They came with their own radio system to coordinate the attack and climbing gear and other equipment to defeat the capital's security features.

I am sickened by what I witnessed that day gripping testimony Tuesday from former security officials and other witnesses to the January 6th siege on the U.

S Capitol as two Senate committees try to unravel where the breakdowns in planning and response occurred.

That allowed the unprecedented violence to unfold.

Ah, key point of contention whether authorities rejected calling in the National Guard ahead of a rally by Donald Trump supporters out of concerns that doing so might look bad.

Former Capitol Police chief Stephens Sunde said in written testimony that he had requested National Guard troops two days before the event, but that the then House of Representatives sergeant at arms, Paul Irving, told him he was concerned about the optics of having the National Guard.

They're Irving, however, on Tuesday appeared to refute that account.

Let me be clear optics as portrayed in the media, played no role whatsoever in my decisions about security, and any suggestion to the contrary is false.

If optics didn't play a role in the planning stages it did during a phone call that took place as the attack was happening, testified Robert Conte, the acting police chief in Washington, D.

C.

Chief Son was pleading for the deployment of the National Guard, and in response to that, there was not an immediate yes, the National Guard is responding.

The response was Mawr asking about the plan that you know, What was the plan for the National Guard response?

Was Mawr focused on in addition to the plan optics, you know how this looks with boots on the ground on the on the capital, and my response to that was simply, I was just stunned.

The FBI also says it warned law enforcement agencies one day ahead of the siege that extremists were planning to commit violence.

Son told the Senate committees he did not see this report himself a the time.

Irving also said he did not see the report, but said he was confident a proper plan was in place.

We now know that we had the wrong plan.

Both Sun and Irving have since resigned from their posts.

Five died in the capital siege.

Over 200 police were injured senators next week plan to call witnesses from the FBI, the Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security.