A former U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) officer claims to have information that implicates the department’s former assistant chief in the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
So far, 1,201 people hailing from all 50 states have been charged in relation to the Capitol riots and 719 have pleaded guilty. Of those charged, 119 have been convicted of all charges, three have been acquitted, and 64 of 728 sentenced have served some sort of prison time. Eight cases have been dismissed.
Tarik Johnson, an ex-Capitol Police lieutenant who was part of the department on January 6, has come out with multiple claims in the past week. On Monday, he said that the day’s events were part of a larger set-up that was masked by a large crowd size and hidden facts. Last week, he used the term “cover-up,” adding that he is conferring with an attorney about his plans to release all of his supposed information.
His newest remarks on Wednesday promise to back his account.
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“I will be able explain to you why my view of that day started to shift from being an insurrection to a set-up concocted by Former Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman,” Johnson wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I believe Pittman did this to gain the favor of Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi and to become the chief of the USCP after moving Steven A. Sund out of the way.”
A USCP spokesperson declined to comment to Newsweek.
Pittman, currently the police chief of the University of California, Berkeley, served as acting chief of the USCP from January 8, 2021, to July 23, 2021. Sund served as USCP chief from 2019 to 2021, resigning after the riot.
J. Thomas Manger, who has served more than 40 years in the profession, was sworn in as the new chief on July 23, 2021.
Sund, who according to phone logs made six calls for backup at about 1 p.m. on January 6, later told Tucker Carlson in a leaked interview: “This didn’t have to happen. Everything appears to be a cover-up.”
Sund, former U.S. House security chief Paul Irving and former U.S. Senate sergeant-at-arms Michael Stenger testified shortly thereafter as part of the first congressional oversight hearing into how the riot developed and how officials were not prepared.
Johnson also said in his newest X post that he has a “12-hour radio run” of the day’s events that he wants people to access. He aspires to work with a podcaster, specifically mentioning interest on appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast, to “highlight and discuss the significance of some of the transmissions.”
An online support fund created for Johnson by his close friend of 23 years, Kinsey Jones III, has raised nearly $35,000 as of Wednesday. Kinsey writes that Johnson was not offered emotional support or support from USCP colleagues in the riot’s aftermath.
“TK [Tarik K. Johnson] has had to bear the consequences of doing the right thing under extreme circumstances,” Jones said. “TK paid for his legal defense in administrative matters to prevent from being terminated and from being demoted from lieutenant to private. TK knew that after being cleared to return that he could not work for people he no longer trusted.
“TK was ordered not to speak about the events of January 6th 2021 and he was not offered all of the same mental health services that were offered to members of the agency immediately after January 6th 2021. TK paid for his own mental health services to cope with PTSD and anxiety from what he went through on January 6th 2021.”
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.