Capitol Police commander who ordered evacuations of Senate and House: 'J6 was not an insurrection'

In an X post on Thursday, former US Capitol Police Lieutenant Tarik Johnson said that he has been stating publically that "J6 was not an insurrection, but not many people would listen," reflecting on Vivek Ramaswamy’s comments during a CNN townhall event in Iowa on Wednesday evening.

"Vivek Ramaswamy got a lot right in this interview," Johnson began. "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 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."

Johnson said that Pittman "flat out ignored me," forcing him to go ahead with the evacuations without her approval. Three days later, he decided to call Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy on Pittman’s conduct, and around half an hour later, he received word from the USCP internal affairs section that he 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," Johnson wrote, adding that he was required to remain at his home Mondays through Fridays between 8 am and 4 pm and was "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."

Johnson concluded, "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."

In response to Johnson's post, Ramaswamy wrote on X, "This is wild."

During Wednesday evening’s townhall event, Ramaswamy said that three years ago, at the time of January 6, "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."

"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. 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 host Abby Phillip cut him off, saying there was no evidence of this.

Ramaswamy interjected, holding the floor, "I know that the establishment doesn't approve of this message," and the crowd applauded. 

"So why before Congress, when pressed on what the number was, they [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," Ramaswamy said, "we know people were FBI informants."

"I'm gonna give you hard facts. And if I may, I know this can be a little uncomfortable," Ramaswamy said, asking why Congress suppressed footage from J6, releasing only 12 hours of hundreds of hours in existence, including footage showing police firing rubber bullets into the crowd and shooting tear gas.