Videos circulating online appear to show Capitol Police opening gates for rioters on Wednesday, and one posing for a photo.
Another video shows how easily intruders walked up the stairs to the Capitol rotunda.
“There is no possible way, in my opinion, that any of this could have happened without the either tacit or explicit direction to law enforcement to either stay out or to allow these protesters through,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)
Jayapal is among members of Washington’s congressional delegation calling for a full investigation of the security failure.
“Why didn’t the Capitol Police have backup? Why wasn’t the National Guard there?” asked Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) “Everybody should have predicted there would be violence. When the Proud Boys come to town they are not coming for a tea party, they are coming because they mean violence.”
Rep. Adam Smith said Capitol Police leadership was “rightly” asked to resign. “They did not do their basic job, which was to protect the Capitol and it was foreseeable.”
Smith notes images show just three or four officers appeared to be “unduly cooperative” with rioters, and he said that must be investigated.
“The overwhelming majority, just about all the Capitol Police, responded with great heroism,” Smith said.
Public safety expert Jim Fuda, of Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound, said backups from other agencies should have been staged close by.
“By the time those other assets get called in, it’s too late, they’re already inside,” Fuda said.