The former Senate Sergeant at Arms who was responsible for Capitol security on January 6 has been found dead, Fox News has reported. “Fox confirms that Michael Stenger, the Senate Seargeant at Arms who was in charge of Senate security the day of the Capitol riot, has died,” Chad Pergram reported on Monday.
Circumstances surrounding Stenger’s death are being closely guarded and have not been made clear as of this time.
1) Fox confirms that Michael Stenger, the Senate Sergeant at Arms who was in charge of Senate security the day of the Capitol riot, has died.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 27, 2022
The report has also been confirmed by Politico Congressional reporter K. Tully-McManus. “Former Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger died this morning,” Tully-McManus said. “He joined the SAA team in 2011 after a career with the Secret Service and was appointed SAA in 2018.”
Stenger was set to testify at an abruptly scheduled public January 6 Congressional committee hearing at 1pm the day before he was found dead. Reports indicate the hearing was scheduled due to “recently obtained evidence.”
Michael Stenger was forced out of his job after the January 6 Capitol protests. House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving subsequently gave his resignation notice, as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi announced. Capitol Police chief Steven Sund also resigned, effective Jan. 16.
Sund penned a letter in which he heavily criticized lack of security and precautions at the Capitol upon his resignation.
National File report: In the months prior to his death, Stenger testified before Congress regarding the January 6 protests.
“In conclusion, whenever you prepare for a major event, you must always consider the possibility of some form of civil disobedience at these demonstrations and plan accordingly,” Stenger said in his testimony. “The events of January 6th went beyond disobedience. This was a violent, coordinated attack where the loss of life could have been much worse.”
The former Seargeant at Arms was set to testify again, this time in front of the public January 6 Congressional committee hearings. A hearing that will feature “recently obtained evidence” was abruptly scheduled for tomorrow at 1 p.m.
In February, Pergram reported on “inconsistencies” in the testimonies from Capitol security chiefs. This includes testimony from both Sund and Stenger.
“Top GOPer on Hse Admin Cmte Davis on Senate’s Capitol riot hrng: There were major inconsistencies in the testimony provided by former USCP Chief Sund, former House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, and former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger,” Pergram tweeted in February 2021.
n addition, a staff report for the Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee blamed Sund, Irving, and Stenger for failing to notify the National Guard on January 6.
“Steven Sund never submitted a formal request to the Capitol Police Board for National Guard support in advance of January 6,” the report said. “Instead, Steven Sund had informal conversations with the House Sergeant at Arms, Paul Irving, and the Senate Sergeant at Arms, Michael Stenger, regarding the potential need for National Guard support. No one ever discussed the possibility of National Guard support with the Architect of the Capitol, the third voting member of the Capitol Police Board.”
Michael Stenger is not the first member of the Capitol security team who has died in the months following January 6, 2021. Four Capitol police officers who were on duty that day have committed suicide since the event.
