Inspector General J6 report reveals ‘culture of failure’ in US intelligence, lawmaker says

The U.S. Secret Service failed to conduct a canine sweep in the bushes of the Democratic National Committee building on Jan. 6, 2021, failed to have an explosive ordnance disposal team on site, and failed to use two “key explosive detection capabilities for the security sweep,” a report from the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general concluded.

Joseph Cuffari’s long-awaited 82-page report is a scathing new indictment of the Secret Service, coming on the heels of the agency’s historic security failure that led to the near-assassination of former President Donald J. Trump on July 13.

Thomas Matthew Crooks shot Trump in the ear, killing retired Fire Chief Corey Comperatore and seriously wounding James Copenhaver and David Dutch. The rooftop he was using as a sniper nest was not guarded by police before Trump began his speech shortly after 6 p.m. on July 13.

“Inspector General Cuffari’s report is damning and reveals a culture of failure within the Secret Service,” said U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), whose office led a thorough investigation into the Jan. 6 pipe bombs.

“The Secret Service’s failure to detect the January 6 pipe bomb is part of the same pattern of incompetence that nearly led to the assassination of President Trump,” Massie said. “The agency needs serious reform before another of its protégés pays a heavy price for its continued negligence.”

Two pipe bombs were discovered in Washington on January 6: one in an alley between the Capitol Hill Club and the Republican National Committee building, the other in the bushes on the southwest side of the DNC headquarters. Despite a 43-month federal investigation and a $500,000 reward, no arrests have been made.

Cuffari submitted the report to DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas in April after it was reviewed by then-Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle, who resigned from her post on July 23. Cuffari’s investigation began in February 2021.

Congressional sources told Blaze News that Mayorkas and Cheatle were seeking to suppress the report in its entirety. Blaze Media reached out to the Secret Service and DHS for comment on the report — and the allegation that they were seeking to suppress it — but did not receive a response as of press time.

Among the biggest mistakes cited in the redacted report are what the secret service failed to do.

“The area where the pipe bomb was located should have been swept, given its proximity to the garage access ramp,” the report said.

Ronald L. Rowe Jr., acting director of the U.S. Secret Service, did not mention the OIG report at a news conference on August 2, and reporters did not ask him about it.

Kamala Harris Was At DNC ​​When Explosive Device Was Discovered. Why? | The Truth About January 6

Youtube

Delivered to the House and Senate Oversight Committees on August 1, the report said that Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ motorcade stopped within yards of the pipe bomb that had been placed in the bushes next to the DNC building.

Harris arrived at 11:25 a.m. on January 6 and remained in the building for 1 hour and 50 minutes, nearly 10 minutes after the bomb was discovered by U.S. Capitol Police.

The OIG report states that Harris’ trip to the DNC had been scheduled two days earlier, on January 4, 2021. It does not identify the subject of Harris’ meeting or mention other people present.

“The officer assigned to sweep the exterior areas stated that the exterior sweep included the garage entrance ramp and other areas near the garage entrance, including a storm drain, but did not include the bushes where the pipe bomb was located.”

The report said the Secret Service failed to use two “key” explosives-detection capabilities on Jan. 6. The agency did not have a dedicated site coordinator, a person whose job it is to manage technical capabilities and bomb countermeasures. It also did not have an explosives disposal team at the DNC.

The agency told the inspector general that it believed it had to provide 72 hours’ notice when requesting an EOD team for a security screening operation. Cuffari wrote that he found no evidence of such a requirement.

Revelations are on the horizon

The shocking revelation that two Secret Service teams with bomb-sniffing dogs failed to find the DNC bomb and prevent Harris from entering a building that was apparently at risk of a catastrophic explosion is even greater in light of the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump at a fairground in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Multiple investigations have been launched to determine how 20-year-old gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks was able to climb onto the roof of American Glass Research Building 6 without being arrested and fire eight rounds from an AR-15 before being killed by a law enforcement counter-sniper.

DNC Discovery of a Pipe Bomb on January 6, 2021

Youtube

The Secret Service violated its policy by failing to designate the evacuation of the building where Harris was located on Jan. 6 as an “unusual protective event,” according to the OIG report. An unusual protective event is defined as “any event, episode, or incident that interrupts the Secret Service’s normal protective activities.”

Cheatle told the inspector general that Harris’ evacuation from the DNC was “without a doubt” an unusual protective event and should have been designated as such.

Massie revealed in January that the DNC bomb was discovered by a plainclothes Capitol Police officer at 1:05 p.m. on January 6, confirming the story that Blaze News first broke on January 17.

In July 2023, Massie released Capitol Police security video showing the nonchalant reaction of Secret Service agents after the pipe bomb was discovered. Their behavior was puzzling, given that the FBI considers pipe bombs to be weapons of mass destruction.

In January 2022, Politico first reported that Harris was at the DNC when the bomb was discovered. In the months since, the media has never asked Harris for her reaction to what could be considered an assassination attempt. Harris has also never addressed the topic publicly.

Like Blaze News? Bypass censorship, sign up for our newsletters and get articles like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here!