U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who took charge of the department in the difficult months after the U.S. Capitol siege, is retiring from his position Friday. After the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, he helped rebuild the department’s shrunken staff, beefed up recruitment efforts and bolstered the agency’s intelligence operations and communications to fix weaknesses revealed by the breach of the Capitol.

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Manger has been critical of the pardons issued by President Trump to free Capitol rioters who beat, clubbed and gassed Capitol Police and other officers during the attack on the Capitol. He told CBS News that when Mr. Trump issued 1,500 pardons to the suspected and convicted rioters when he took office, it “was probably one of my worst days in this job.”  

He also blasted conspiracy theories about Jan. 6 that continue to circulate on social media.

“My folks were here on Jan. 6. They were part of what went on. They were assaulted,” Manger said. “They were in fights. Many of them were injured. They know exactly what happened on Jan. 6. For somebody to make up some story that, ‘Oh, it wasn’t that bad,’ — it is just not true.”

“What a chilling message to law enforcement, because we’ve got a job to do, and we don’t care what the issue is,” Manger continued. “We don’t care what side of the coin you’re on on any particular issue because we have a job to do, to maintain public order and to keep the peace.”

Capitol police chief Thomas Manger says Trump’s pardon of Jan. 6 rioters was “probably one of my worst days in this job”

Capitol police chief Thomas Manger has led — and then rebuilt — the department since the Jan. 6 riot. He speaks to CBS News ahead of his retirement on Friday.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/capitol-police-chief-thomas-manger-retires-capitol-riot