A Metropolitan police lieutenant is on administrative leave after the FBI and U.S. Attorney's Office launched an investigation into alleged misconduct, WUSA reported. Officials have not released the lieutenant's name or detailed what the investigation is about specifically, but Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told the news station on Thursday the investigation is tied to probes into the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021. "I don't know specifically," Bowser said.
Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee revealed even less in a news conference on Wednesday. "Again, I am very limited in terms of what I can say,” he said. “I will tell you that it is an ongoing investigation, and we will continue to work through this investigation to see ultimately where that will lead us.”
Tom Warrick, a former deputy assistant secretary of counterterrorism with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, asked for patience from the public in an interview with WUSA.
"I learned, from direct experience, you have got to let these investigations play themselves out, and you have to devote the resources necessary to get to the bottom of these stories," Warrick said. "One of the things I learned, having been responsible for the programs that brought Iraqi and Afghan translators to the United States—Many times, you would get these cases that are really hard, where, somebody who you thought was a loyal ally and partner, all of a sudden has unexplained ties to extremist groups.
“And what we discovered was, it takes diligent investigative work because many times, those contacts with extremist groups turn out to have extremely plausible, logical explanations."
Capitol police officials announced three violations for “conduct unbecoming,” one for “failure to comply with directives,” one for “improper remarks,” and one violation for “improper dissemination of information” last September following the Capitol insurrection.
Capitol Police had more than 1,200 workers on duty during the riot incited when former President Donald Trump called for his supporters to block Congress from certifying then-President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick was beaten on video and killed in the process. One Capitol Police officer and three D.C. Metropolitan Police officers killed themselves after the attack, and more than 570 suspects have been charged in connection to the riot, The Hill reported.
When Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone testified before Congress that Trump supporters almost killed him in a violent beating that January day, he was thanked with a threatening voicemail message from an anonymous sender.
The caller said in his disgusting message:
"Yeah, this is for Michael Fanone, Metropolitan Police officer. You're on trial right now, lying and not. You want an Emmy? An Oscar? What are you trying to go for here? You're so full of s---, you little f----- f---er. You're a little p----, man. I could slap you up the side of your head with a backhand and knock you out, you little f-----.
"You're a punk f-----. You're a lying f---. How about all that scummy Black f---ing scum for two years destroying our cities and burning 'em and stealing all that s--- out of the stores and everything? How about that? Assaulting cops and killing people? How about that, you f---er?
"That was s--- on the goddamn Capitol. I wish they would have killed all you scumbags, 'cause you people are scum. They stole the election from Trump and you know that, you scumbag. And you, f---ing too bad they didn't beat the s--- out of you more. You're a piece of s---. You're a little f--, you f---ing scumbag."
U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn compared the insurrectionists to hired hitmen in his closing remarks last July to the House committee investigating the riot.
"If a hit man is hired and he kills somebody, the hit man goes to jail. But not only does the hit man go to jail, but the person who hired them does. It was an attack carried out on Jan. 6 and a hit man sent them. I want you to get to the bottom of that," Dunn said in CNN coverage of his remarks.
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