The departing chief of the Capitol Police says he called for backup six times before and during Wednesday's attack at the US Capitol but was kept waiting.
Chief Steven Sund told The Washington Post he unsuccessfully asked the Senate and House sergeants at arms multiple times for permission to call the National Guard.
Sund said that he asked the Pentagon for help after the violence started but that Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, the director of the US Army Staff, declined.
The Guard eventually deployed at 3:10 p.m. and arrived at 5:40 p.m., The Post said, after the violence had mostly ceased.
Sund told The Post: "If we would have had the National Guard we could have held them at bay longer."
