A former Capitol Police lieutenant who was on duty during the January 6, 2021, events at the Capitol Building and who played a role in evacuating the House and Senate, strongly challenged critics of then-President Donald Trump and their portrayal of the incident.
In a post on the X platform on Thursday, the former officer, Tarik Johnson, emphasized that he has consistently asserted publicly that “J6 was not an insurrection,” echoing comments made by 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy during a CNN town hall event in Iowa the previous day.
“Ironically so, no one would benefit more than I if J6 was an insurrection as I … was the Commander that ordered and led the evacuations of the Senate and the House during the J6 breach after begging former Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman for permission to do so as she sat comfortably in the Commander Center watching the events unfold on CCTV while Chief Steven A Sund was obtaining National Guard approval and getting assistance from local law enforcement agencies,” his post continued.
“Pittman flat out ignored me so I was forced to forge ahead with the evacuations without obtaining approval from her,” Johnson’s post continued. “Three days later I decided to call Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont to report Pittman’s malfeasance and approximately an hour after I got off the phone with the senator I was contacted by the USCP internal affairs section and informed I was suspended.
“The suspension lasted for 17 months and I was under a USCP gag order not to speak about the events of January 6, 2021 to the media until I separated from the Department,” he wrote. “I was also required to remain in my house Monday through Friday from the hours of 8am to 4pm and unable to step off my property without notifying the USCP for fear of being disciplined up to and including termination during those 17 months.
“These are SOME of many facts USCP Chief J Thomas Manger (who is arguably the most corrupt politician in the country) was brought in to cover-up,” he added.
“If presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy would like more FACTS to disrupt the insurrection narrative, I will inbox his designated representative my personal phone number. God bless our country now and in 2024,” he concluded.
Vivek Ramaswamy got a lot right in this interview. I’ve been saying publicly for a year that J6 was not an insurrection but not many people would listen. Ironically so, no one would benefit more than I if J6 was an insurrection as I (Tarik Johnson) was the Commander that ordered… https://t.co/mdUVfdVQff
— Tarik Johnson (@elleonCEOTK) December 14, 2023
Vivek responded by simply stating: “This is wild.”
During the debate, Ramaswamy had pointed out: “If you had told me that January 6 was in any way an inside job the subject of government entrapment, I would have told you that was crazy talk, fringe conspiracy theory nonsense.”
But, he added, “I can tell you now, having gone somewhat deep in this: it’s not.”
“I mean, the reality is this: we do have a government — first of all, we have to acknowledge that has lied to us systematically over the last several years about the origin of COVID-19. About the Hunter Biden laptop that we were told was false by 51 CIA experts and otherwise before we now know that it was true,” the GOP contender continued.
“You can go straight down the list of Trump-Russia, disinformation, collusion, hoax, all of it. Now we come to January 6. The reality is we know that there were federal law enforcement agents in that field. We don’t know how many I think it’s shameful.” he said before moderator Abby Phillips cut him off and claimed there was no evidence for his observations.
Ramaswamy refused to back down, continuing: “I know that the establishment doesn’t approve of this message,” he said to applause.
“So why before Congress, when pressed on what the number was, they [the FBI] didn’t say there were none they just couldn’t say how many there were?” Ramaswamy countered. “We’ve seen multiple informants suggesting that there were. We know people were FBI informants.”