I cannot stop thinking about how close the 1-2-3 in the line of presidential succession, VP-Speaker-Pro tempore came to being physically harmed on Weds. The terrorists had operable bombs, killed an officer and ransacked difficult to access areas of the Capitol. We need answers.

Few Capitol Police fired shots when the force was totally justified—why? National Guard was slow walked as Leader Hoyer called Gov Hogan of Maryland pleading for help-why? Why was the Capitol deliberately left so vulnerable? We were such important leaders left on their own?

If NYT reports are accurate, that some Capitol Police willfully gave the terrorists directions to Leader Schumer’s office, that is appalling. If WaPo report that off duty police were flashing their badges as they stormed the Capitol and let through is accurate, that is appalling.

Too many of us are too conspiratorial these days but something is not right. VP-Speaker-Pro tempore should not have been so endangered, esp given how much was known about the intentions of the terrorists. We’re in a Constitutional crisis, thank God our line of succession lives.

One last thing I can’t shake, had capable foreign actors been embedded with the terrorists, they could have killed half of Congress, held hostages for ransom/prisoner release and stolen countless hard drives etc. We were so damn vulnerable and so lucky it wasn’t even worse.

Thanks for reading. As a recovering journalist who covered Capitol Hill for 7 years and saw all safeguards & norms eroded, I’ve been worried about this for awhile. https://twitter.com/lukerussert/status/1106287997358489600