As someone who had been at the Capitol from 9 AM until just now, I'd have to push back against the claims that the Capitol Police are being permissive with this crowd. From what I witnessed, they were vastly undermanned today. (1/x)

There was a strong police presence this morning, for sure but not as many barricades or officers as one would see during, say, Inauguration. Mostly metal fencing -- the kind you see at concerts -- barred people from getting onto the lawn. (2/x)

It's the sort of fencing that a hundred people or so could easily tear down if they bum-rushed the building, as they did the moment it was breached (shortly after Trump's speech). (3/x) https://twitter.com/rebtanhs/status/1346879406581624833

Hours before, I spoke to a man who fantasized about occupying the Capitol. "We patriots ought to be in that building. That building belongs to We The People. They work for us. And here we are barred, to the point that we can’t even get on the property within 120 yards.” (4/x)

I would add that while the MAGA crowd talks a big game about being pro-LEO, they immediately stopped once Cap Police asked them to do things as simple as orderly using a crosswalk. Overheard: "What if we just don't listen to them?" (5/x)

(deleted earlier tweet w/ misspelling) (6/x)

In my conversations with extremism researchers, they've noted that militias and militia-like movements tend to be reflexively anti-government. That seemed to bear out today. (7/x)

The entire premise of forming a militia, after all, is that they think normal law enforcement has failed them - and subsequently, they must take matters into their own hands. (8/x)

Someone more familiar with police de-escalation tactics can weigh in here, but I kind of think that if they tried anything -- and my own interactions with LEO seemed ti indicate that they were trying to keep the mood low-key -- it clearly didn't work. (9/x)

As @dlippman pointed out later, it is not a good sign when Homeland Security vehicles start rushing towards the capitol. Apparently, that never happens. But today was sort of a "this never happens " kind of day. (10/x) https://twitter.com/dlippman/status/1346901564586405890

As for the cop taking a selfie with one of the people who broke into the Capitol: unless the dude has secret political sympathies, this could be classified as a de-escalation tactic to talk down a crowd that just invaded your building (11/x) https://twitter.com/bubbaprog/status/1346920198461419520

I'll caveat w/this: there are lots of things that I didn't see. There are lots of convos between LEOs and MAGA ppl I didn't hear. But judging from past hi-security events I've attended at the Capitol, the security clearly did not match the size and intensity of this crowd. (12/x)

And all I can say is that it was peaceful and boring with maybe a few hundred people and I was going to leave at like 1 PM after filing a story out of an empty cafeteria. And then in the span of five minutes, it was not. (13/x)

If there is a post-mortem or investigation into this, I will be VERY interested to see why Capitol Police made the decisions they did w/r/t security, or lack thereof. (14/x).

aw geez ok just saw this video and wowwww https://twitter.com/cevansavenger/status/1346920924310867968