The U.S. Capitol Police Board should “immediately reconsider” its appointment of Assistant Chief Sean P. Gallagher as acting chief because he “fails to meet the standard of trust and integrity required to lead the U.S. Capitol Police force,” the officers’ union says.
“We’re astounded the board would even consider Gallagher for the role,” said Gus Papathanasiou, union chairman of the United States Capitol Police Labor Committee. “The Capitol Police force cannot continue to see problem officers ‘fail upwards,’ winning promotions instead of demotions commensurate with their actions.”
‘The board has elevated an individual who has previously been recommended for termination.’
The union’s position on a permanent replacement for retired Chief J. Thomas Manger is the first formal opposition to the elevation of Gallagher, a 24-year veteran of the force named acting chief on June 2. Capitol Hill sources told Blaze News that Gallagher is likely not a serious candidate for the permanent job.
Papathanasiou cited Gallagher’s disciplinary history, which includes a 2010 time-card scandal that defrauded taxpayers of at least $10,000. He also called out Gallagher for failures during the Jan. 6 protests and rioting that left officers “under-prepared and overwhelmed by rioters during the attack on the U.S. Capitol.”
“In April, the union publicly advocated for the Capitol Police Board to choose a new chief with integrity who has earned the trust of the frontline officers,” Papathanasiou said in a statement. “Instead the board has elevated an individual who has previously been recommended for termination from the force following allegations of his involvement in a scheme to defraud the USCP of thousands of dollars in an overtime scam.”
Gus Papathanasiou, chairman of the U.S. Capitol Police Labor Committee, said his union is opposed to the appointment of Sean Gallagher as acting chief.Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call Inc./Getty Images
As Blaze News disclosed in March 2024, then-Capt. Gallagher and two lieutenants under his command took part in a scheme to submit bogus time cards in order to obtain overtime pay for time not worked.
According to Office of Professional Responsibility disciplinary records obtained by Blaze News, Gallagher forged his supervisor’s signature on overtime pay submissions, using a different color pen for the forged signature from the one he used for his own. The fraud scheme was discovered in 2010 and sparked a long investigation.
An OPR memo dated Dec. 18, 2013, recommended Gallagher’s termination “for having defrauded the government of more than $10,000.”
“According to a USCP whistleblower, Gallagher forged his time sheets to avoid a cap on overtime so that he could be paid more,” Papathanasiou said. “That is not only a violation of policy, but it is illegal. If a frontline officer did that, they would be fired and most likely referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for criminal prosecution.”
Gallagher was one of the subjects of a scathing whistleblower letter submitted to Congress in September 2021 that accused him and Assistant Chief Yogananda Pittman of intentional inaction while officers battled rioters on Jan. 6, 2021.
“In the Command Center, they simply watched, mostly with their hands in their laps,” wrote former Deputy Chief Jeffrey J. Pickett. “They did not try to help or assist as officers and officials were literally fighting for each other, their lives, and the Congress.”
“What I observed was them mostly sitting there, blankly looking at the TV screens showing real-time footage of officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives,” Pickett wrote. “This observation of their inaction was reported and corroborated by other officials and non-USCP entities.”
‘There are significant reforms needed within command level of the US Capitol Police.’
In the wake of Jan. 6, the union took a vote on USCP leadership, with Gallagher receiving an 84% no-confidence vote from the Labor Committee’s 1,300 members.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), whose subcommittee investigated the failures of Capitol Police, said the Capitol Police Board needs to “look deeply into the conduct, performance, and disciplinary records” of all applicants for the chief’s job.
“During my in-depth investigation into the security failures at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, my subcommittee uncovered numerous incidents of concern within the Capitol Police,” Loudermilk told Blaze News. “These concerns included operation failures, personal conduct issues, and systemic problems with equitable disciplinary actions.
“From my investigation, I believe there are significant reforms needed within command level of the U.S. Capitol Police,” Loudermilk said.
Capitol Police sources said the failures of Gallagher and Pittman in the USCP Command Center on Jan. 6 were especially egregious because then-Chief Steven A. Sund was completely preoccupied all day trying to secure help from a D.C. National Guard quick-reaction force.
Former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steven A. Sund made an urgent request for National Guard help during a 2:30 p.m. conference call with Pentagon officials on Jan. 6, 2021. Rep. Barry Loudermilk said Sund “unfairly shouldered the bulk of the blame” for Jan. 6 failures.
Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call Inc. via Getty Images
Sund practically begged for the help that President Donald J. Trump had authorized days before Jan. 6. However, internal resistance at the Pentagon, along with a lack of participation from Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, led to a three-hour, 19-minute delay in response to Sund’s desperate request for help. By the time Guard troops were allowed on Capitol grounds after 5:30 p.m. that day, the rioting had been quelled.
In a report released on Dec. 17, 2024, Loudermilk said his Subcommittee on Oversight documented the many failures of the hyper-politicized Jan. 6 Select Committee appointed by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in 2022.
“Every member and staff member of this subcommittee deserves the gratitude of those whose reputations have been restored, as well as those who have been exonerated by the evidence they have exposed,” Loudermilk wrote in a cover letter on the report.
“From the D.C. National Guard, who were maligned by false reports from the Pentagon, to the former chief of Capitol Police, Steven Sund, who unfairly shouldered the bulk of the blame for the security failures of that day, many have had a level of hope restored due to the work of this subcommittee,” Loudermilk wrote.
Pelosi forced Sund to resign immediately after Jan. 6, laying the blame on him for security failures at the Capitol. Subsequent investigations showed, however, that Sund made multiple attempts ahead of Jan. 6 to secure National Guard help and that Pelosi was the one who stood in the way.
U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), shown here at a GOP leadership press event in Washington, D.C., Dec. 4, 2024, recently disclosed that several disciplinary cases had been filed over 20 years against Michael Byrd, the Capitol Police lieutenant who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Photo by NathanPosner/Anadolu via Getty Images
During a meeting with the late Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger days before Jan. 6, Sund raised the issue of Guard help but was rebuffed. “Pelosi will never go for it,” Sund quoted Stenger as telling him.
In August 2024, Loudermilk’s subcommittee released HBO video clips showing Pelosi taking ownership of Jan. 6 failures on one hand while bashing and blaming Sund on the other. The former chief lit her up for the remarks in an interview with Blaze News.
“I am stunned by the repeated statements by Pelosi about there not being any National Guard deployed to the Capitol in advance of the attack on January 6,” Sund told Blaze News, “when it was her sergeant at arms for the House of Representatives who denied my request for support on January 3 and then again, repeatedly, for 71 minutes while we were under attack on January 6.”
The Capitol Police Board is made up of the House and Senate sergeants at arms and the architect of the U.S. Capitol. The department made a 2026 budget request of $967 million, which includes a goal of employing 2,530 sworn officers by the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2026.
To aid in the search for a new chief, the Capitol Police Board has previously contracted with the District of Columbia-based Police Executive Research Forum. According to the PERF website, it has conducted talent searches for police departments in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Baltimore, and other jurisdictions.
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