Mindy Pechenuk, Candidate for CA State Assembly Comments on Nancy Pelosi's Appointment of Yogananda Pittman as UCBerkeley's Chief of Police

Mindy Pechenuk, Republican Candidate for California State Assembly, District 18, in 2022 and 2024, has issued a challenge to all members of the UC Berkeley Community including faculty, students, and administrative employees. I intend on pursuing the matter below for as long as it takes to get to the full truth, and nothing but the truth. An investigation is necessary in light of the witch-hunt and multiple unreasonable indictments of Donald J. Trump, which must be stopped NOW. Our country and the American people are suffering and our U.S. Constitution is being destroyed as a result of the misuse of our justice system in attacking the former President of the United States.

This is why I am taking the time to investigate and to ask the following questions. It is urgent we get answers from Yogananda Pittman and Nancy Pelosi as to their roles in the January 6, 2021 events. I am also supporting Congressional efforts to defund Special Prosecutor Jack Smith, and the move to impeach U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Below I provide an outline and the few questions which must be answered. Let it be known that this is just the beginning of the inquiry.

February 4, 2023 Yogananda Pittman took the oath of office to become UC Berkeley Chief of Police, supervising a department of about 140 police officers, community safety officers and staff. On that day, Pittman is quoted in the Berkeley Scanner, "The events at the U.S. Capitol on January6 -I certainly don’t want to talk about that today. “She went on to say, "but it's part of my journey and something I will build on."

Former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund was interviewed earlier this year by then Fox News Host Tucker Carlson. Yogananda Pittman worked as Intelligence Director for Steven Sund at the time of January 6, 2021. According to Tucker Carlson, the interview with Chief of Police Sund, in which there was significant discussion about Yogananda's failures in her role as Intelligence Director for the Capitol Police going into January 6th, was scheduled to air on the Fox Network, on Monday, April 24, 2023.With NO PRIOR NOTICE GIVEN, Fox News announced the termination of Tucker Carlson AND THE INTERVIEW was never shown.

Fast forward to August 10, 2023. On that day, Tucker's second interview with Sund was aired on Tucker on Twitter. It is now a little more than six months since Yogananda Pittman was sworn in as UC Berkeley's Chief of Police and I believe it is now time for her to start answering the questions that are now all in the public domain. To my knowledge, she has not answered one question regarding her failure to maintain law and order at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.The Berkeley Community and all the citizens of the Bay Area and California, I believe, are owed answers from her.

So, here are a few statements from Capitol Chief of Police Steven Sund and questions regarding his statements. More questions will follow in a second press release. Rest assured; more questions will be forthcoming.

Statement #1 from Capitol Police Chief Sund: He reported in the interview, that "absolutely zero" of the intelligence that we now know existed about plans for attacking the Capitol, killing police, attacking and killing members of Congress was shared with Chief Sund. He went on to say that "we now know that the FBI and the DHS were swimming with intelligence, and we know that the military had the same concerns. Yet none of this intelligence was shared with the Chief Sund."

The first question we need answers from Chief Yogananda Pittman is, as the intelligence officer responsible for briefing the Chief, what did you know, when did you know it, and why did you not brief the Chief so that the National Guard/military could have been there AHEAD OF TIME ready to deal with the threats that were known to the intelligence community and the military?

Statement #2 from Chief Sund: He reported in the interview with Carlson that the January 6th rally was "crawling with Feds." Sund revealed that 18 undercover FBI agents and 20 more undercover agents other law enforcement agencies were infiltrated into the January 6th crowd.Sund called this "an unprecedented undercover action."

So, the second question that needs to be answered is, how many undercover agents were deployed on that day? How many of them, such as the well-known agent Ray Epps, told people to go into the Capitol and have not been charged with any crimes, while others who never went into the Capitol have been charged with crimes?? Again, on this issue, what did you know, when did you know it, and why haven't you brought the existence of these provocateurs, who may well have been responsible for the so-called riot, into public discussion?

Statement #3 from Chief Sund: Finally, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, within 48 hours of January 6th, went on National TV, blamed Sund for the failures in intelligence and forced him to resign. At that point, Yogananda Pittman was named the "Acting Chief" of the Capitol police. Why was Yogananda Pittman not held responsible for the intelligence failure since she was named the "head of Intelligence “who failed in her duties to keep the Capitol safe?

The final question for Yogananda Pittman is, how do you respond to the two longtime Capitol Police whistleblowers, who submitted a 16 page letter to Congress on September, 2021, excoriating you and assistant chief Sean Gallagher, and accusing you both of failing to share vital intelligence with police leadership, as well as charging you with doing nothing to assist officers who were being attacked in real time on January 6th? And why do you think rank and file officers voted for the most adversarial actions the police union could take, a vote of no confidence in you by 92 percent of the members of the rank and file?

There are many, many more questions to ask. The Berkeley Community, the citizens of the Bay Area and all of California, and indeed the whole nation deserve answers from both Pittman and Pelosi .

You are uniquely able to provide the missing puzzle pieces and perhaps even the smoking gun evidence to solve this crime and prevent innocent people from being railroaded into jail.

Rest assured, that as a Candidate for the California State Assembly and with the help of many of my colleagues in all parties and all political persuasions, we will not rest till the full truth is known.

Now is the time for you to come forward with some answers.