Republican House Memo Warns Capitol Is Not Safe Ahead of January 6 Anniversary

As the first anniversary of the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol nears, House Republicans allege the complex is no safer than the day a mob of Trump rioters stormed it in a bid to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election victory.

In a letter to colleagues, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy also claimed Democrats seem "no closer to answering the central question of how the Capitol was left so unprepared" on January 6 last year.

Rather than taking steps to ensure such an attack never happens again, McCarthy accused Democrats of "using it as a partisan political weapon to further divide our country."

McCarthy's letter added that Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the Committee on House Administration, would circulate a memo "outlining meaningful and measurable steps that should be taken to protect our Capitol from all threats—steps that the current majority party is negligent in acting upon."

Davis sent that memo—with the title "One Year Later, Little Has Changed'—to House Republicans on Monday.

"In the coming days you are going to be hearing a lot of noise and narratives about what transpired at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, and what the cause of those things may or may not be," Davis wrote in the memo. "The most important question to answer from that day remains, why was the Capitol so unprepared?"

According to Fox, Davis alleged that the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack is no closer to finding out what prompted "the catastrophic security failure."

Davis added that most of the recommendations made by the Capitol Police's watchdog to make the Capitol complex safer after the January 6 attack have not been implemented.

"Nothing has changed to make the Capitol campus safer from future attacks," he wrote. "Instead, Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats have focused their time and attention on going after former President Trump and those associated with him—even if those associates are their own colleagues."

Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton said that only a small number of the recommendations he made to improve the safety and security of the Capitol complex have been adopted.

"The Department still lacks an overall training infrastructure to meet the needs of the department, the level of intelligence gathering and expertise needed, and an overall cultural change needed to move the department into a protective agency as opposed to a traditional police department," Bolton told lawmakers on the Senate Rules Committee.

In a statement at the time, the force said it agreed that it must continue to improve and expand its intelligence and protective capabilities.

"Although there is more work to do, the Department has made immense progress in first addressing the specific failures that led to the January 6 attack," including improving the way it gathers, analyzes and distributes intelligence, ordering additional equipment and briefing officers in person prior to events.

Davis, McCarthy and the Capitol Police have been contacted for additional comment.