DC Police Chief denies contact with Pelosi’s office prior to Jan. 6.

Washington Police Chief Denies Contact with Pelosi’s Office Ahead of Jan. 6 Attack

Robert Contee, the chief of Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), testified on May 16 that he had no contact with the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol.

Questions Raised During House Oversight Committee Hearing

During a hearing by the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) asked D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser whether she or her office had contact with the speaker’s office, the sergeant-at-arms, or any federal law enforcement agency about intelligence of a likelihood of violence on Jan. 6. Gosar did not specify which sergeant-at-arms, as there is one each on the House and Senate side.

Bowser deferred to Contee, given that MPD works with federal law enforcement on First Amendment-related activities in the nation’s capital.

Contee’s Testimony

Contee said there were “several conversations with law enforcement officials,” including the Capitol Police and both the House and Senate sergeant-at-arms prior to Jan. 6.

When asked by Gosar if he had any talks with the speaker’s office ahead of Jan. 6, Contee said, “I had no personal conversation with the speaker’s office. I … believe that the architect of the Capitol was also involved in those conversations. But I don’t recall specifically the speaker’s office being part of that conversation.”

The architect of the Capitol is in charge of maintaining and developing the Capitol grounds.

Law Enforcement’s Actions Ahead of Jan. 6

The Metropolitan Police Department was sent to the Capitol on Jan. 6, followed hours later by the National Guard.

The report by the now-defunct House Jan. 6 Committee noted that law enforcement had “substantial evidence” of possible violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, but the report did not blame law enforcement over its actions ahead of that day.

Contee, who will depart MPD on June 3, testified that he had no contact with Pelosi’s office ahead of the Jan. 6 attack.

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