Ex-Capitol Police Chief Sounds Alarm That Jan. 6 Was 'Cover-Up'

A leaked interview between ex-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson revealed that Sund believed officials were aware of the January 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection before it happened and covered it up.

Right-wing news company The National Pulse leaked the interview, which was never aired by Fox. The previously unseen footage came after former president Donald Trump was saddled with four criminal charges regarding his alleged involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. An indictment released on Tuesday said that Trump "was determined to remain in power" following his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden. He has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights.

Trump continues to deny any wrongdoing.

The actions, or lack thereof, taken by the government leading up to the January 6, 2021, riot led Sund to believe that intelligence officials in power were aware of the attack in advance and covered it up by failing to disseminate the information to those who needed it. After facing mounting pressure from Congress and the union representing the Capitol Police, Sund resigned from his position shortly after the riot.

"If I was allowed to do my job as a chief, we wouldn't be here," Sund said in the interview with Carlson. "This didn't have to happen. Everything appears to be a cover-up."

However, Carlson's interview with Sund never aired. Newsweek reached out to Fox News by email for comment.

In the leaked footage, Sund goes on to say that he's "not a conspiracy theorist" but said it was concerning the way the January 6 attack played out. Sund explained that he was denied National Guard service in advance of the attack and was denied access to National Guard troops for 71 minutes during the attack.

"You're in a fight, a fight for a couple of minutes wears you out," he said. "Let me tell you, it wears you out."

Sund made the request for National Guard troops at approximately 1 p.m. on January 6. However, he did not hear back until 71 minutes later. It took more than three hours after Sund's request for 1,100 National Guard soldiers to be mobilized, according to a report by NPR.

Trump allegedly made zero effort to deploy the National Guard and instead spoke at a rally in Washington, D.C., on the day of the riot. Vice President Mike Pence was the one who attempted to order deployment of the National Guard troops, according to a report by the Military Times.

Sund criticized government officials for not delivering intelligence on the attack to the people who needed it. He believed that the officials knew in advance that the riot would happen. Weeks before the attack, Trump mentioned a protest occurring on January 6, 2021, that would be "wild".

"Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," Trump tweeted on December 19, 2020. "Be there, will be wild!"

"It's sad when you start putting everything together and thinking about the way this played out," Sund said. "It gets concerning. What was their end goal?"

Sund detailed his account of January 6, 2021, in his book Courage Under Fire: Under Siege and Outnumbered 58 to 1 on January 6, which was published earlier this year.

Twitter user Jason Howerton tweeted a clip of the leaked interview between Sund and Carlson on Thursday morning. He called the revealed information "wild".

"I do not subscribe to the conspiracy theory that Jan. 6 was orchestrated by the government," Howerton added. "However, this is STUNNING information from a very credible source and it does make me wonder if Jan 6 was allowed to get out of control for political reasons. Incomprehensible".