(ETH) – The Department of Justice is warning that national security secrets may have been stolen from the Capitol following the mob of rioters that invaded the offices of high-ranking members of Congress, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
According to the Daily Mail, there was full access to dossiers, computers, and phones. According to Michael Sherwin, who is an acting US attorney for the District of Columbia, said many electronic items were stolen from senators’ offices, documents, and … we have to identify what was done to mitigate that.’ and a full investigation could take ‘several days to flesh out exactly what happened, what was stolen, what wasn’t.”
The report states that Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) testified that at least one laptop had been stolen from his offices, while another protester was seen brandishing Pelosi’s mail outside the Capitol in the aftermath. Meanwhile, The Senate Parliamentarian’s office was also ripped apart with footage showing the floor of her rooms covered in files taken from drawers and cabinets.
The report also stated that Law enforcement’s intelligence estimates the crowd size in the run-up to the protests ‘were all over the board,’ from a low of 2,000 to as many as 80,000. Gus Papathanasiou, who is the head of the Capitol Police union, said planning failures left officers exposed without backup or equipment against surging crowds of rioters and stated:
‘We were lucky that more of those who breached the Capitol did not have firearms or explosives and did not have a more malign intent,’ Papathanasiou said in a statement. ‘Tragic as the deaths are that resulted from the attack, we are fortunate the casualty toll was not higher.’
