Drunk driving, fraud, and an agency 'golden boy': Blaze Media's Steve Baker exposes apparent scandals in the US Capitol Police



Steve Baker, an investigative reporter with Blaze Media who was recently arrested in connection with his work as an independent journalist documenting the events of January 6, has an explosive new report that indicates that several current and former uniformed members of the United States Capitol Police — including a USCP assistant chief who recently testified in front of Congress — effectively failed upward, receiving prestigious promotions despite previous professional scandals that were ultimately hushed up.

'Ask them what they call it': Overtime fraud

The main focus of Baker's investigation involves an overtime pay scandal in the USCP Dignitary Protection Division that occurred nearly a decade and a half ago and reportedly lasted at least a year. The scandal had at least three known participants: Wendy Colmore, John Erickson, and Sean Gallagher.

In January 2010, former USCP Sergeant Rhoda Henderson, long since retired, became suspicious of some overtime hours submitted by Colmore, Erickson, and Gallagher. According to a July 2014 report from National Journal, DPD officers were limited in the overtime hours they could report because they could not earn more than $8,596 every two weeks.

To sidestep that rule and ensure that they received payment for all their OT hours, Colmore, Erickson, and Gallagher began "time shifting" by distributing hours onto other pay periods to keep themselves below the $8,596 threshold, Henderson claimed.

When Henderson first reported her suspicions in summer 2012, she said that her superiors brushed her off. However, she had collected a treasure trove of digital receipts that revealed the scam.

An intra-agency memorandum dated a year later indicated that "all three" eventually copped to the scandal. "All three claim that this was not a conspiracy," the memorandum said, according to Baker. "What was it then? Ask them what they call it when three people all agree to backfill overtime and not inform their chain of command."

Henderson recently told Baker that in perpetrating the scam, Colmore, Erickson, and Gallagher committed "felonies" that ought to at least have resulted in immediate termination. "Had this been me or any other officer (those not part of command staff) who would have committed this crime," she told National Journal in 2014, "we would have been fired. There's no doubt in my mind."

Jim Konczos, then chairman of the Capitol Police Labor Committee's executive board, agreed. "If these allegations are true, this is criminal in nature, not administrative by any means," Konczos said. "This conduct should result in termination, nothing less. We can't have supervisors stealing time and/or money. This conduct, besides being criminal, impairs the efficiency and reputation of the department."

'Defrauded the government': Lt. Wendy Colmore

When questioned in 2013, Gallagher, then a USCP captain and the supervisor of Colmore and Erickson, pointed the finger at Colmore, a lieutenant, as the architect of the scheme. A memorandum from that year shows that Colmore had previously contacted a superior officer and inquired about rules governing "time shifting." Despite receiving a response that such practices were not permitted, Colmore and her colleagues apparently began fudging their timesheets anyway.

In all, Colmore's role in the scheme "defrauded the government of $6,870," according to a USCP document viewed by Baker. Colmore also had a "sustained charge of conduct unbecoming" from a separate internal affairs investigation in 2000.

Even with those marks on her record, Colmore was never fired, though she was recommended for demotion to sergeant. She left the USCP in 2014 and joined the U.S. Senate sergeant at arms a year later, according to a LinkedIn profile believed to be hers.

'Passed out, extremelyintoxicated': Deputy Chief John Erickson

As unsavory as some of Colmore's behavior has been, Erickson's past transgressions are even worse. Not only was he implicated in the overtime scheme and ordered to serve a 20-day suspension and pay back at least some of the defrauded money, but he was reportedly twice caught driving under the influence, once while on duty.

The first incident occurred in 1997 in San Antonio, Texas, when Erickson was working security detail for then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Shortly before 3:30 a.m. on June 28 that year, Erickson was discovered in "a government-rented convertible" parked along the side of a road with "his head on his chest, passed out, extremely intoxicated," a police report said. Officers described his speech as "slurred," his breath as smelling of "intoxicants," and his eyes as "bloodshot."

Erickson refused to take a breathalyzer, was arrested, and spent several hours in jail. He later received a warning from the USCP and a 10-day suspension without pay, according to USCP documents viewed by Baker.

Erickson apparently did not learn his lesson, however, as he was involved in an even more serious alcohol-related incident less than five years later. In January 2002, Erickson was off duty when he reportedly swerved and crashed his personal vehicle into a Maryland State Police cruiser parked along Route 50 just outside D.C. in New Carrollton, Maryland. A trooper was in the vehicle at the time and sustained "minor injuries" during the crash, the Washington Post reported at the time.

Following the crash, Erickson was suspended for 30 days without pay, charged with conduct unbecoming, and issued a "last chance agreement, in lieu of termination," USCP documents said.

These serious marks on his record seem to have have had no negative effect on his USCP career, though. In fact, he has continued to advance, prompting some to refer to him as "Teflon John." In the year following the overtime scandal, Erickson was promoted to captain, and a penalty assessment memorandum about the scandal called him "an outstanding employee."

Last October, Erickson was named a USCP deputy chief.

'The golden boy': Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher

Of the three USCP uniformed officers caught in the overtime scandal, Sean Gallagher should have suffered the worst penalties. At the time the scandal was uncovered, Gallagher was a captain, entrusted with signing off on timesheets such as those submitted by Colmore and Erickson. Yet on his timesheets, Gallagher forged the signature of his superior, Inspector Daniel Malloy, apparently choosing different-colored pens to conceal his misconduct.

This was not Gallagher's first foray into forgery at the USCP. He was also the subject of a prior internal affairs investigation in which he claimed "that his forgery of his supervisors [sic] signature never resulted in personal gain," USCP documents revealed, according to Baker.

Those words may have come back to haunt Gallagher, who is believed to have pocketed an extra $10,000 as a result of time-shifting. Documents in connection with that incident claimed he was motivated by the "significant personal gain" it would yield.

Gallagher was supposed to pay back all the money he stole from the department and be demoted to lieutenant, but whether those consequences were ever enforced is uncertain. One unnamed USCP source familiar with the matter told Baker that Gallagher remained a captain, served just a 10-day suspension, and was promoted to inspector in 2018.

Within the next three years, Gallagher received two more promotions. In 2019, he was named a USCP deputy chief before becoming an assistant chief in June 2021.

When asked why uniformed officers like Gallagher received such seemingly preferential treatment despite serious, possibly even criminal, missteps, former USCP Captain Eric Keenan, one of the only current or former USCP employees willing to go on the record with Baker, said that Gallagher ingratiated himself with powerful people in the department.

From "day one," Keenan told Baker, Gallagher was "the golden boy who could do no wrong."

A Praetorian Guard of sorts: USCP and political influence

As distastefully as some in federal law enforcement have behaved, the larger problem with these scandals at the USCP is that they seem to have put unscrupulous people into positions with significant power, Steve Baker claimed. Earlier this month, Assistant Chief Sean Gallagher even testified at a congressional hearing about pipe bombs placed near the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic National Committees hours before the protest on January 6.
"Those statements [about the pipe bombs] come from our trained bomb techs, highly trained, highly capable bomb techs," asserted Gallagher, a man who has been caught committing forgery on multiple occasions.
Baker believes that the likes of Gallagher, Deputy Chief John Erickson, and former Lt. Wendy Colmore represent a much deeper problem at the USCP. "The U.S. Capitol Police know 'where the bodies are buried' and who buried them," Baker claimed. "This gives them tremendous power — power even over the outcome of controversial or closely contested legislation."
USCP officers have seemingly wrested so much power away from elected officials that Baker compared them with the Praetorian Guard, a once-proud unit of officers entrusted with protecting Roman emperors that eventually devolved into an elitist group of gatekeepers who, in essence, controlled the empire.
Despite possible corruption in the upper echelon of the USCP and the Biden administration's apparent prosecution of him for exercising his constitutional rights as a member of the free press, Baker says he is not deterred. "Blaze Media’s investigation into Capitol Police corruption will continue," he stated.
Neither the USCP nor Wendy Colmore responded to Blaze News' request for comment.
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Senate report on Jan. 6 riot calls on Congress to fund the police, identifies security failures that led to attack



The United States Senate released its bipartisan report on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot Tuesday, highlighting the "security, planning, and response failures" of the U.S. Capitol Police and the Capitol Police Board along with "critical breakdowns involving several federal agencies" before and during the events of that day.

The report was put together by the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Committee on Rules and Administration. It is the first and so far only bipartisan review of how rioters trespassed at the U.S. Capitol, ransacked government offices, stole property, assaulted and severely injured Capitol Police officers, and sought to stop a joint session of Congress from carrying out its constitutional duty to certify the Electoral College votes for president and vice president of the United States.

The Senate report made several recommendations, including to give the Capitol Police chief more authority to respond to crises, to give law enforcement better planning and equipment — with additional congressional funding — and to make intelligence sharing between federal agencies more efficient.

"The January 6 attack on the Capitol was an attack on democracy itself. Today's joint bipartisan congressional oversight report from the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee and the Rules Committee details the security and intelligence failures in the days leading up to the attack, the lack of preparedness at the Capitol, and the slow response as the attack unfolded," Homeland Security ranking member Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said. "We make specific recommendations to address key failures in the Capitol Police Board structure and processes; ensure Capitol Police has the training and equipment necessary to complete its mission; update how the intelligence agencies assess and issue intelligence bulletins, particularly as it relates to social media; enhance communications between the chain of command at the Department of Defense; and ensure timely and effective cooperation and coordination amongst federal, state, and local law enforcement. We must address these failures and make the necessary reforms to ensure this never happens again."

"Thanks to the heroic actions of U.S. Capitol Police, D.C. Metropolitan Police, the National Guard and others — rioters on January 6th failed to achieve their goal of preventing the certification of a free and fair presidential election. The events of January 6th were horrific, and our bipartisan investigation identified many unacceptable, widespread breakdowns in security preparations and emergency response related to this attack," committee Chairman Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) said. "Our report offers critical recommendations to address these failures and strengthen security for the Capitol to prevent an attack of this nature from ever happening again."

The report found that federal law enforcement agencies, namely the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, failed to warn of potential violence on Jan. 6 despite known online calls for violence at the Capitol on open-sources like social media platforms. These agencies did not find such online posts to be credible. The divisions of USCP responsible for collecting intelligence on possible threats likewise "failed to fully incorporate this information into all of its internal assessments about January 6 and the Joint Session." Failure to share information across various law enforcement agencies was a serious problem that led police to be caught off guard when Trump's supporters formed a mob and breached the Capitol.

USCP also did not appear to develop a plan for how officers would be staffed during the Joint Session and front-line officers were not given "effective protective equipment or training" to deal with a crowd as big as the one that gathered in support of former President Donald Trump.

"These operational failures were exacerbated by leadership's failure to clearly communicate during the attack," the report said.

The National Guard's failure to respond to the riot was blamed on "opaque processes and a lack of emergency authority."

"As the attack unfolded, [the Department of Defense] required time to approve the request and gather, equip, and instruct its personnel on the mission, which resulted in additional delays," the report explained.

The Senate report recommended that the chief of USCP be given the ability to directly request assistance from the D.C. National Guard in emergency situations without waddling through bureaucratic red tape. It also calls for Congress to increase funding for Capitol Police training, equipment, and staff needs, among several other recommendations.

"This report lays out necessary reforms including passing a law to change Capitol Police Board procedures and improving intelligence sharing. I will work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to implement the recommendations in this report that are needed to protect the Capitol and, in turn, our nation," Rules Committee Chairwoman Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) said.

"These recommendations are based on an extensive fact-finding effort that included interviews with key decision makers, firsthand accounts from law enforcement personnel, and the review of thousands of documents," ranking member Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said. "Our focus now should be on immediately implementing these recommendations. We owe it to the brave men and women who responded that day to do everything we can to prevent an attack like this from ever happening again, and in every instance ensure that the Capitol Police have the training and equipment that they need."

Upon release, the report was criticized by CNN and other media outlets for neglecting to directly blame then-President Trump for stoking violence.

The report does not provide additional insight into the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt by a USCP officer.

Two men charged with alleged assault on Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died after riot



Federal law enforcement authorities have arrested and charged two men with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick with bear spray during the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol building, but the cause of his death is still unknown.

Julian Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania and George Tanios, 39, of West Virginia were arrested Sunday and will appear in federal court Monday, the Washington Post reports. The two men were allegedly seen on video recordings taken at the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol at 2:14 p.m., where Sicknick and other police officers were standing guard behind metal bicycle racks.

Arrest papers obtained by the Post allege that Khater asked Tanios for bear spray, which he later appears on video to discharge into the face of Sicknick and two other police officers.

The two men are charged with nine counts including assaulting three officers with a deadly weapon, civil disorder, and obstruction of a congressional proceeding. If convicted, they could each face up to 20 years in prison.

Officer Sicknick was one of five people who died during and after the riot. Kevin Greeson, 55, of Athens, Alabama; Benjamin Philips, 50, of Ringtown, Pennsylvania; and Rosanne Boyland, 34, of Kennesaw, Georgia, died of medical emergencies. Ashli Babbitt, 35, was fatally shot by police during a confrontation inside the Capitol building. Initial reports suggested that Sicknick had died from blunt force trauma after being struck by a fire extinguisher, but later reporting revealed that medical examiners did not find signs that the officer sustained any blunt force trauma.

A spokeswoman for the deputy mayor for public safety in D.C. told the Washington Post that autopsy reports for Sicknick are still pending as of Monday. Police have not determined the cause of Sicknick's death and have not charged Khater and Tanios with homicide. Police said surveillance video and officer-worn body camera footage show clear evidence of the assault, regardless of whether those actions led to the officer's death.

The Associated Press reported that investigators theorize Sicknick may have ingested the chemical substance he was sprayed with, possibly contributing to his death at a hospital the next day.

More details from the AP:

Khater is the man in a video obtained by the FBI that showed him spraying Sicknick and others with bear spray, according to court papers.

"Give me that bear (expletive), Khater said to Tanios on the video, according to court papers. Sicknick and other officers were standing guard near metal bike racks, the papers say.

Khater then says, "they just (expletive) sprayed me," as he's seen holding a white can with a black top that prosecutors said "appears to be a can of chemical spray."

After he sprayed the officers, they "immediately retreat from the line, bring their hands to their faces and rush to find water to wash out their eyes," according to the court papers.

The FBI has released some 250 photos of suspects wanted for assaulting federal law enforcement officers on Jan. 6 at the Capitol. The Department of Justice recently said said more than 300 individuals have been charged relating to the riot, over 900 search warrants have been executed nationwide, and 15,000 hours of surveillance tape is being reviewed by authorities to identify suspects.

Report: FBI is investigating allegations against Lincoln Project's John Weaver



The FBI is reportedly investigating allegations of sexual misconduct made against longtime establishment Republican operative and Lincoln Project co-founder John Weaver.

Two individuals who spoke to reporter Yashar Ali said they were contacted by FBI agents who made inquiries regarding whether Weaver ever touched them inappropriately or requested sexually explicit material from them when they were underage.

Ali reported that his sources said the investigators' questions were "narrow in scope" and that it is not clear how wide the FBI investigation is. He also noted in his newsletter that "the FBI asking potential witnesses about allegations of illegal conduct does not necessarily mean that someone is the subject or a target of a federal investigation."

Weaver, 61, was formerly a top political adviser to John McCain and John Kasich before going on to found the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. Allegations of sexual misconduct against him were first reported in the American Conservative and later in Forensic News.

At least 21 young men have come forward to accuse Weaver of sexual harassment online, including one 14-year-old boy who claims Weaver asked him about his body. These men accuse Weaver of leveraging his powerful position in politics to manipulate them, promising networking and career favors in exchange for sex.

Weaver, who is married with two children, admitted in January that he had sent "inappropriate" messages to multiple men, apologized for misinterpreting what he says he thought were "consensual mutual conversations," and announced he is gay.

In a statement he made to the New York Times, Weaver said: "I am so disheartened and sad that I may have brought discomfort to anyone in what I thought at the time were mutually consensual discussions. In living a deeply closeted life, I allowed my pain to cause pain for others. For that I am truly sorry to these men and everyone and for letting so many people down."

Other founding members of the Lincoln Project claim to have been "shocked" by the allegations against Weaver and deny any prior knowledge of allegations of sexual misconduct made against Weaver.

"No Lincoln Project employee, intern, or contractors ever made an allegation of inappropriate communication about John Weaver that would have triggered an investigation by HR or by an outside employment counsel," Lincoln Project co-founder Steve Schmidt told the Associated Press in a Wednesday interview. "In other words, no human being ever made an allegation about any inappropriate sexualized communications about John Weaver ever."

DC mayor discouraged additional federal law enforcement day before Capitol riots — then bashed them for not doing more



In a letter to Pentagon and Justice Department officials just one day before riotous Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, Democratic Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser discouraged additional help from federal law enforcement — only later to slam federal agents for not doing more to quell the riots.

"The District of Columbia Government has not requested personnel from any other federal law enforcement agencies," Bowser wrote to acting U.S. Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller, and Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy on Tuesday.

She insisted that the Metropolitan Police Department was "prepared" to handle the demonstrations in cooperation with its federal partners, specifically the U.S. Park Police, U.S. Capitol Police and U.S. Secret Service.

"To be clear, the District of Columbia is not requesting other federal law enforcement personnel and discourages any additional deployment without immediate notification to, and consultation with, MPD if such plans are underway," she continued.

She reasoned in the letter that the presence of "unidentified" federal agents "caused confusion" during demonstrations last year and could become a "national security threat" by leaving MPD with no way to decipher between armed groups.

Yet on Thursday, while speaking to reporters in the aftermath of the riots, Bowser bashed federal law enforcement for their supposed lackluster response. She accused federal personnel of responding more forcefully to Black Lives Matter protests in the city last summer than they did to Wednesday's violence.

"We must also understand why the federal law enforcement response was much stronger [during the Black Lives Matter protests], Bowser said, according to CBS News.

During the conference, she also criticized Capitol Police — the specific agency charged with protecting the U.S. Congress — for failing to prevent hundreds of protesters from tearing down security barricades and ultimately pushing into the Capitol building. The pandemonium ended up resulting in shots being fired and one rioter being killed.

"Obviously it was a failure or you would not have had police lines breached and people entering the building by breaking windows," she said.

As the events unfolded Wednesday afternoon it quickly became clear that law enforcement were outmanned and under-equipped to handle the escalating situation, leading to President Trump eventually sending in the National Guard to quell the violence and secure the Capitol.

It should be noted that Bowser's letter was a request and not a directive. Nor does she have authority of federal partners such as the Capitol Police.