Capitol police chief Thomas Manger says Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 rioters was “in all probability one in every of my worst days on this job”

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who took cost of the division within the tough months after the U.S. Capitol siege, is retiring from his place Friday. After the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, he helped rebuild the division’s shrunken workers, beefed up recruitment efforts and bolstered the company’s intelligence operations and communications to repair weaknesses revealed by the breach of the Capitol.

Manger instructed CBS Information he confronted stiff challenges when he arrived on the job in 2021.

“The division as an entire had misplaced confidence within the (prior) management on account of what occurred,” he mentioned. “And there have been large issues that had been recognized as issues that wanted to be mounted as rapidly as we might repair them: Issues just like the intelligence failures, the communication failures, the gear failures, the coaching failures, the management failures — all of these issues wanted to be addressed instantly.”

Manger, a former native police chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, and Montgomery County, Maryland, efficiently advocated for will increase in funding to enhance hiring, gear and operations.

The division was blasted by critics for intelligence failures that contributed to the violation of the complicated on Jan. 6, 2021.   

“We now have a world class intelligence operation. We’re important gamers within the intelligence group within the Washington, D.C., area and, frankly, everywhere in the nation,” Manger mentioned. “Whereas earlier than, we had been principally simply —… we had been shoppers of data. The FBI would give us intelligence, different businesses would give us intelligence. Now we’re gathering our personal.”

The U.S. Capitol Police Board will choose a brand new police chief, which Manger predicts will occur quickly.  

Manger has requested almost $1 billion in funding for 2026, which might characterize the most recent in a collection of current price range boosts for the division. In testimony earlier than a congressional committee on justifying his price range request, Manger cited an elevated variety of investigations into threats in opposition to members of Congress.   

“The present local weather of threats has reached alarming ranges,” he instructed the committee in April. Capitol Police data present the variety of threats launched in opposition to congressional members in 2024 exceeded 9,400.

He added, “Social media and the web present a breeding floor for threats that — no matter their nature — the division should examine.”   

Manger and the Capitol Police have additionally bolstered the division’s operations exterior of Washington, responding to potential threats within the hometowns of lawmakers.

The division has a singular mission amongst police businesses, defending elected leaders and securing the U.S. Capitol campus, which hosts over 3 million guests annually. The Capitol is open to the general public, and lawmakers are accessible to residents. 

Manger has been essential of the pardons issued by President Trump to free Capitol rioters who beat, clubbed and gassed Capitol Police and different officers throughout the assault on the Capitol. He instructed CBS Information that when Mr. Trump issued 1,500 pardons to the suspected and convicted rioters when he took workplace, it “was in all probability one in every of my worst days on this job.”  

He additionally blasted conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 that proceed to flow into on social media.

“My people had been right here on Jan. 6. They had been a part of what went on. They had been assaulted,” Manger mentioned. “They had been in fights. A lot of them had been injured. They know precisely what occurred on Jan. 6. For any person to make up some story that, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that unhealthy,’ — it’s simply not true.”

“What a chilling message to regulation enforcement, as a result of we have a job to do, and we do not care what the difficulty is,” Manger continued. “We do not care what facet of the coin you are on on any specific subject as a result of now we have a job to do, to keep up public order and to maintain the peace.”

Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat who’s the rating member of the Committee on Home Administration, mentioned of Manger, “Since taking up on the division’s hour of best want, he professionalized a pressure in want of regular management.”  

A union consultant for Capitol Cops instructed CBS Information, “Manpower continues to be a problem, in addition to balancing work and household life for the rank and file officers, which continues to plague morale inside the company.”  

As he prepares to depart the division, Manger was lauded by one of many former Capitol Cops who responded to the Jan. 6 riot. Former officer Harry Dunn instructed CBS Information, “He confirmed his love for nation, his love for regulation enforcement and his continued dedication to public service.”