-Move.
-Around the same time, south of the pathway,
other Trump supporters squeeze through a hole in a mesh fence.
-Hey! We're breaking the wall!
-The rioters on the walkway overpower Capitol Police.
[indistinct shouting]
Others to the south and north of the pathway stream
across the lawn
toward the western entrance of the Capitol building.
Steven Sund, then the chief of the Capitol Police,
calls MPD for help multiple times
as the crowd overwhelms his officers.
-Now the call is coming into MPD at around about this point.
But if you look,
I mean, it's already breached at this point.
-Just 18 minutes after the initial breach,
rioters overtake the lower part of the inaugural platform
and vastly outnumber Capitol Police officers.
Temporary scaffolding and bleachers
behind the officers block key entrances.
At around 1:12 PM,
MPD officers arrive to reinforce the police line
on the west front of the Capitol.
They move down the stairs along the south side
of the inaugural platform.
Many are identifiable by the yellow on their jackets.
At least 30 officers can be seen arriving in video footage.
Glover is seen here.
He calls into the joint operation command, or JOC,
which coordinates the police response.
He uses the call sign "Cruiser 50."
-Hard gear at the Capitol.
Hard gear at the Capitol.
Cruiser 50.
Give me a DSO team, DSO team.
DSO team to respond to the West Front of the Capitol.
-"Hard gear" refers to Civil Disturbance Units
and police wearing protective equipment.
DSO is a Domestic Security Operations team, which handles
chemical crowd control munitions like pepper spray.
Officers use pepper spray, Tasers,
and bike racks to push back against the growing crowd.
Rioters attack, and at least one sprays bear mace.
Within minutes of MPD's arrival, officers regain ground,
but injuries are taking a toll.
Glover walks toward the line, speaking into his radio.
-Multiple Capitol injuries. Multiple Capitol injuries.
-Police continue to deploy crowd control munitions.
-Cruiser 50, first sting ball deployed, no effect.
Took metal debris in return.
-Over the next several minutes, between 1:36 and 1:39,
Glover calls for more officers in riot gear.
-I need those two other hard platoons up here now.
-Sir, we have one coming.
We have one coming that's working.
Copy?
-Cruiser 50, I copy. I need them up here.
-The platoon Unit 42 is gathering
and putting on riot gear nearly a mile away
on the north side of the National Mall.
-We're coming.
Fuck you! We're taking it.
Fuck you!
-As Glover waits for the platoon Unit 42,
he announces the deployment of more powerful munitions,
including a 40-millimeter launcher that fires canisters
containing smoke or chemical irritants
like tear gas to control crowds.
-Cruiser 40 -- sorry 50, 40mm exact impact deployed.
Cruiser 50, 40mm authorized.
40mm exact impact authorized.
-The violence intensifies.
-Well, when I showed up, it was, it was literally a war zone.
We had officers engaged in hand-to-hand combat
across the fence line.
It was a knock, knock-down, drag-out fight.
-Around this time, Glover again asks for reinforcements.
He is told only one platoon, Unit 42, is available.
-Cruiser 50 to 8600, when are the hard platoons coming?
-There is 42.
It's the only other one until later.
They're gearing up and they should be to you now.
-As Unit 42 begins to make its way to the Capitol,
Glover signals that the danger has escalated.
-We're going to give riot warnings.
We're going to try and get compliance,
but this is now effectively a riot.
-1349 hours, declaring it a riot.
[indistinct shouting]
-Rioters push past the police line.
Sund calls Major General William Walker,
the commanding general to the DC National Guard.
-Chief Sund, his voice cracking with emotion,
indicated that there was a dire emergency at the Capitol,
and he requested the immediate assistance of as many available
National Guardsmen that I could muster.
-Cruiser 50, we have a breach of the Capitol.
Breach of the Capitol to the upper level.
-1350 hours, breach of the Capitol.
-At "The Post's" request,
researchers at Carnegie Mellon University
used a crowd-counting model
to determine the number of people
visible in videos and images.
In this video,
the analysis estimated there were at least 3,400 people.
That number is likely an undercount,
due to the quality of available footage
and obstructions like flags and trees.
Around 118 of those present are officers,
meaning they are outnumbered more than 28 to 1.
-They had bats, sticks, sledgehammers, 50-pound fire
extinguishers, table legs.
They were breaking off pieces of the infrastructure
to use against us.
-He's got a hammer!
He's got a hammer!
[indistinct shouting] -Between 1:50 and 1:59,
JOC announces that Capitol Police
are preparing to pull back M4 officers,
a designation that refers to officers
armed with M4 semiautomatic rifles.
-And JOC to Cruiser 50, be advised that Capitol Police
are going to start moving their resources inside.
They're going to start the M4 officers first.
-A small group of Capitol Police officers is positioned
at the top of the stairs under the scaffolding.
Through 3-D analysis, "The Post" calculated that rioters,
some of them armed,
are about 200 feet away from a window entrance.
At 2:03 PM, a Capitol Police supervisor orders officers
to leave their positions near the stairs.
-Go this way.
Go this way. This way.
Hey, officers, officers, this way.
-At least 22 officers from Unit 42, seen here,
are still making their way toward the inaugural platform
more than 20 minutes after
Glover's initial call for support.
As rioters overwhelm police, a high-level MPD official
with the call sign 5 tells Glover to pull back resources.
-50, you need to pull back our resources.
If you need to go inside or pull back
if they're getting behind you; you don't have enough resources.
-If I give this up they're going to have direct access.
At least the scaffold we can defend.
We gotta hold what we have.
-You're running out of pepper spray, officers.
-Rioters overtake the scaffolding
and run up the stairs to reach a small line of police officers
blocking doors to the building.
They quickly overrun the officers.
Around 40 feet below,
another group of rioters pushes over a light pole,
which falls into the police line.
[indistinct shouting]
"The Post" used a tool developed by researchers
at Carnegie Mellon University
to estimate the size and density of the mob at key moments.
The results of that analysis were used to approximate
rioters' locations for the 3-D visualization.
The analysis shows that by this time,
at least 2,000 people have pushed past police lines
on the east side of the Capitol and attempt to break in.
-JOC, be advised they are requesting additional resources
on the east side as they've broken through that window
and they're trying to kick it in.
1413 hours, the Capitol has been breached on the east side.
-The Capitol Police officers detain a rioter
who smashed a window.
According to court documents,
the officers seek guidance over the radio
but cannot be clearly heard
or are unable to broadcast their message.
They release him.
Around the same time,
the rioters who ran up the stairs
and pushed past officers break a window
on the west side of the Capitol.
Over the next 12 minutes,
Glover is heard seeking guidance on a fallback point four times.
No response on where to fall back
is provided from Capitol Police over the radio.
-I need a command official from Capitol
so we can coordinate where they want us to pull back to.
We cannot hold this without more munitions or manpower.
-Capitol is working on munitions right now.
-We stayed on that mid terrace as long as we could safely.
A decision was made by the United States Capitol Police
to pull their personnel back inside the building at a point,
leaving one of my flanks pretty weak.
-At least 9,400 people are visible on footage
taken during this time period and outnumbered officers
more than 58 to 1, according to an analysis by "The Post"
and Carnegie Mellon University.
At around the same time,
rioters enter the Capitol on the east side.
-Hold the line.
[indistinct shouting]
-JOC, be advised, they've breached the Senate door
on the east side of the building as well.
-Rioters flood into the Capitol from at least two entry points.
The remaining Capitol and MPD officers
are surrounded and outnumbered.
-Oh, yeah, whoa, what the fuck.
They broke through.
It's on.
-Go! Go!
Go!
-Chief Sund was pleading for the deployment
of the National Guard.
And in response to that, there was not an immediate yes,
the National Guard is responding.
Yes, the National Guard is on the way.
-Pentagon officials denied that their response was delayed,
saying DC Guard took three hours to arrive
because they had not been asked
in advance to provide backup to Capitol Police.
-Good luck, punk. -At 2:28 PM, a rioter
in a blue sweatshirt breaks through the police line.
The crowd follows, and the line crumbles.
[indistinct shouting] -It's over.
You better run, cops. -You better fucking run.
-As the crowd advances, the number of officers
visible in this video is approximately 85.
-See how fast the cops turn around
once they fucking saw the numbers game.
-Glover declares an emergency, referred to as a 10-33.
-Cruiser 50, we've lost the line!
We've lost the line!
All MPD pull back!
All MPD pull back up to the upper deck!
All MPD pull back into the upper deck ASAP!
All MPD come back to the upper deck!
Upper deck!
Cruiser 50 has flanked 10-33.
I repeat 10-33 West Front of the Capitol.
We've been flanked and we've lost the line.
-We literally fought all the way back to those,
to those stairwells.
And I mean, it took us a long time
because you had to walk backwards.
And you're engaging with, you're engaging with these individuals.
-Glover again calls for reinforcements.
-Cruiser 50, still going to need reinforcements upper deck,
West Front.
Upper deck. West Front.
We cannot lose the upper deck.
-He called a 10-33.
Have all units respond to assist him!
Do what we're trained to do.
-MPD officers were forced off the upper deck by 2:40 PM,
roughly an hour and a half after Glover
and his officers arrived on the scene.
Rioters flooded into the Capitol building.
Capitol Police did not clear Congress
to resume its work until 7:30 PM.
Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer,
and 140 officers were injured.