Page:CTRL0000034600 - Transcribed Interview of Richard Peter Donoghue, (Oct. 1, 2021).pdf/181

181 I went to the back. Dave Bowdich was in the conference room by himself with a phone on the table.

He was talking to some FBI leader. I don't know who it was. It was not Director Wray. He was asking that leader, Where are our guys? How many are there? Do they have the equipment? That sort of thing.

And he hung up, and we spoke briefly. We decided that it would be better off if we both moved toward the Capitol. Because you're always going to have these lags in information as it gets reported up to a command post. So we thought the best thing to do was for us to both just go to the Capitol and see what was really going on.

So when you made that decision, you and Mr. Bowdich, is it fair to say that there was no FBI or DOJ component official on the Capitol complex to have provided you information or Mr. Bowdich information?

I don't think there were any FBI agents in the Capitol at that point. I think ATF made it to the Capitol first. And I believe they made it to the Capitol because they were there for the pipe bombs. And so they were close by. And if I understand correctly, part of this is based on conversations I had with ATF leadership afterward.

But their guys were at the RNC and the DNC looking at the pipe bombs. And the Capitol Police were there as well. And the Capitol Police heard over their radios that the Capitol had been breached. And they said, you know, we've got to go back to the Capitol.

And they turned again running toward the Capitol. And the ATF agents just followed them to provide whatever assistance they could.

So I think ATF was the first Federal agency to make it into the Capitol that day. And I do have a recollection of some contact with the ATF leader who was in charge, Ashan Benedict. And I remember talking to Ashan and him saying, I'm already in the